The book "The Escape", written by journalist Mayka Navarro and private investigator Paco Marco, reveals details of Carles Puigdemont's plan to reappear in Barcelona seven years after his departure. The fugitive managed to evade the authorities by bypassing police controls, including the Mossos d'Esquadra, during his journey to the investiture session in the Parlament.
According to the account by Navarro and Marco, Puigdemont began his journey from Waterloo on August 6 and managed to mislead the police by changing cars in a supermarket in Barcelona. Despite the presence of a large number of agents, supporters, and television cameras, the former president managed to disappear before their eyes, ultimately heading back to Belgium.
The plan, designed by Puigdemont, Jordi Turull, and Antoni Castellà, involved the collaboration of two Mossos d'Esquadra who provided protection to the former president once he was in the Catalan capital. Despite suspicions from locals and operational meetings conducted by the Catalan Police, the operation failed to detain Puigdemont, surprising both acquaintances and outsiders.
The book also reveals that Puigdemont's lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, played a crucial role in the logistics of the escape plan. Despite difficulties in gathering accurate information due to the reluctance of sources, Navarro and Marco managed to reconstruct with precision the former president's movements until his return to Waterloo.
Ultimately, both the authors and the protagonists acknowledge that the success of Puigdemont's operation was partly due to the authorities' underestimation, who did not effectively anticipate his movements. Despite the political and operational implications of the incident, Puigdemont's escape is considered an unexpected achievement in a scenario full of uncertainty and challenges for security forces. According to Marco, the estimated margin of success was a mere 0.5 percent, making the outcome even more surprising.
