The PSOE rules that the versions of Robles and Marlaska on the CNI's actions in Ceuta "can be true at the same time" but denies that they warned of the "dimension"

The PSOE spokesperson in Congress, Patxi López, has come out in defense of Pedro Sánchez's Government after the controversy generated by the clash of versions presented by the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, and the Minister of Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, regarding the actions of the National Intelligence Center (CNI), on whether they warned that between July 30 and 31 there would be a massive entry of people into Ceuta, which has led to a migratory crisis in Spanish territory.

Thus, López stated in a press conference in Congress during the session of the Permanent Deputation that both statements "can be true at the same time." However, the socialist spokesperson denied that the CNI had warned of the "extraordinary dimension" that ultimately occurred. On this matter, he clarified that "surely the CNI warns that there may be a passage of people," due to "what was moving on social media" in the days prior to the entry of more than 70,000 people into Ceuta.

However, he denied that "possibly" the intelligence agency. "I can assure you that if that information existed, the forecast, the means that would have been deployed, both police and Civil Guard, as well as the Army itself, would have been infinitely greater than those that were deployed," concluded the PSOE spokesperson.

Minister Torres closes ranks with Marlaska

The actions of the National Intelligence Center (CNI) during the migratory crisis in Ceuta continue to generate discrepancies within the Government. After Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, and Minister of Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, offered different versions on Tuesday about the information they had before the massive entry of people into Spanish territory, the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, backed the thesis defended by the Interior Ministry this Wednesday.

In her appearance, Robles highlighted the work carried out by the Armed Forces, the State Security Forces, and the CNI and affirmed that the intelligence services had fulfilled their "demanded" duty in Ceuta, in addition to sharing and analyzing their information with the other involved organizations.

Hours later, Marlaska denied the existence of a CNI report that “glimpsed” the crisis that subsequently occurred in the autonomous city. The Minister of Interior maintained that, had he received a communication anticipating a massive arrival of the dimensions that finally occurred, the necessary measures would have been taken “by common sense.” In that context, he described as “something extraordinary, exceptional and evidently difficult to imagine” that there had been a warning of those characteristics.

This Wednesday, Torres has sided with Marlaska. In an interview on 'Cadena SER', the minister assured that the CNI reports daily on the situation, but differentiated those usual reports from a specific alert that anticipated the arrival of tens of thousands of people. "The situation is reported every day. There had been an increase of about 1,000 people in seven days, but in no case was there any communication that we were going to have an arrival of tens of thousands of people in Ceuta," he explained.

"If we had known that an arrival of tens of thousands of people was going to occur, automatically the action would have had to be different," Torres clarified. On the other hand, the minister has provided the number of unaccompanied minors who have been identified in Ceuta so far: 1,410.