Antonio Salas and the undercover journalism in Europe

 

Antonio Salas (1972) is a Spanish journalist specialized in undercover journalism. Compared with Nellie Bly, Hunter S. Thompson, Günter Wallraff or Donal MacIntyre, he has been seen by Career News (England) or Craaked.com (USA) as the best undercover reporter of the story.

Office of the prosecutor in Madrid considered him a protected witness in a criminal case. After a year infiltrated in the skinhead movement, his testimony was vital to get the first court ruling against a neo-Nazi group in Europe: Hammerskin.His investigations on women trafficking organizations, led to the dismantling of various mafias -"white slavery"- in Spain, and, also it has led to political action when the Mexican government ordered the investigation of trafficking girls from Chiapas (Mexico). During his infiltration into international terrorism, for more than six years and around thirteen countries, he became the webmaster and confidant of Ilich Ramirez Sanchez (Carlos the Jackal) and got unique images of Arturo Cubillas, the current head of the ETA in Venezuela.

His infiltrations into Nazi groups, terrorists or organized crime have been made ​​into films. His books, "Diary of a skin" (2003), "The year that traffics in women" (2004) and "The Palestinian" (2010), have been translated into different languages. His books are required reading in journalism schools, and have been the subject of several university theses in Italy, Spain, Colombia, Poland, etc..

Now he is about to publish "Operation Princess" (2013), his first novel, based on new investigations, the world of political financial and police corruption. His life is still in mortal danger, condemned by various terrorist organizations, such as the Tupamaros movement, neo-Nazi groups and organized crime.

 1. Investigative journalism requires  a lot of dedication, vast knowledge, it’s about living in a constant fear, where  one cannot  make any mistakes. Still, it’s your choice. Wouldn’t you like to be a typical journalist?

I guess that there are already many companions, and very good ones, who cover this form of journalism. Undercover journalism allows you to get another perspective of information... from the inside. But its emotional intensity, and its high cost, implies that the majority of undercover journalists have to abandon this format sooner or later. So maybe someday I also will have to leave it. But the day has not yet arrived.

 2. How did your family react? Each time you go on a mission you put yourself in a potentially life-threatening situation, let alone the fact that you’re away from home for a long period of time. Haven’t  they tried to convince you to give it all up(stop it)?

When my second book was published, and as a protected prosecution witness, I asked for police protection for my parents, who are the only relatives who know what I'm doing. For them, especially for my mother, logically it is hard. But they have always respected my decision. I never tell them what I'm working in until the book is finished. They just detect a change in my physical appearance, for months or years, and sense that I'm involved in another project, but never make me uncomfortable questions.

3. How does your life look like now? Is it possible for you to go out without being bothered, with no fear that somebody is going to recognize you during shopping, for instance?

Undercover journalism doesn’t allow you to enjoy any fame or recognition for your work. You can’t introduce or promote your books, like any other writer, but it is the only way to continue undercover. Years after "Diary of a skin" I’ve returned to meet, in my new investigations, with neo-Nazis that appear in my book, or against those who I declared as a witness in the macro-trail against Hammerskin. For example, when I was investigating for "Operation Princess". And they did not recognize me. However, it is inevitable to feel a little paranoid whenever you go out to the street, when several armed groups have sentenced you to death for your books...

4. Every operation requires long preparations and even longer execution. For instance, when you wanted to become Muhammad Ali Tovar you had to attend curses about terrorism, learn Arabic, study Koran, grow a beard, darken your skin and undergo circumcision. I think that in this world there aren’t many people who are as brave as you are. Where does all this courage and perseverance come from?

It comes from the absolute conviction that it’s worth it. See how your books are turned into movies, reaching millions of people who are not readers; to be able to see how police arrest traffickers of women that I had recorded selling me a girl and her son for $17,000; testify as a witness for the prosecution in a macro-trail against one of the most important European Nazi organization or receiving thousands of e-mails from young people who drop out of the Nazi movement, prostitution and terrorism after reading your books; all that convinced me that it is worth persevering.

5. What did you feel when you were standing  face to face with Jackal? He’s one of the most powerful  terrorists in the world.

I am aware that the things that I explain in my books would be incredible if they were not recorded. The first time I talked to Ilich Ramirez (Carlos the Jackal) a combination of extraordinary circumstances were given and the work of two years, and two trips to Venezuela, was rewarded. I met his mother, brothers, nephews, etc, and I was their webmaster. Although he meets imprisonment in France, he phoned me every week and I have recorded dozens and dozens of hours of conversation with him. Become his "spokesman" was a giant step in my terrorism infiltration. Ilich is a very cultured man, a piece of history of the 20th century, but also a great manipulative.

6. You are also one of Ultras Sur, working under a pseudonym ‘Tiger88’. On the basis of that experience you wrote a book Diario de un Skin. Do you think that for them violence is more important than the support itself?

The key of my books is that I become one of them, and the investigation does not end until I think, feel, and live like them. Until I understand all their motivations, why they do what they do... For this reason, when after they read my books, in which I do not judge anyone, but only explain what my hidden camera has recorded, many of them feel and understand the absurdity of their violence. And hundreds of young people left the Nazi movement after reading that book. The pen can be more than the sword. 

7. Can a foreigner coming to Madrid or other Spanish city feel safe? Should we pay attention to the skinheads who are able to attack us at any time because of one’s ethnicity or skin color?

All Europe is experiencing a brutal and terrifying resurgence of Nazism, following the model of "Golden Dawn" in Greece. And if we do not react soon it may be too late. Spain is a country which receives millions of tourists every year, with a history of enormous social and cultural crossbreeding. But, like London, Paris, Rome and Berlin, also there are neo-Nazi groups who frequent certain neighborhoods, streets and places. "Diary of a skin" explains where they are and how to recognize the danger. We must not allow the violent to restrict our freedom to travel, study or work in another country, but it is not bad to be a little cautious.

8. Your book entitled El año que trafiqué con mujeres has moved many Polish readers.

And I feel a big gratitude for readers and the Polish editor because of how he focused the publication. That book generated an amazing media scandal. All television channels dedicated entire programs to it, but focused on the most irrelevant aspects, like the chapter on the luxury escorts and the celebrities who exercise prostitution. However in Poland they highlighted the truly important. And my book was used to boost a campaign against trafficking in women for sexual exploitation. Polish readers understood my complaint better than the Spanish.

9. Thanks to you more and more people can sympathize with persecuted women. In Poland there has recently been organized a campaign known as Trading women. STOP being widely promoted by Polish celebrities. Do you feel that your actions have a desired effect?

That campaign in Poland made me feel that all the fear, anxiety and loneliness of this form of journalism had been worth it. That book was the hardest of all that I have written. But during the undercover of "Operation Princess" I traveled thousands of kilometers infiltrated in the world of motorcycle gangs. And whenever I saw the car parks in the brothels full of cars, I felt that all my efforts had not earned much. Prostitution remains one of the most profitable businesses of organized crime. And it’s the customer’s fault, as he allows maintaining the supply.

10. Is there something impossible to you. Where are your limits? Is there something you’d never do?

Of course! An undercover journalist can never commit crimes. And that is sometimes the most difficult. If you want that your hidden camera recordings become court evidence, you cannot participate in the crime you are reporting. For that reason you have to work your imagination to find ways to get close to the limit of legal, live with Nazis, terrorists, pimps, etc, but without crossing the line. I recorded as I negotiated the purchase of Mexican virgin girls, 10, 12, 14 years, for my fictional brothels, but never executed the purchase. I recorded neo-Nazi groups "hunting" immigrants, fans of other teams, etc, but not participated in any assault. I received training on weapons in Venezuela, but I never shot against anyone. The limits of journalism are very clear.

11. How many people want to capture you  after reading what you have written in your books? Do you have many “death sentences”? Some say that in Caracas an account had been opened  just to collect the money for a serial killer to be hired.

I understand that it is a corollary of this form of investigative journalism. I cannot regret. Bolivarian groups condemned me to death in Venezuela because my infiltration came to the end of participating in the recording of a statement calling the guerrillas of Latin America to take up arms against the Government of Colombia and the United States, and throughout the prior process to and my training as a terrorist. And that you don’t forgive. But they were not the first to raise funds so a man kills me. During the trial to Hammerskin we learned that the skingirls (brides of many of the detainees) had opened a bank account to raise money so that a murderer would prevent my statement in the trial. My arrival in the Provincial Court of Madrid, hidden in the back of a car of the secret police, hooded, and surrounded by agents is an experience that I do not recommend to anyone.

12. I would also like to ask you about inspector Delgado who was helping you. If he hadn’t helped you then would you have taken part in the investigations anyway?

With the passage of the years any undercover journalist ends up coinciding, sooner or later, with infiltration of the police or the secret services. I have incredible anecdotes about this. And with some of them, with whom you share situations of great stress and anguish, you can end up building a good friendship. But if Delgado Inspector had not helped me I would have gone ahead without his help.

13.You  impersonated a terrorist, women’s trader and a skinhead.  But who is the real Antonio  Salas? Could you please describe your very self?

Nobody important. A mediocre journalist who tries to do his job as well as possible. Any journalist willing to take risks to inform the public of what others do not want us to know, that’s also Antonio Salas.

14. I know that you get a lot of e-mails from your  readers who changed their lives after  reading your books. Is there a message which has imprinted on your memory?  If yes, what was it?

It’s impossible to choose one. I was very impressed about an Arab young boy who was about to leave to a jihadist training camp in Lebanon, and who after reading "Ja Terrorysta" decided that violence was not a way to defend an ideology. Or that of an Iberia pilot who consumed prostitution in the Casa de Campo, whenever his plane did stop in Madrid, and who after reading my book continues visiting the prostitutes of the Casa de Campo, but now to take them thermos of hot coffee. Or that of a young woman whose boyfriend died in hands of a group of skins, who after reading my book quitted the Nazi movement. She reproached me that if I had written my book before, maybe her boyfriend would still be live... All are posted on my website.

15. Can you briefly describe your new book Operacion Princesa which hasn’t been published in Poland yet?

"Operation Princess" is an investigation about political and police corruption and its relationship with international drug trafficking and organized crime. On this occasion I took the identity of a free-biker, a member of the international gangs of bikers movement. Live with organizations such as the Hell´s Angels, has been an extraordinary experience. And my travels in Mexico, Romania, etc., a real life lesson.

16. How much longer are you going to work as a investigative journalist? Do you have any plans for the next cover-up ( though I know that you can’t tell us all the details)?

I like my work. It makes me feel that it is useful, that it is worth it. And I think that I will continue exercising undercover journalism until my luck finishes. Since my second book I've been wearing a hanging bullet, caliber 9 mm short, around my neck; this bullet happened to almost touch my knee during the investigation. It was a warning. And it helps me to always remember that you shouldn't tempt fate too often. But I think that just another bullet as this would prevent me to keep doing this work.

By Kinga Wisniewska
wiadomosci24
http://www.wiadomosci24.pl/artykul/antonio_salas_zbierali_fundusze_na_mojego_zabojce_wywiad_300299.html