Bolton resurrects the phantom referendum, serving an Algerian agenda
The interview given by John Bolton to the Spanish newspaper “El Independiente“, written under the highly partisan pen of Francisco Carrión, once again reveals the willful blindness of this former American official. Seeking to flatter the Algerian officers who generously support him, Bolton stubbornly insists on reviving an outdated, unfeasible, and obsolete referendum. This ideological obstinacy, disconnected from current geopolitical realities, appears both dangerous and counterproductive.
John Bolton, nostalgic for the 1990s, clings to a stillborn referendum process, torpedoed not by Morocco but by the technical, legal, and security impossibility of defining a clear electorate in a region where Algeria has orchestrated population displacements and where the Polisario Front refuses to update the census. Claiming that the 1975 Spanish census remains relevant in 2025 is an intellectual deception.
The most serious issue remains the implicit suggestion that Trump could “change his mind” on the American recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over its Sahara in exchange for economic incentives. This mercantilist view of diplomacy, worthy of the worst stereotypes, insults Morocco’s history, legitimacy, and integrity. It also insults American diplomacy by reducing it to a mere matter of casinos and seaside resorts.
Francisco Carrión, accustomed to publishing articles aligned with Algerian rhetoric, gives Bolton a complacent platform without any critical distance. Not a word about the Moroccan autonomy plan, supported by an overwhelming majority of states, nor about the growing support for Morocco within the American Congress. Nor a word about the dictatorial reality of the Tindouf camps, where civilians have been held hostage for nearly fifty years by a militarized group with separatist ambitions, heavily backed by Algiers and Tehran.
The attempt to discredit the designation of the Polisario as a terrorist group by the American Congress, dismissing it as “pure propaganda,” ignores recent reports of jihadist infiltrations in the Sahel-Sahara zone and ideological ties between Polisario factions and groups affiliated with the Iran-Hezbollah axis. Denying these risks is denying the security threat looming over the entire region.
Morocco, by proposing an autonomy solution under national sovereignty, has shown realism, responsibility, and good faith. This plan is supported by the United States, France, Spain, Germany, and a growing majority of African, Arab, and Latin American states. Continuing to talk about a phantom referendum is refusing to leave dogma behind and perpetuating a conflict to serve anti-Moroccan agendas. To those who, like Bolton, seek to instrumentalize the Moroccan Sahara issue to serve outdated ambitions or obsolete interests, it must be reminded that Morocco’s sovereignty is inalienable. Its territorial integrity is a fundamental principle, not a commodity to be negotiated in risky diplomatic games. Today, only a pragmatic approach, namely the Moroccan autonomy initiative grounded in reality, can guarantee lasting stability and peace