La España Inventada

June 17, 2023 10:06 AM

Villarejo hewed to a simple defense: that, while not completely innocent of the accusations against him, he was operating in a system where his kind of espionage was long accepted. He was a patriot, he declared, following the orders that he was given to protect the state. If there was a problem, the problem wasn’t with him, he argued; it was with Spain itself, for letting Villarejo be Villarejo. from The Spy Who Called Me [NY Times Magazine; ungated] by Nicholas Casey

Related:
Spanish former police inspector in court over ‘sewers of state’ scandal [Grauniad, 2021]
Spain’s ruling class fearful as ‘The Technician’ goes on trial [Politico, 2021]
Villarejo: The rise and fall of the Spanish state's secret fixer [BBC, 2021]
Manuel Villarejo: Terrorism in the Era of Contested Truths [European Eye on Radicalization]

posted by chavenet (2 comments total)

It's apt that Villarejo quibbles with how the "sewers" metaphor is often represented, but doesn't refute it. Everything about this utterly reeks.
posted by EvaDestruction at 12:23 PM on June 17, 2023 [1 favorite]

Thank you chavenet great read.
posted by Meatbomb at 1:42 AM on June 18, 2023 [1 favorite]