I never thought I would write a book about ETA or tell about things I have worked on. I received substantial offers in the nineties, but at that time these matters could not yet be discussed; A certain perspective was essential. From my time in prison and in matters of terrorism I have only gained the everlasting friendship with Antonio Asunción, with Juan Alberto Belloch and with Paz Fernández Felgueroso . It was Antonio, when he was dying, who told me: Manuel, you have to write this - in his last minutes I tried to distract him by telling battles of Grandpa Onion -, you have to write this because it is the history of Spain. I answered him: don't put me in that mess. You write it, you are a millionaire and you don't have to answer to anyone. I didn't think he was going to die, but he started complaining of pain in his legs, they gave him a calming injection and he didn't wake up. In that conversation immediately before death, my commitment to write this book was born.
How has the deal been with the publisher and with the director, Marta Robles, of the label? Have they left you absolute freedom in everything that matters? Marta Robles , who was devising and organizing the non-fiction collection, was the first one who "took me C Level Executive List to task." It is very easy to succumb to Marta. She and Gregory Kerrigan, director of Al Vés, only gave me ease. Not a single word of censorship. The only requirement, according to the title of the collection, is that the novel be Non-Fiction. Nothing else. I am glad to have come across this magnificent publisher. Have you self-censored writing your book? Do I have to be honest? Yeah. I recognize that the book has shocking phrases and situations. They are all real, I have not invented anything, but at some point I have bitten my tongue because there are people whom I have not wanted to compromise.
For example, I have not said nor will I ever say the names of the civil guards and police and some officials who helped me, even though all of that has expired due to the past. In the penitentiary history of the last century there have been two great figures: García Valdés, who created the Penitentiary Law, and Antonio Asunción, who modernized the institution and its operation in a way that has never been done before or since. They have turned me on in some forums, making me appear like a ghost eager for prominence. Balls! –I heard somewhere-: It seems like he did it all by himself! Nothing is further from reality. I am not the protagonist of the book. In any case, I am the narrator. The real protagonists are Antonio Asunción, Isidro Etxabe and Jon Urrutia , although the leaders of ETA also pointed out to me at that time as a subject whose murder was essential.