Gonzo interview
In the new season of ‘Saved’ he will address the price of electricity and the climate crisis with Greta Thunberg
. The journalist Fernando González, Gonzo (Vigo, Pontevedra, 45 years old), returns with a new season of ‘Salvados’. It begins tonight in La Sexta (9:25 pm) with an installment dedicated to the new situation in Afghanistan after the return to power of the Taliban. In addition, they have secured exclusive interviews with former US President Barack Obama and singer Bruce Springsteen.
Was it difficult to get to Afghanistan?
Getting in and getting the permits wasn’t overly difficult. The most difficult thing was getting people to agree to be interviewed. They are people who live in hiding, who have had to change houses several times so that they are not located but they really wanted to talk. They have no other choice to raise awareness in the governments that were there to remove them. To do the interviews we were able to get some safe floors. Everyone told us that they were risking their lives conducting the interviews.
Afghans are afraid to speak up?
Of all the women we contacted, only one wanted to show her face and dared to speak. They want to explain themselves, but they are chastened. They were the first to protest the arrival of the Taliban and were harshly retaliated and punished. We got a journalist, Samira Staikzai, to talk to us. He was very consistent and spoke very clearly and forcefully.
Do you fear for your life after the broadcast of the interviews in ‘Saved’?
Yes. They told us that if that show ended up being seen in Afghanistan, they wouldn’t know what would happen. In return they asked us if we could do something to get them out of the country or help them and try to take their case to the Spanish authorities. They know that talking to a foreign medium is reason enough to go after them.
As a foreign journalist, did you notice pressure from the Taliban?
The Taliban are in the process of a propaganda campaign. What a foreign journalist could do means nothing to them, nor is it prevented from doing so, but if a local journalist does it, we have seen that they are detained, tortured and left totally isolated. Outsiders are allowed total freedom, because they need to whitewash their image and have international recognition to access the reserves that the country has in foreign banks and that are blocked. We were able to interview the culture minister and government spokesperson and ask questions that the Taliban of the 1990s would not accept.
How did you convince Obama and Springsteen to join the show?
I’m still not sure how we get it. It is insisting and insisting. Take good care of the relationship with those who can reach them. Both have released a book in which they collect conversations that they have in a podcast. The publisher threw us a cable. Although they told us, in principle, that it was practically impossible, because they only accepted six journalists from all over the world. We entered the list and had the ability to ask a question on the subject of the report.
What other issues do you address this season?
The issue of electricity and the problem we have in our country with the price of electricity. We try to see why it happens and what happens in other countries where citizens do not depend so much on electricity to be able to supply their own energy. We have also managed to be the first medium in the Spanish language to get an exclusive interview with Greta Thunberg. We had been after her for a long time and we had always received the no. We insisted much more and the yes came. In Stockholm we had a very nice conversation.
Detained
They went to Morocco to do a report on a fatal work accident in Tangier and were arrested. What happened?
We are still working on this program, but without being able to access the scene. We are waiting for an authorization from the Government of Morocco. We knew that this could happen, but the forms and justifications surprised us. We feel that they have been watching us and controlling us since we arrived in the country. Five minutes before interviewing one of the families, they intercepted us on a terrace and put us in a van. They told us that it was best if we left Morocco.
Could ‘Saved’ have a life without Gonzo?
If he has survived without Évole, how can he not continue without Gonzo. Of course. ‘Saved’ is a very powerful format in which the presenter has a lot to do but his great secret is that of the conviction and commitment of the team, which addresses stories that you sometimes don’t see elsewhere. My intention is not to leave it, because I am enjoying it very much.
.