The Spanish ex-spy Francisco Paesa, who had his moment of popularity in the 90s when he collaborated in the escape of the former director of the Civil Guard Luis Roldán, died on May 3 on the outskirts of Paris, where he had lived for decades. confirmed this Tuesday to EFE the civil registry.
Paesa’s death occurred in the town of Bois-Colombes, a small and quiet commuter town north of the capital with just under 30,000 inhabitants, where the former spy settled a few years ago, a registry official told EFE. confirming information that eldiario.es advanced
Paesa, born in Madrid on April 11, 1936, was a close collaborator of the Spanish secret services, present on various international stages.
But his name rose to the forefront of today when the Roldán case broke out in 1994, in which the then director of the Civil Guard was accused of charging illegal commissions for the reform of the meritorious barracks.
Paesa was his figurehead, the man who helped him hide that fortune in various tax havens, but also the one who helped him flee Spain and who, after agreeing with the Spanish Justice, revealed his whereabouts in Laos and convinced him to turn himself in in exchange. of a sum of money.
Roldán, who died in 2022, accused him of keeping all that money while he was serving a prison sentence.
With the intention of making himself forgotten, Paesa published an obituary in 1998 with his own death in the newspaper El País, but in 2004 El Mundo revealed that he was still alive.
He had pending accounts with the Spanish justice, but even so he was registered in the Spanish Consulate in France, although at the time of his death he was no longer registered, diplomatic sources told EFE. Paesa assured that he had the protection of the French secret services, with which he also came to work.
His story was portrayed in 2016 in the film The Man with a Thousand Faces, by Alberto Rodríguez.
