Ceuta and an alarming indicator of the morale of the Spanish Armed Forces

For many years now, social networks have been an important channel of connection between the Armed Forces and Spanish society.

Police officers with firearms at the Cádiz Station and soldiers with batons in Ceuta?
Ambush against the Spanish Army in Ceuta: the effects of leaving soldiers defenseless

Through their various social media channels, the Armed Forces communicate their daily activities to the public, showing them the daily lives of our soldiers and sailors in their barracks, ships, air bases, and deployments abroad. These channels are already feeling the effects of the Moroccan migrant influx into Ceuta, which began on July 30 and continues with the presence of thousands of undocumented immigrants in that Spanish city.

I follow the communication channels of the Spanish Armed Forces every day. Each day I try to share at least three posts with the Defense and Aviation Twitter account (@defensaaviacion) that show the activity of our soldiers and sailors that day. Today I found unusually low activity on those channels, even for a holiday month like August. The Twitter account of the General Command of Ceuta of the Army has been inactive for more than a month, which is unusual for a channel that is updated relatively frequently. The account of the General Command of Melilla has only been updated once in August.

On other Armed Forces communication channels, I'm seeing something increasingly common: posts about overseas missions that receive numerous criticisms from citizens who believe those soldiers should be serving in Ceuta, as if the problem in that city were a lack of military personnel, when in reality the government isn't allowing them to do their job under reasonable conditions. Spain has more than enough military resources to defend Ceuta and Melilla and to fulfill our obligations to our allies, but it's obviously difficult to make the Spanish people understand this when the defense of Ceuta is being carried out under precarious and humiliating conditions for our soldiers.

Seeing our soldiers armed only with batons and facing ambushes with stones and Molotov cocktails has provoked outrage in a large part of the population. of Spanish society. Of course, our soldiers have experienced much worse situations on some of their missions, but until now we had not seen a situation like this, in which the government leaves our soldiers defenseless in a level 4 anti-terrorist alert while showering praise on the invading country.

Besides the citizens who are outraged by this humiliating treatment of our soldiers (an outrage I share), there are others who direct their anger at the Armed Forces, as if they had the autonomy to decide their missions and how to carry them out. Some stupids (and I mean that in the strictest sense of the word: "foolish, lacking intelligence") are directing at our armed forces the criticisms they should be leveling at the government, which is the one giving the orders. By doing this, they not only shift the focus of attention to the wrong place, helping the government evade its responsibility, but they are also contributing to undermining the prestige of our Armed Forces. As if that weren't enough, with these attacks, they are also doing Morocco a favor by eroding the morale of those who have to defend Spain.

I don't know the reason for the decline in the number of posts on the Spanish Armed Forces' channels, but it's not hard to imagine. It's very disheartening to have to publicize the service of our soldiers amidst a wave of criticism and insults, a wave that, I repeat, is directed at the wrong target. This has a demotivating effect on the Armed Forces' own communications teams. It is precisely now that those of us who love Spain should be supporting our armed forces more, and not subjecting them to absurd erosion that only benefits Morocco.

I know there are people who make a sport of posting whatever comes to mind on social media, without considering the consequences or caring about the harm they might cause, but I think enough is enough. I say this as a civilian, since our military personnel can't say it: if you want to write protests, send them to the government and leave our soldiers alone, who already have enough to deal with, enduring a life full of sacrifices and hardships in exchange for a very modest salary.

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Main photo: Comandancia General de Ceuta. Celebration of a Legionary Saturday at the García Aldave Barracks, in Ceuta, headquarters of the IV Flag of the Tercio "Duque de Alba" 2nd of the Legion, on June 6, 2026.