Laura Ramos: Africa de las Heras used to give us afternoon tea in the same place where she poisoned her husband'

"At that point neither she nor her brother Victor were aware the true identity of this Spanish woman who was one of the most valuable Soviet agents of the 20th century. They also didn't know that her code name in the KGB was Patria (Homeland). Nor that years earlier, in Mexico, she had infiltrated Leon Trotsky's inner circle as Maria de la Sierra."

"When her brother asked her in 2018 if she remembered Maria Luisa, Ramos replied: The seamstress! In her mind, she saw a very sober, completely unremarkable person with graying hair, wearing long skirts and carrying a package of pastries from the Oro del Rhin confectionery. A woman, she continued, who was very pleasant to be around, who treated you like an equal, but not warm or affectionate with us."

"Upon learning that she was neither a seamstress nor a nanny, and that this identity was merely a mask behind which she hid for two decades to direct the KGB's spy network in South America, the image shattered. Memories began to mingle with what Ramos discovered over five years of investigation, which led to the book Mi ninera de la KGB (My KGB Nanny):"

A childhood caregiver known as Maria Luisa was actually Africa de las Heras, a Spanish-born KGB agent codenamed Patria. She infiltrated Leon Trotsky's inner circle in Mexico as Maria de la Sierra and later operated a Soviet spy network in South America while posing as a seamstress and nanny. Evidence uncovered over five years implicated her in poisoning her husband, an Italian spy, and linked her to Trotsky's assassination. The investigation resulted in a book titled Mi ninera de la KGB (My KGB Nanny). Africa de las Heras was born in Ceuta in 1909.

Read at english.elpais.com