The truth, secret agents and “preemptive” lies about the war on terror.

Stopping criminals before they even commit a crime isn’t the plot of “Minority Report,” Steven Spielberg’s famous film, alone. Since the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers, it is also a faith worshipped by those carrying out the poorly named “War on Terror.” Falling into its grinding gears have been not only many detainees (whether guilty or innocent, a secondary matter), but also the very concept of crime itself and even fact-based reality. The story of prevention in Spain boasts more than 800 arrests, but eight out of every ten accused have been acquitted in the end.

Beyond the scope of Jihadism, this chronicle deals with the quality of information and its importance in terms of people’s lives. The real stories that the authors show us (at times seeming more like science fiction tales) explore the crossroads between propaganda and real life. Taking place within this blind space is the story of a mother who reported her ex-husband to the authorities for traveling to Afghanistan in 2001 (a report which went ignored); another about some police officers who became experts at using a photocopier in a set-up that alarmed the United States; that of an informant whose false testimony allowed the conviction of eleven immigrants from Barcelona’s Raval neighborhood; and another about a group of “beardless” terrorists and their leader, the imam from Ripoll, who were off the police’s radar until their attack on Las Ramblas in Barcelona in 2017.

The book’s presentation will be attended by the two authors, alongside journalists Jordi Pérez Colomé from El País, and Pilar Velasco.

Braulio García Jaén is a journalist at El País and the author of “Justicia poética” (“Poetic Justice”), a project for which he was awarded the Seix Barral Chronicles Prize from the Foundation for New Iberian-American Journalism.

Matías Escudero Arce has held a wide range of varied occupations. As a freelance journalist, he has had articles published in La Capital de Mar del Plata, El Periódico de Catalunya, Infolibre and El Mundo, as well as other publications.