The writer saves the stories of the greatest western spies of all time in her new book ‘Licence to spy’
Carmen Posadas (Montevideo, 1953) knew no espionage through cinema. The daughter of a diplomat, when her father was seconded to Soviet Moscow in 1972 during the Cold War, she and her family soon discovered that their embassy was ravaged by microphones and that the service personnel reported “everything” to the ruthless KGB. He learned to be silent and on guard. Today, he knows that silence is “the term that best sums up the work of a spy” and admires those who “have made espionage one of the fine arts.”
Her interest “in one of the oldest professions in the world” and in the women who practiced it continued to grow and culminated in ‘License to spy’ (Espasa). It brings together the stories of some spies “who are more discreet than men, less vain and more resourceful,” according to the Uruguayan Spanish writer.
“If they resort to sex, they’re James Bond; if they do, we already know what they are… But sex is a very effective weapon for espionage,” the writer confirms. “Women are less suspicious in certain environments and are extremely discreet. And generally more subtle to analyze the information elements,” he emphasizes. A criterion he shares with the anonymous Spanish intelligence agent he interviews at the end of the book. “If they have made history and moved the wires with a right hand, they have chosen the no less efficient art of the left hand,” he sums up. “We live surrounded by spies everywhere and not just high flyers. And some are not flesh and blood,” he ironically alludes to devices we talk to at home or on our cell phones.
Halfway through the novel and the essay, he tells of the women who, from the Old Testament to the present day, devoted themselves to espionage “and had a decisive influence on history, whether high-society ladies, friendly housewives, dancers, singers or Indian princesses».
It dates back to the adventures of the biblical Rahab, whose intervention was crucial in conquering the Promised Land. Or that of Balteira, the Galician minstrel who knew everything in the kingdom of Alfonso X. Then jump to Catherine de Médicis and her «flying squadron», to reach «the Golden Age of espionage, the 20th», with the legendary Mata Hari, Josephine Baker or Hedy Lamarr.
“There are other spies as secretive as ‘the queen of hearts’, who was discovered only after her death,” he says. It refers to Larissa Swirski, a double agent during World War II in Gibraltar, first employed by the Germans and who offered herself to the Allies when she learned of the Nazi atrocities. He also discovers “the German princesses of the houses of Fürstenberg and Hohenlohe who put their talents at the service of Hitler.” And Spanish spies such as Africa de las Heras, aka ‘Patria’, who attained the rank of colonel in the Soviet Union, although he came from a family very close to Franco, who weaved a network of spies across South America . Or Cuban Caridad Mercader, a participant in one of the most important plots of the 20th century, to assassinate her enemy Leon Trotsky in Mexico on Stalin’s orders.
Fascinated by “those who choose to see without being seen” in the West, there is one exotic exception, which takes us to the India of the “poisonous girls”. “Since they were girls, they were given small doses of venom to immunize them until they became vials of walking venom, capable of killing with a kiss,” she says.
“I’ve always thought of myself as a spy because writing is looking through the keyhole at another, but I’m not worthy of spying. I’m afraid of being discovered. I’m not brave,” says the author of a dozen novels, fifteen children’s books, two biographies and a few essays.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
