Gürtel scandal: Spain's Watergate
Witness History12 Jan 2024

Gürtel scandal: Spain's Watergate

For two years, José Luis Peñas risked his life making secret recordings that revealed one of Spain's biggest corruption scandals.

It forced the ruling party from power and brought down Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in 2018.

José Luis Peñas speaks to Ben Henderson.

(Photo: Mariano Rajoy (right) moments after resigning. Credit: Pierre-Philippe Marcou/Pool via Getty Images)

Episoder(2000)

Quarantined in a TB sanatorium

Quarantined in a TB sanatorium

What it was like to be a child quarantined in a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients in the 1950s. Ann Shaw was nine when she was first admitted to the Craig-y-nos sanatorium in Wales and 13 when she was finally allowed home. Until antibiotic treatments came along, to stop the disease spreading, TB patients were kept apart from the general population and their families, often for years. This included babies and children, leaving many traumatised. Ann Shaw tells Louise Hidalgo about the half-life they lived in the sanatorium.Picture: boys on the balcony of the Craig-y-nos TB sanatorium; fresh mountain air was regarded as one of the best treatments for TB (Credit: from the private collection of the family of Mari Friend, a former patient at Craig-y-nos)

1 Jul 20209min

The Rolling Stones drugs trial

The Rolling Stones drugs trial

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards went on trial for drugs offences in June 1967. The case attracted attention around the world, and sealed their reputation as rebels. The men were originally sentenced to prison but on appeal their sentences were drastically cut and the trial came to symbolise Britain's changing values. Photo: Mick Jagger (left) and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones walk in the garden of Redlands, Richards' Sussex house, after the disclosure of their sentences for drug violations, July 1967. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

30 Jun 20208min

Jana Andolan – Nepal’s people power movement

Jana Andolan – Nepal’s people power movement

A people’s movement called Jana Andolan brought an end to Nepal’s absolute monarchy in the spring of 1990. Political parties worked together with students, workers and civil society groups to organise strikes and street protests – but although the king eventually agreed to their demands, it was the beginning of a long period of political instability. Lucy Burns speaks to activist and writer Devendra Raj Pandey about his memories of the first Jana Andolan.PHOTO: Jubilant protesters take to the streets on April 9, 1990 in Kathmandu after the government announced an end to the 30-year ban on multi-political parties. (DOUGLAS CURRAN/AFP via Getty Images)

29 Jun 202010min

Russia’s bitter taste of capitalism

Russia’s bitter taste of capitalism

Chaos and hardship hit Russia with the rapid market reforms in early 1992, just weeks after the collapse of the USSR. In 2018 Dina Newman spoke to one of the architects of this “shock therapy” - Andrei Nechaev, who was then the Minister for Economic Development.This programme is a rebroadcast.Photo: Old women selling cigarettes on the streets of Moscow in 1992. Credit: BBC.

26 Jun 20208min

The Chilean economy and its 'Chicago Boys'

The Chilean economy and its 'Chicago Boys'

Following the violent military coup that overthrew Chile's socialist government in 1973, the new regime led by General Augusto Pinochet began a radical overhaul of the economy. It was based on a free-market economic plan created by a group of economists known as the Chicago Boys. Mike Lanchin has been speaking to one of them, Rolf Lüders.Photo: General Augusto Pinochet (L) poses with socialist Chilean president Salvador Allende (R) in Santiago, just after Allende appointed him the head of the army, and only three weeks before Pinochet's military coup in September 1973. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

25 Jun 20209min

Tanzania's socialist experiment

Tanzania's socialist experiment

In the late 1960s Tanzania's first post-independence president, the charismatic Julius Nyerere, believed that endemic poverty in rural areas could only be addressed if peasant farmers relocated to larger villages and worked collectively. It was part of a new experimental form of socialism, known as Ujamaa. In 2016 Rob Walker spoke to two Tanzanians who remember it well.This programme is a rebroadcast.Photo: Tanzanian women cultivating the soil (AFP/Getty Images)

24 Jun 20209min

South Korea's economic miracle

South Korea's economic miracle

An eyewitness account of how a poor, war-ravaged nation became a global economic powerhouse. We hear the memories of Dr Kongdan Oh, who grew up in South Korea in the 1950s, in the aftermath of the Korean War. The country had been left devastated by the conflict. Then, in the early 1960s, South Korea's new military leader, General Park Chung-hee, launched an ambitious national drive for rapid economic growth. For many, it marked the start of South Korea's economic transformation. Photo: South Korean labourers balancing baskets of coal, while working inside the grounds of a factory. Busan, 1967 (Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

23 Jun 202014min

The New Deal

The New Deal

When Franklin D Roosevelt became President in 1933 he promised to spend his first 100 days rescuing the USA from the Great Depression with one of the biggest public spending projects in history - the New Deal.Photo: Franklin D Roosevelt in 1935. Credit: Getty Images.

22 Jun 20208min

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