The gap in Ceuta's border that undermines the official buoy

The gap in Ceuta's border that undermines the Government's buoy

The installation of a buoy off Ceuta's breakwater was meant to close the migration route into Spain. The practical result is that the perimeter has a lateral gap that turns the measure into a cosmetic one. Worse still: the deterrent now serves as a resting spot in the water.

The sequence of images circulating shows people crossing through that space. "The buoy is there so they can hold on and rest," one analysis doing the rounds on social media quipped. The same source recalled that, according to the official story, migrants were supposed to swim kilometres to get there. With the gap, the effort becomes far less epic, and the official narrative takes a hit.

The legal border wobbles

The matter has real legal weight. If the Government maintains that the border is at the buoy, what about the lateral access? Some are asking whether this invalidates the "devoluciones en caliente" (immediate pushbacks at the border), a policy that remains suspended in legal limbo. The Supreme Court would have the final say, though, as has been noted with a smirk, it may be on holiday. The doubt is real: the crossing point is not at the infrastructure, so is crossing there a crime?

The situation borders on the absurd. A security measure that turns into a lifebuoy is not just useless; it is comical. Until the gap is closed, everything else is smoke and mirrors. And the joke, as in Mel Brooks's films, tells itself.