Ceuta and Melilla: mines for an impossible defense

The proposal to mine Ceuta and Melilla that resurrects the ghost of Ottawa

A serious state does not leave its territory at the mercy of anyone who decides to cross the border. The idea of sealing the perimeter of Ceuta and Melilla with mines is circulating again after the latest incident at the fence, which demonstrated exactly what it set out to prove: that a crowd of unarmed civilians can take the city. With a single crossing of 50,000 people, the defense was laid bare: no fences, no patrols, no improvised response could stop it.

The proposal has a strategic logic: if a crowd can enter unopposed, imagine what an organized army would do. Ceuta and Melilla are enclaves that, once taken, would be almost impossible to retake from the mainland without flattening the city and risking thousands of lives. That is why mining the perimeter is raised as a credible deterrent measure.

But there is an insurmountable obstacle: the Ottawa Treaty, which Spain signed, bans the use of anti-personnel mines. Abandoning it would carry an enormous diplomatic cost and would turn Spain into a country on the margins of the international community on humanitarian matters. Moreover, mines do not distinguish between a soldier and a shepherd, and in a territory as densely inhabited as the perimeter of these cities, their deterrent effect would be outweighed by the permanent risk to civilians.

For now, the option has not translated into any official policy. But the fact that the debate exists at all, even in economic terms, is a symptom of how far confidence in Spain's ability to defend its North African enclaves has eroded. Ottawa will most likely remain intact, but the wound to the very concept of defending Ceuta and Melilla can no longer be sealed with a simple patch.