Counterproductive silence concerning Morocco

The ostrich tactic of sticking one's head in the sand to ignore the problems does not usually produce good results. On the contrary, it provokes a degenerative process that worsens the gravity of the facts. Moreover, what is happening in relations between Spain and Morocco after the reception of the secretary general of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, in the San Jorge hospital in Logroño, to treat him for his serious health condition, is that Morocco is raising the tone of its demands in the face of the silence of Pedro Sánchez's government. 

It is not enough for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, on a trip to Latin America, to say that she has nothing new to say and that the reasons for receiving Ghali are strictly humanitarian and that Morocco is a privileged partner. But it will not be so privileged when it is not even informed of a decision that may be more or less politically controversial, especially given the historical balance that Spain is trying to maintain in its relations with Algeria and Morocco, but that once it has been taken, the consequences must be assumed and explanations offered as appropriate for a partner that considers itself privileged and that is affected by Spain's humanitarian decision.

Since it became known that the Polisario leader was in Logroño under a false identity, several hypotheses have been put forward. From the clumsiness of thinking that an operation of this importance could be kept secret and that it would only last a short time, once the COVID was cured, supposedly the reason for Ghali's poor health, which was later found to be more complicated due to cancer and other ailments that we will have to see how they were caused. Ignorance and clumsiness because Ghali's stay in Logroño was revealed two days later through leaks to some of the media by the Moroccan intelligence services. Within the Spanish government, there are heated discussions between those who reject this decision and those who support it. Another high-level diplomatic hypothesis, rather improbable, but an option that could be considered, is that Spain, by paying attention to Ghali, would have sufficient arguments to subsequently support a Moroccan solution to the Sahara conflict with a broad autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty. The Moroccan government's statements first deploring and then warning of serious consequences, plus that of all the political parties in the Moroccan parliament harshly criticising the Spanish position and alluding that they never gave an audience to the Catalan pro-independence supporters, raise tensions and serve Morocco's objective of pressuring Spain, within the UN, to join the efforts undertaken after the US administration's recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara. In every way, Sánchez's silence is counterproductive.