Voces del Prado

The 1970s. The visit by Américo Tomás

Luis Lapausa Arango, General Operations Service Technician (Carpenter), 1960-2008

When Américo Tomás came here with his wife, Franco and his wife also came by. And I remember that before they came everything was a mess. The heating consisted of iron or metal pipes and when it was switched on they would start making noise, "Clack, clack, clack," as the water went through the pipes. A general who heard it asked me, "What's that noise, my boy, what is that?" "Those are the water pipes," I said. "But there's something else there, there's something there." He brought in a few men to uncover the pipes and I said to myself, "Boy are they sure afraid of an attempt on his life here." He finally calmed down when he realised they were the water pipes because even the concierge came around to tell him, "those are the water pipes and everything is all right".