The Spanish Government hides information on controls of the Global Sumud Flotilla: deliberate opacity and a response full of gaps

On April 27, 2026, ACOM submitted a request for access to public information to the Maritime Captaincy of Barcelona and the Directorate General of the Merchant Navy, under Law 19/2013 on transparency, access to public information, and good governance.

We requested specific and verifiable data on the inspections, reviews, and checks carried out on the 38 vessels that made up the Global Sumud Flotilla, which departed from Barcelona on April 15, 2026, with the declared goal of breaking the blockade of Gaza. We asked for information on mandatory documentation (registration, flag, seaworthiness certificates, insurance, captains’ qualifications, policies, etc.), as well as any prior authorization or control before leaving Spanish waters.

The response, signed by the Director General of the Merchant Navy on June 11, only provides the names and registration numbers of the vessels. It refuses to provide any other relevant information.

What the Government Could Have Provided but Did Not

The resolution acknowledges that this is public information and admits the request… but then refuses to provide it, arguing that “it does not exist” because, according to its interpretation, exhaustive inspections were not mandatory.

This argument is weak and poorly supported:

• Even if the vessels were under 500 GT and most were on List 7ª, this does not exempt the Administration from its responsibility to ensure maritime safety or from keeping basic records on the documentary status of ships leaving Spanish ports.
• The Government claims it “does not know” the home port of the vessels. This is hard to believe in the case of ships with Spanish registration. That information is held in the records of the Maritime Captaincies and should be easily available.
• No data is provided on whether any minimal checks were carried out (even documentary ones), whether the validity of insurance or seaworthiness certificates was verified, or whether the vessels were simply allowed to sail without any control.
• The flotilla received extraordinary media coverage, and there was a real possibility that Maritime Rescue would have to intervene with public resources. This fact alone justified at least minimal scrutiny and the obligation to report on it.

What Is the Sánchez Government Hiding?

The response from the Directorate General of the Merchant Navy is not a neutral technical resolution. It is a carefully constructed evasion designed to avoid having to admit that, in practice, these vessels left Spanish waters with minimal or non-existent administrative control.

The government of Pedro Sánchez appears more willing to protect a flotilla of anti-Israel activists than to guarantee transparency regarding possible irregularities in maritime safety. It prefers to hide behind a restrictive interpretation of the regulations rather than provide information that, at the very least, should be in the Administration’s possession.

ACOM considers this resolution insufficient, biased, and contrary to the spirit of the Transparency Law. We will not accept as a valid response that “the information does not exist” when what is really happening is that the Government does not want to provide it.

We will study the available legal avenues, including the filing of the corresponding appeals, to demand that we be given all the information that legally corresponds and that the public interest requires.

Opacity is not neutral. In this case, it protects those who organized a high-profile political and media flotilla that departed from a Spanish port without the Government now wanting to be held accountable for how it was managed.