The latest migration crisis in Ceuta has given Spain’s neo-Nazi far right a fresh opportunity to mobilize against Morocco and Muslims, with the group Nucleo Nacional taking its anti-Moroccan rhetoric from social media and demonstrations into the streets of the Spanish enclave.
Nucleo Nacional, which has emerged from a network of neo-Nazi, Falangist and far-right groups, has openly identified Morocco as an enemy and portrayed migration from the country as part of a broader threat to Spain, according to statements cited by Spanish media and the group’s own social-media posts.
During the latest crisis, the group’s leader Ivan Rico said Ceuta had been “invaded” and described the arrival of migrants as a rehearsal for a future Moroccan operation against Ceuta and Melilla, according to Le360.
The group staged a demonstration outside Morocco’s embassy in Madrid on July 31, where Isabel Medina Peralta, one of its best-known figures, tore up a court ruling upholding her conviction for inciting hatred against Moroccans and Muslims before performing a Nazi salute.
The following day, around 10 Nucleo Nacional activists led by Rico travelled to Ceuta, where residents confronted them and Spain’s National Police escorted them away.
Peralta’s presence underlines how anti-Moroccan rhetoric has become a recurring feature of the group’s activism.
In 2021, during an earlier migration crisis involving Ceuta, she demonstrated outside Morocco’s embassy, calling the events a “racial substitution” and shouting “death to the invader”. A Madrid court later convicted her of incitement to hatred.
The group has also used slogans including “Moors out of Spain” and promoted the concept of “remigration”, a term used by European far-right movements to describe the removal of immigrants. Its leaders have said they are “racists or racialists”, while the organization’s program rejects multiculturalism and promotes what it calls the defense of race.
Nucleo Nacional is now seeking to move beyond street activism. Its political arm, Noviembre Nacional, was registered as a political party in February and intends to contest elections, according to the report.
The shift gives the movement a potential route to broaden its audience while retaining rhetoric centered on race, immigration and hostility towards Morocco and Islam.
The group’s actual size and electoral influence remain unclear. Police intelligence sources estimated its membership at around 1,500 in 2025, but that figure has not been independently verified.
