The US avoids the Ceuta crisis and praises its alliance with Morocco

The Government of the United States has not wanted to give an opinion on the Ceuta crisis, nor how it affects the relations between two of its greatest allies, nor if it intends to mediate between Madrid and Rabat. He also did not want to say whether the tweet by Secretary of State Tony Blinken, stating that “Morocco is a strategic ally”, can be considered as an endorsement of Rabat's position.

Neither the National Security Council nor the State Department, when asked by EL MUNDO, have wanted to enter into any of these issues. The only thing that the Department of State has said, in an email, is that “we are aware of the situation and we defer to the Governments of Spain and Morocco the comments on this issue.”

So Washington seems to want to stay out of it.. Blinken had spoken yesterday with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Morocco, Nasser Bourita, about the need to reach a ceasefire in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.. As Blinken had posted in his official 'tweet', both spoke of “the importance of restoring calm in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza”. In his message on Twitter, the head of US diplomacy concluded by saying that “Morocco is a strategic ally, and we work together to end this conflict.”

US neutrality in the conflict is the usual in Washington. On several occasions, the then US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has lamented “having had to spend two days” on “that stupid little island”, referring to the islet of Perejil, which Morocco briefly occupied in 2002 until its soldiers they were driven out by the Legion. In his memoirs, published in 2012, Powell mocks in a very direct way the capture of Parsley by 75 legionnaires in an airborne mission: “Are you fooling me? Is this a scene from the movie 'The Mouse That Roared'? I said, referring to Peter Sellers' classic comedy about a tiny European country that mistakenly gets a 'super weapon' that makes all the great powers tremble.”

The truth is that, despite his reluctance and an unmistakable grumpy tone, Powell not only mediated between Spain and Morocco, at the request of the then Foreign Minister, Ana Palacio, but also wrote on his own computer one Saturday in his home the agreement by virtue of which Madrid and Rabat agreed to solve the crisis.

Morocco is a country very close to the US, since on December 20, 1777 it became the first nation in the world to recognize the independence of what was then still a British colony.. Since then, the ties between both nations have been very close.. In fact, Morocco has the status of 'Main Non-NATO Ally' ('Major Non-NATO Ally'), which places it in a group of 18 countries including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Egypt, Thailand or Pakistan.

That consideration is the closest thing to a mutual defense pact that the US has.. The only countries with which Washington does have mutual defense are those of NATO, although to date this circumstance has only been invoked on one occasion, and that was precisely to defend the U.S. after the 9/11 attacks.