La cooperación antiterrorista con Marruecos no se ha resentido a pesar de la crisis
Spain and Morocco are going through a delicate diplomatic situation. Although cooperation between the two countries has always sought to maintain a constant level of logistical, economic, immigration and cooperation policies, the current crisis has opened up new scenarios that raise the question of what the future of this cooperation will be and what the consequences will be if diplomatic relations fail to return to normal. Among all these issues, one that stands out as essential for international security is cooperation between the two countries in joint counter-terrorism operations.
In this regard, it was feared that cooperation on counter-terrorism would be affected as a result of the crisis. However, according to statements issued by the Guardia Civil commander Fernando Huete, of the Special Central Unit for the fight against terrorism in the international sphere, "anti-terrorist cooperation with Morocco is still in force. We continue to work together and exchange information between the two security forces, these relations have not been affected".
These words were echoed by the Commissioner of the General Information Commissionerate, responsible for threats against constitutional order, Jesús Pedrazo, who underlined that "relations continue to be very close, there is excellent cooperation, it has not suffered as a result of the crisis. There continues to be an important exchange of information and intelligence".
The director of the Interior Ministry's Centre for Intelligence against Terrorism and Organised Crime (CITCO), General Manuel Navarrete, took the same position, describing the relationship with Morocco in anti-terrorist cooperation as "sufficient and effective" despite the diplomatic crisis. The entry of Polisario Front leader Brahim Ghali into Spain to receive medical aid without first consulting Morocco triggered an unprecedented diplomatic crisis between the two kingdoms, and this situation created a new atmosphere of tension that has paralysed projects that Spain had been carrying out jointly with Morocco.
However, statements such as these inform about the fluid and cooperative relationship that continues to exist between Spain and Morocco in this field, regardless of the diplomatic crisis. Good relations also continue between the armed forces of the two countries, according to Colonel Juan Mora of the Spanish Army and associate researcher at the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies (Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos).
These statements were made within the framework of the El Escorial summer courses, specifically in the course "Terrorism and Anti-terrorism in times of pandemic and post-pandemic" under the joint organisation of the Victims of Terrorism Foundation together with the Victims of Terrorism Memorial Centre.
In this line, the first round table, made up of the Guardia Civil commander Fernando Huete from the international anti-terrorist unit, the commissioner responsible for threats against the constitutional order, Jesús Pedrazo, and the colonel of the Spanish Army, Juan Mora, focused on the challenge of terrorist threats in a presentation entitled "Facing up to terrorist threats".
Commander Fernando Huete began his speech by stating that international terrorism of the jihadist variety "is the main threat facing the international community". Comparing the anti-terrorist operations that were carried out against ETA with jihadist terrorism, Commander Huete stated that "historically we have faced an internal threat that we knew perfectly well, we had the capacity over the years to act against it, this threat is different, it is not a threat that is rooted in our territory, but one that is temporary and can happen anywhere in Spain".
Huete argues that "we have to act in areas of risk and with clear objectives, to make terrorism feel uncomfortable, to detect the threat. In the short to medium term, Spain is not expected to have a zero risk of jihadist terrorism".
In this sense, the commander stated that "regional conflicts can be the promoter of a massive mobilisation of foreign jihadist fighters".
Within the context of Islamic radicalisation, the commander spoke of the prison context as a very important focus where radicalisation and the very spread of jihadism take place. Along these lines, "this jihadist population has increased in prisons and this has translated into a clear threat. On the one hand, we have two hypotheses: an increase in violent actions against prison officials, as has occurred in prisons in Morocco or Belgium, or that they directly commit terrorist actions by using prisons as points of radicalisation. This is a national and international problem.
Alongside this, technology has become particularly relevant as a new environment for the propagation of the jihadist message. Huete affirms that even in cryptocurrencies themselves, Daesh campaigns have been detected for the sustenance of their militants who are imprisoned or detained in Syria and Iraq.
On the other hand, Commissioner Jesús Pedrazo continued the round of presentations by stating that "in jihadist terrorism, we states have to be aware that we have faced a struggle with ups and downs. We have to be capable of reaching the best blows, getting up and falling down again. We have to get used to a new security paradigm because a threat is here to stay, the phenomenon of foreign jihadist fighters in Spanish territory (...) the problem is that we are an external border, at a strategic level we are being observed for our work in anti-terrorist operations".
He also reported that terrorism now presents new forms of threats, through "technophobic movements, surrealists, eco-terrorists, destructive sects and accelerationists".
To conclude this section, Juan Mora, a colonel in the Spanish Army and strategic studies analyst, explained what the armed forces are doing in the fight against terrorism. He stressed that "the army's role in this area stems from the need for the armed forces not to stand idly by when it comes to intervening. They always act on a military level, while terrorist activity is political, and this means that their tactics (in comparison with the State Security Forces) are different", he declared.
The Armed Forces act in prevention, supporting anti-terrorist operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and informing local forces to help combat terrorism, producing an important exchange of information. With regard to the increase of terrorist groups in the Sahel region, the colonel stated that Spain "will continue its missions together with the anti-terrorist operations".
For his part, General Manuel Navarrete spoke about the evolution of terrorism in Spain and the European Union in the 2020 exercise. According to the general, in Europe there is "an activity based on dispersion, there is pressure in the terrorist sphere and there is a lack of a European dimension". Anti-terrorist policies until a few years ago were based on "reactive national action, which is not the same as prevention, a piecemeal approach and an evolution of terrorism in criminal cyberspace", he affirms.
By contrast, in Spain "there is intense operational activity and an activity based on competition in which it is a question of operating through coordination, intelligence, cooperation and planning". Navarrete affirms that terrorism does not lack political ideology "the political message is either you convert or I will eliminate you, nothing else, it is an apolitical struggle. This is how it was understood that measures had to be taken to fight against the driving forces.
Morocco carries out an important fight against the eradication of terrorism through special forces such as the Central Bureau of Judicial Information (BCIJ), a high-level security service founded in 2015 to combat terrorist threats, kidnappings, drug trafficking and organised crime. In this vein, countries such as the United States have praised Morocco's role in the fight against terrorism, stating that it is an 'important non-NATO ally and an active member of the Partnership to Combat Terrorism'.
Similarly, in the case of Spain, the Special Operations Group of the National Police performs very important functions in the "reduction or neutralisation of members of terrorist gangs, armed groups or dangerous criminals, reducing the risk to a minimum in the face of a possible response from criminals", among other tasks.
Collaboration in anti-terrorist operations between Morocco and Spain has always been a close and united relationship. Rabat assures that it has managed to paralyse at least 82 terrorist attacks in recent years.
The latest case was found on 28 June in the town of Santa Olalla when the national police arrested a man for being a suspected terrorist. According to police statements, this arrest was "the neutralisation of a serious threat to public security". The alleged jihadist, of Moroccan nationality, is allegedly linked to crimes of self-training (as he trained himself independently) and terrorist glorification, thus being one of the terrorists known as "lone wolves".
This was preceded by the arrest of a man in Granada who is allegedly accused of threatening and glorifying terrorism on 25 June. Ten days earlier, on 15 June, the National Police arrested a man of French-Algerian nationality in Madrid who had fled after learning that he was to be sent to a French prison for terrorist offences. Sources affirm that this individual had "a high degree of radicalisation" and presented "very violent behaviour".
In June alone, three men were arrested in Spain on suspicion of being alleged jihadists. However, March was the month in which most arrests were made for this reason on the peninsula, with a total of seven arrests.