“Our armed forces, intelligence services, and, of course, the National Intelligence Center carried out the work that was and is required of them, and shared and analyzed this information with the state security forces and the staff of the government delegation,” the minister told lawmakers, defending the work of the agents she oversees.
Robles’ statement directly contradicts the Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska’s version of events. For weeks, he has insisted the national government did not reinforce the border in Ceuta because it had no way of anticipating the sudden migrant surge.
The minister underscored this point during an extraordinary meeting of the bloc’s interior ministers on Aug. 4, in the aftermath of the influx, where he emphasized Spain’s status as a “strong, reliable partner.”
On Tuesday, Grande-Marlaska hit back directly at Robles’ statement during a press conference, insisting that neither Spain’s intelligence services nor any foreign intelligence agents had detected or warned of anything unusual near Ceuta.
“There was no report that foreshadowed what ultimately transpired on July 30,” he said, adding that it was a matter of “common sense” that any warning would have been taken seriously and handled accordingly.
After lawmakers informed Robles that Grande-Marlaska had denied her statement, the defense minister doubled down and said the country’s intelligence services had warned authorities on July 29, a day earlier than she had originally stated, adding that it was “common knowledge, public knowledge, that people were swimming into Ceuta.”