This paper focuses on three configurations in Spanish which disallow operator movement: argument clauses introduced by a preposition (P + CP argument clauses); argument clauses introduced by a determiner (D + CP argument clauses); and finite adjunct clauses (P + CP adjunct clauses). Wh-movement from P + CP and D + CP argument clauses is impossible. Parasitic gaps within P + CP (i.e., finite) adjunct clauses are also unacceptable, and such configurations too can be taken to exemplify failed operator movement, on the assumption that parasitic gaps are null operators which move to the left edge of adjunct clauses. This paper proposes that the failed operator movement in these configurations can be given a unified explanation in terms of the interaction of successive cyclicity, which requires movement to proceed through the specifier of intermediate phase heads, and anti-locality, a ban on movement dependencies that are too short. Because of the phasal status of P, D, and C, the derivation of these configurations involves a movement step that is too short: the movement from Spec,CP to Spec,PP or Spec,DP. This anti-locality violation causes the derivation to crash. The availability of a unified explanation of a range of phenomena in Spanish in terms of anti-locality suggests that it is as important for future work to investigate movements that are too short as those that are too long.