“El Muro”: the political transition in Eastern Europe as seen by CESID

A new novel by former CESID member Jaime Rocha, after his first successful 'Operation El Dorado Canyon', set in the Libyan capital Tripoli shortly before the US bombing in April 1986 that sought to eliminate the leader of the Jamahiriya, Muammar Gaddafi, describes the activity of the Spanish secret services, at that time under the command of Lieutenant General Emilio Alonso Manglano, in the countries of Eastern Europe. 

“El Muro”, a picturesque mixture of autobiography and espionage novel, illustrates the difficulties of a Spanish spy behind what was still, albeit for a short time, 'the iron curtain'. More than a novel, it is a book with historical features, essential to understand the role played by the CESID in the processes leading up to the political transition in the countries of the East, in this case in Czechoslovakia, where Jaime Rocha was stationed as cultural attaché at the Spanish Embassy in Prague.

In perfect harmony with the Spanish ambassador José Luis Dicenta, with whom the current went smoothly, the Spanish spy, Julian Roig for the novel, managed to accomplish one of the most difficult missions for a member of the intelligence community: to understand what was going to happen in Czechoslovakia, when it was going to happen and who the protagonists would be.

CESID had a well-deserved authority among the Western secret services in those days. So much so, as the author tells us, that the Spaniard had to draw up a detailed and hasty report, which 'La Casa' in Madrid demanded of him because the request came from the United States. 

“El Muro” is full of intrigue, but also of risk. The author sprinkles his story with trips to Madrid, to Morocco, to Cadiz, where other no less exciting and delicate tasks awaited him. A novel, in short, that tells the story of the complexity of real life, and the determination of those who believe in what they do.