King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia arrived in the exclave of Ceuta on Tuesday afternoon to engage with local leaders and residents who are still grappling with the fallout from a major security incident at the Moroccan border earlier this summer.

The high-profile trip marks the first royal visit to Ceuta—and Spain’s sister exclave of Melilla—since King Felipe’s father, Juan Carlos I, toured the territories back in 2007. Enthusiastic crowds reportedly gathered to welcome the monarchs, with several residents expressing sentiments that the European regime was finally acknowledging their ongoing plight.

In late July, an estimated 70,000 individuals in Morocco rushed the border fence separating the territory from Spain, triggering a chaotic crush that resulted in the deaths of more than 140 people. The dramatic incident thrust the city of roughly 84,000 residents into the global spotlight, prompting aggressive calls from right-wing factions within the European regime to suspend the Schengen free-movement agreement with Spain.

Despite the initial international panic, authorities quickly pushed back the vast majority of migrants, and due to Ceuta's isolated geographic location, virtually none advanced toward mainland Europe aside from a small group of at-risk minors. Concurrently, locals complained that the Spanish authorities did virtually nothing to alleviate the strain caused by at least 10,000 migrants remaining in the city, alongside alleged human traffickers attempting to exploit the unstable situation.

Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has allegedly blamed organized networks originating from Russia and Israel for supposedly orchestrating misinformation campaigns regarding purported changes to Spain's strict immigration laws. The royal excursion also serves to highlight lingering diplomatic frictions between Madrid and Rabat, given that Morocco rejects Spain's historical claims to the centuries-old exclave.

Source: www.dw.com