The following document is a communiqué from the Permanent Secretariat of the regional organisation for Andalucia, Ceuta and Melillla of the Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT – General Confederation of Labour) of Spain, historically a left-wing union confederation. It provides the background to the strange phenomenon of the masses of young men and adolescents, mostly Moroccans along with a minority from sub-Saharan Africa, estimated at the time of writing to be around 65 thousand, who have entered the Spanish region of Ceuta (which, together with Melilla, form the only Spanish and European enclave on the African continent) on giant buoys and tubes or simply swimming. This communiqué is in the best traditions of the workers’ movement from its stronger times (the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th). It exposes the entire panoply of dirty schemes on the part of the Moroccan King and his intelligence agency the Makhzen as well as the CIA and the Mossad. We are publishing it in solidarity with the poor and unemployed youth of Africa as well as the working class of Spain in protest against the machinations of the Moroccan King and his patrons and the imperialist response of the Spanish state.
Imperialist Slaughter at the Border: 57 Dead, Algerian Gas, and the Black Hand of the CIA and Mossad Behind the Ceuta Stampede
What the capitalist media and the fascist far-right insist on calling an "invasion" is nothing more than a smoke screen attempting to hide a planned massacre. In Ceuta, we are not facing a spontaneous migratory phenomenon, but the forced flight of more than 60,000 people, pushed into the abyss by a dictatorial regime that uses its own youth as political ammunition and geopolitical cannon fodder. The reality—stark and bloody—is that 57 people have already died at the border fences and in its waters. Fifty-seven working-class lives cut short, fifty-seven corpses crying out for justice, while the number continues to rise relentlessly.
The evidence of state crime is now indisputable. The leaked images and videos show the Moroccan police physically directing, organizing, and pushing young people toward the border. No human trafficking mafias can be used to justify this; it is the Makhzen itself opening the floodgates of despair. While on its own territory the Alawite dictatorship exercises fierce repression—assassinating Sahrawi activists and brutally persecuting influencers and dissidents—at the border, it converts human beings into projectile weapons. Most gravely: the Spanish Government, in an exercise of colonial submission, refuses to denounce Morocco, cowardly hiding behind the narrative of "alleged mafias" to avoid angering its masters. They deliberately ignore that the UN itself condemned Morocco months ago for using migration as a state weapon, but Spanish diplomacy prefers to look the other way rather than defend human life.
To understand this savagery, however, one must look up at the global geopolitical chessboard. This stampede is no accident; it is a punishment. The trigger for this bloody retaliation has a name and surname: Spain's recent strategic agreement to purchase gas from Algeria. Yankee imperialism and its puppet in the Maghreb cannot tolerate the Spanish State attempting to secure its energy sovereignty outside Moroccan interests while strengthening ties with a country that maintains a firm stance against imperial aggression.
Added to this energy "sin" are other "disobediences" unacceptable to Washington and Tel Aviv: the Spanish government publicly labeling the Zionist massacre in Palestine as genocide and, above all, the firm refusal to cede the Rota and Morón military bases for bombings against Iran. Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu do not forgive these slights. The CIA, Mossad, and Moroccan secret services orchestrated this chaos at the border to destabilize the government, force a shift in Spanish foreign policy, and demonstrate who calls the shots in Southern Europe.
The strategic context is one of open war. Anglo-Saxon and Israeli imperialism are losing control of the Straits of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb—crucial pathways for their commercial and military hegemony. Facing this debacle, they need to secure control over the Strait of Gibraltar by fire and sword. It is no coincidence that politicians and media in Israel are celebrating this setback, rubbing their hands together at Spain's humiliation. They play with the lives of the people as if they were pieces in a macabre game.
While imperialism settles its scores, the Spanish State perfects its machinery of death. Recently, the Supreme Court had to remind the nation that human rights are not suspended at sea, placing limits on summary pushbacks ("devoluciones en caliente") in maritime waters. The response from the institutional right and far-right? The President of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, has already demanded changes to the law to create "maritime containment elements." This is nothing more than a euphemism for floating fences, increased militarization, and new death traps at sea. The State does not seek to guarantee rights; it seeks legal loopholes to continue killing with impunity.
At CGT Andalusia, we are clear: our enemy is not the young Moroccans fleeing hunger and dictatorship. Our enemy is in the palaces of Rabat, in the Pentagon, in the Mossad, and in La Moncloa. Borders are the tool of the bourgeoisie to divide the working class and maintain their business interests.
FOR ALL THESE REASONS, WE DEMAND:
Immediate diplomatic rupture with the Kingdom of Morocco. Stop covering up a dictatorship that sends its people to their deaths. The videos of their police are proof of a state crime.
Immediate closure and dismantling of the Rota and Morón military bases. We will not allow Andalusian soil to serve as the rear guard for the dirty wars of the US and Israel against Iran and the peoples of the Middle East.
Absolute energy sovereignty. We defend the gas agreement with Algeria against imperial blackmail. This country's foreign and energy policy is not to be negotiated with Trump or Netanyahu.
Total repeal of the Immigration Law (Ley de Extranjería) and an end to summary pushbacks. We reject any "containment elements," land or sea. We demand the dismantling of Frontex and the immediate regularization of all migrant people.
Justice for the 57 victims. Criminal responsibility for high-ranking political and police officials, both Moroccan and Spanish, who ordered and executed this massacre.
The truth is brutal, but it is our only weapon. There is no humanitarian crisis without political figures whose hands are stained with blood. In memory of the 57 victims, in working-class solidarity, and against imperialism.
No one is illegal! Long live the struggle of the peoples!
For the internationalist solidarity of the working class!
Long live a Free Sahara!
Permanent Secretariat of CGT Andalusia