Gonzalo Sanz’s resignation comes just two days after the government made public 40 declassified reports containing communications involving the National Intelligence Centre, the Government Delegation in Ceuta and the Civil Guard.
The chief of staff to the Spanish government’s delegate in Ceuta, Gonzalo Sanz, has resigned from his position, the latest episode in an ongoing controversy over what Spanish authorities may have known ahead of the mass arrival of migrants into the North African exclave in late July.
The resignation has not yet been officially confirmed by sources at the Government Delegation.
Sanz said he received a warning from the National Intelligence Centre (CNI) on 29 July, in which he was alerted to messages circulating on social media in groups with a combined 180,000 members. The warning came one day before the mass arrival of migrants into Ceuta from Morocco.
According to his account, Sanz passed that information on to the government’s delegate, Miguel Ángel Pérez Triano, that same day.
He said there was an obvious “inconsistency” between this claim and the various statements the delegate has made to different media outlets, in which he insisted he was not aware of the warning until the government declassified the reports on the crisis.
Despite taking this step, the now former chief of staff made it clear that his decision was not motivated by any “bitterness” towards the delegate. According to Sanz, the Government Delegation worked “tirelessly” to obtain responses from the central government from the very first minute.
He added that there were reports documenting the warnings sent to the different ministries, and he expressed his hope that Ceuta “returns to normal as soon as possible.”
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