Border officials testify on July 30 mass entry into Ceuta

National Police Inspector Lorenzo Juan Fages testified before investigating judge María Tardón that he wanted to keep the border gate with Morocco closed when he saw a "human river" flowing toward Spain, but the Guardia Civil commander at the same post prevented him. Fages said his mission was to maintain citizen security and public order, and he considered the events an "invasion" for which Morocco should bear responsibility if deaths occurred.

Guardia Civil Lieutenant Colonel Miguel Lobo testified that he decided to open the gate to avoid a "crush bottleneck" that could cause deaths. Both witnesses said they saw Moroccan vessels close to the Spanish border from the night before the avalanche.

“If I returned to Morocco, they could put me in prison.”

Fages, who was then head of the Provincial Brigade of Citizen Security and is now retired, stated that migrant arrivals from Morocco increased exponentially in the days before the entry. He said he received no communications from his chain of command despite having several superiors above him.

He received the alert of the mass entry through Tarajal beach at 10:00 and personally witnessed the "human river" upon arrival. He believed the border gate should have been closed against the surge, but Lobo prohibited closure, arguing that if a crush and deaths occurred, responsibility would fall on the Guardia Civil.

The witnesses stated that the protocol for irregular entries was not activated because it would have been useless against an avalanche of nearly 100,000 people.

Separately, three migrants identified about ten senior Moroccan officials and police commanders who were at the border during the July 30 avalanche. They identified, among others, the wali of the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, the Tetouan police chief, officials from Castillejos, and the police chief of Rincón.

A Royal Gendarmerie sergeant who swam to the autonomous city that day, Hicham E. B., warned Spanish agents that he could be imprisoned if he returned to Morocco after leaving his post and moving illegally to Spain.