Miguel Ángel Pérez Triano resigned as the government’s representative in Ceuta on September 28, 2026, after public protests turned the plaza outside the Delegación del Gobierno into a protest camp. Demonstrators set up giant screens and staged mock funerals; the Spanish anthem also played. Pérez Triano, a Socialist in a Partido Popular stronghold, had become the basic target of public anger after the mass crossing at the Tarajal border.
Thousands poured into Ceuta. Pérez Triano’s phone rang nonstop as he sent urgent updates to Madrid and pushed for military help. He also tried to calm friends. RTVE and Público reported his resignation. He blamed a "campaign of harassment" and the toll on his family, then quit all political and party roles at once.
ABC reported that David de la Encina was appointed as Pérez Triano’s successor, with the Council of Ministers preparing the formal transfer of powers.
Pérez Triano’s political story began long before this crisis. Born in Ceuta in 1983, he trained as a primary and PE teacher at the University of Granada. He later earned a Pedagogy degree from UNED. After years in Madrid preparing for teaching exams, he joined the teaching corps in 2014. He returned to Ceuta in 2019 to teach at Colegio Público Vicente Alexaindre. He saw migration up close, teaching Spanish at the Centro de Estancia Temporal de Inmigrantes (CETI) and leading the local Extranjería office. In 2025, he became secretary general of the PSOE in Ceuta.
The local Socialist party was already split, and the migration crisis widened the divide. Melchor León, the party’s vice-secretary in the Assembly, publicly blamed Pérez Triano, damaging his reputation. Even friends questioned his silence, torn between loyalty and duty. A social worker close to him summed it up: “I wish my friend ‘Migue’ had resigned earlier. The institutional ‘Migue’ couldn’t do it.” The job came at a personal cost.
Inside the party, pressure never let up. Reports said Pérez Triano could not walk the streets without facing hostility. The government plaza became a protest zone, with symbolic gestures and loud displays aimed at him. La Vanguardia reported that the crisis deepened public protests and split the local PSOE. Criticism grew, and party confidence faded fast.
In his resignation, Pérez Triano described a “very hostile environment.” He spoke about the toll on his family, including his wife, a justice official, and denounced “unjust pressure, insults and a smear campaign full of lies.” At his last appearance, where he took no questions, he insisted he had warned Madrid about the crisis. La Voz de Galicia reported that he said he had alerted the central government to the risks of a mass crossing at the Tarajal border several weeks before the incident, submitting reports to the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Territorial Policy in July 2026. He said the reports called for urgent reforms and reinforcements. Party sources confirmed that the warnings had gone up the chain. The crossing still happened.
His relationship with Madrid’s top officials was tense. Pérez Triano thanked Ángel Víctor Torres, the minister in charge of the Delegación, for his support. But relations with Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska soured. Pérez Triano stopped appearing with Marlaska at press conferences, making the split clear.
Rumors spread about a move to the Canary Islands, but it did not happen. Pérez Triano has left all his posts and quit the PSOE. He plans to return to teaching. People close to him say he waited to resign until a replacement could be found for the sensitive job. The next delegate will face a city still shaken by crisis and a party in pieces.
