Felipe VI and Queen Letizia Begin Ceuta Visit

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia began a two-day visit to Ceuta on October 13, the first royal visit to the city as monarchs since 2007. Their trip, scheduled to continue in Melilla on October 14, comes less than three months after a large number of people crossed from Morocco into Ceuta during a migration surge. The couple met local authorities and residents in Ceuta, where crowds gathered along the route and around the city’s Plaza de África. Ceuta President Juan Jesús Vivas presented the King with the city’s gold key and warned that pressure on the city could burst at any moment. The monarchs also visited a cemetery to pay tribute to migrants who died, mostly by drowning while attempting to cross the border. Spain’s Interior Ministry said more than 70,000 people entered Ceuta from Morocco on July 30 and 31. One report put the figure at about 72,000. The ministry’s estimate covers those two days; a separate figure reported by Spanish officials said about 70,000 were returned to Morocco within days. Thousands remained in Ceuta for weeks, according to reports at the time. Ceuta, a Spanish autonomous city on the North African coast, has about 80,000 residents.