Spain’s National Court has ordered Ceuta’s government to urgently hand over all call records between Juan Jesús Vivas and Pedro Sánchez in the days leading up to the July migrant influx. The investigation seeks to clarify whether Madrid ignored critical warnings before the border was overwhelmed.
Judge María Tardón wants answers. She has ordered Ceuta’s government to hand over every call record between Juan Jesús Vivas, the city’s president, and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. The focus is tight: July 27 to July 30, 2026. Those were the days when Ceuta’s border nearly collapsed under the pressure of thousands of migrants.
The court’s demand is blunt. Ceuta must provide, “A LA MAYOR URGENCIA,” a full list of calls made by Vivas to Sánchez or his chief of staff, Diego Rubio. This is what Vivas described in his sworn testimony. Judge Tardón wants to check the timeline and the content of these calls. The court is looking for proof—did Madrid get the warnings in time, or did something break down as the crisis hit? Leading Spanish media have reported that the court’s request is meant to clear up whether Ceuta’s alerts reached the central government quickly and clearly.
Ceuta’s government has stated it is prepared to certify its call logs and messages before a notary and submit them as evidence in the ongoing case.
Vivas spoke to the court on September 30. He described being ignored by La Moncloa. He said he made about ten calls to the presidential palace. Only three were answered. Vivas claimed he did not speak directly with Sánchez until July 30. By then, the border was already out of control. Most of his contact was with Diego Rubio, Sánchez’s chief of staff. Vivas also said that between July 27 and 29, he warned not just the prime minister’s office, but also the ministers of the interior, territorial policy, and foreign affairs. National outlets reported these details.
La Moncloa disputes Vivas’s story. The government has shown its own call records. Officials say there is no proof of ten calls. They claim Vivas only asked to speak with Sánchez once, on July 30. That call happened the same day. Moncloa’s records show nine calls between the two administrations from July 27 to July 30. Some were set up by secretaries. The fight is not just about numbers. It’s about who called whom, and whether Vivas’s warnings got to the prime minister fast enough. El País and ABC have reported that the government insists all communications were handled as they should have been.
This court probe lands as Spain debates how leaders handle border emergencies. Ceuta’s crisis is just one example of tension between regional and national officials. Earlier reports have shown similar disputes in other high-profile cases. The question of who is accountable keeps coming up.
Testimony and media reports indicate that the only direct conversation between Vivas and Sánchez occurred on July 30, with prior contacts handled by their chiefs of staff. The timeline of these calls is now a central focus of the court’s investigation, as it seeks to establish whether critical warnings were delayed or ignored.
The stakes are high. If the records show Ceuta’s warnings were ignored or mishandled, the fallout could reach far beyond the city. The central government could face tough questions. Judge Tardón’s investigation will lay out what really happened in those July days. It could set a new standard for how Spain’s institutions react to emergencies. The court’s push for speed and transparency is a sharp break from the usual blame game. One more thing: Vivas estimated that 70,000 to 80,000 migrants arrived from Morocco during the crisis. But so far, national press say there are no independent official numbers to confirm this.
