What changed
Santiago Herrero del Nogal’s 29 September column draws a historical and political parallel between Ávila and Ceuta. He points to Ávila’s past as a frontier territory, the fortifications of both cities, and Ceuta’s identity as a city of four cultures.
The column also describes a recent gathering in Ávila supporting Ceuta after what Herrero characterizes as more than two months of government inaction.
Why it matters
The comparison turns Ceuta from a distant political issue into a question of shared memory. Ávila’s walls are not just a tourist backdrop in this telling: they represent a city that once lived with raids, battles and the fear of losing its way of life.
That is why the parallel has emotional force. Herrero argues that Ceuta’s residents now feel their own future could change permanently, and that Spain’s political authorities should defend both the city’s inhabitants and the country’s territorial integrity.
The historical similarities are clear in the column: defensive walls, frontier status and communities shaped by different religious traditions. The situations are not presented as identical. The argument is instead that old ideas about borders and protection still shape how people understand Ceuta today.
What remains unclear is the nature of Ceuta’s alleged crisis, its causes and the government’s official response. The column offers a forceful interpretation, not an independently verified account of a change in Ceuta’s security, governance or demographics.
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