How cold war spymasters found arrogance of Carlos the Jackal too hot to handle
Terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez was portrayed as ruthless, but research shows Iron Curtain regimes saw him as a liability
by Jason Burke
Sep 06, 2020
4 minutes
Two men and a heavily pregnant woman stand in a hotel room in Prague. The men are arguing with two officers from the Czech state security agency, sent to convince them they should leave on the next available flight. A warning that assassins from the French secret services are on their way to kill the three ends the dispute. One stows a pistol in his jacket pocket, the second straps on another two, the woman fastens more weapons around her waist. By late afternoon, they had left on a flight to Moscow.
It was June 1986 and the last visit of to Czechoslovakia. Neither the notorious terrorist, nor his sidekick, nor his wife would set foot in the Communist-ruled state again. For
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