Missionaries Alvaro and Marina Berecochea both had ‘close shaves’ with priests and the police. On one occasion, Alvaro was visiting the Paralelo Congregation as circuit overseer and was witnessing with two publishers, Joaquín Vivancos and Eduardo Palau. At one point, these two publishers were making a return visit, but the lady became antagonistic and slammed the door in their faces. Then it appears that she phoned the police.

Meanwhile, Alvaro was keeping watch at the doorway of the building and saw two men running toward him. They shoved him inside, pushed him against the wall and searched him roughly, taking away his briefcase. Of course, they were secret police. One stayed with Alvaro while the other went upstairs and brought down Brothers Vivancos and Palau at gunpoint. All three were taken to the police station, but on the way Brother Palau surreptitiously tore up some notes and threw them away, just in case they contained names that could incriminate others. This time the brothers got away with a warning and the matter was not referred to the central police headquarters in the Via Layetana. Yes, it was a ‘close shave’!

His departure for Portugal left just four missionaries in Spain​—Paul Baker in Palma de Mallorca, and Ken Williams and the Berecocheas in Barcelona.

A CONVENIENT BREAKDOWN

It was in August and September 1955 that Brother F. W. Franz came to Spain once again. One of the places he, along with Alvaro and Marina Berecochea, visited was Torralba de Calatrava. Since the visitors did not want to arouse suspicion, when they drew near Brother Pedro García’s workshop in that small town, Alvaro switched off the motor and stopped the car as if there had been a breakdown. He got out, lifted the hood, and acted as though something was wrong, then went over to a local resident and asked if there was any garage or workshop nearby. Of course, this led to Brother García’s house and workshop. Pedro came out to look at the engine and said it would be necessary to take the car into his garage, since the problem seemed to be a complicated one. Accordingly, the auto was taken into the workshop, the doors were closed . . . and then, what joy! There were embraces as the brothers who had been waiting in Pedro’s house gathered around to greet their visitors.

When night had fallen, the visitors had to cross part of the town to get to where the meeting was to be held. In order not to draw attention to themselves, Alvaro and Brother Franz put on the berets typical of that area and also sheepskin coats. In the dark, they followed one of the sisters who led them to a granary where the congregation was waiting. In fact, they had been waiting for three hours, and yet they stayed for two or three hours more in order to listen to the talks and have fellowship with these visiting brothers. Finally, after supper, the three visitors drove their “repaired” car out of the garage and headed away under cover of darkness.

TAKEN PRISONER!

The following weekend was set aside for the assembly at Barcelona, actually a gathering to be held in a secret spot in the woods on Tibidabo mountain. Since the number attending was growing into the hundreds, Alvaro Berecochea began to get worried about the success and secrecy of the arrangement. His worries increased when a brother from Manresa told him that the police had searched his house that week and had taken away the Informant (now Our Kingdom Service) supplement that had announced this assembly arrangement. Alvaro was more alarmed when one of the sisters told him that she had recognized a police inspector among those going to the assembly site. Furthermore, the man was dressed as if for a picnic. Brother Berecochea decided to consult with Brother Franz about what should be done. The reply? “Let’s go ahead and trust to what Jehovah allows.”

Among others, Brother Franz was on the program that morning. After he spoke there was an experience session directed by Antonio Brunet, Jr. He was interviewing elderly Brother Mariano Montori from Zaragoza when serious problems started. Paul Baker recalls: “He was just concluding his experience when I noticed a jeep pull up behind another vehicle in a clearing way down at the bottom of the slope behind the platform . . . Four men in picnic attire got out of the jeep and began to walk smartly up the slope toward the assembly point. Very soon, they broke into a run, with a little man in blue jeans and an open-necked shirt taking the lead. A number of the brothers had noticed this group by now and were wondering what this next demonstration was going to be all about. As the group got within earshot, the little man in front shouted at the top of his voice, ‘Let nobody move or I’ll fire!’ He was waving a pistol . . . This was indeed a new demonstration. . . . The little man placed his companions at strategic points and gave instructions that all cameras were to be surrendered. Another confederate appeared who had been sitting among us and, by this time, everyone realized that this was a roundup by the secret police.”

The men among us were taken in trucks to the police headquarters in Barcelona. While some brothers patiently waited for the trucks to return, since all could not go at once, they witnessed and, from the conversations, gathered that the police had thought they were raiding a political group! As it was, most of the men, including the foreigners, Brothers Franz, Berecochea, Williams and Baker, ended up at the police headquarters. The police obtained details regarding everybody, as well as their fingerprints. At the assembly site, the first thing they had done was to confiscate all the cameras, which were returned that night without any film in them. Thus they obtained a photographic record of many of the brothers, and they also made sure that no incriminating photographs would appear later on in the foreign press.

During the interrogations, the brothers began to notice that something abnormal was occurring among the police. What had happened? Well, Alvaro Berecochea’s mother and sister-in-law had escaped from the assembly site and had gone to the American Consulate to report the arrest of F. W. Franz, an American citizen. The consul had got in touch with the police, and, of course, this kind of publicity was the last thing they wanted. Hence, all the foreigners were set free except Alvaro.

Brother Berecochea was taken to his lodgings where a search was undertaken. However, nothing was found because of a set of circumstances. Brother Francisco Serrano had managed to evade the police and was back at his house early that afternoon. At the same time, Sister Teresa Royo, on her way to the assembly for the afternoon session, called at Francisco’s home and learned of the police raid. Since she lived in the apartment in front of the lodging place of Alvaro and Marina, Francisco told her to rush back and get the files out of there and hide them. This she did with the help of Teresa Carbonell. So it was that the police went away virtually empty-handed. They were dealing with “doves” that proved to be as cautious as serpents.​—Matt. 10:16.

During the period from 1955 to 1957 the work at the branch office was being attended to by Alvaro Berecochea, helped by Ken Williams and Domenick Piccone. After the Tibidabo assembly raid, Alvaro continued to do the office work from his lodgings, and then, about September 1956, the office was moved to the home of Francisco and Antonia Rodríguez. On the other hand, the work of sending out packets of literature was handled from a small room that Brother Brunet had made available in his radio shop.

ON THE ROAD AS A TRAVELING OVERSEER

During the mid-1950’s, Alvaro Berecochea served as a circuit overseer for a time. He sought to upbuild the brothers spiritually, but he also encountered some problems.

For instance, the Barbastro “congregation” had disappeared! How was that possible? Well, it existed only on paper. Lack of organization and experience had resulted in counting as publishers people who were not even associating with Jehovah’s organization, much less preaching the good news. Nevertheless, Nemesio Orús and his boys certainly were making an effort to give a witness, especially in an informal way while engaging in business as traveling watch repairers.

A rather memorable circuit visit was the first one Alvaro Berecochea ever made to Torralba de Calatrava. He traveled to Daimiel by train from Madrid, arriving about 10 p.m. Three brothers were on hand at the station, but he could see no means of transport to cover the fifteen kilometers (9 miles) to Torralba. But then he saw three bicycles. Yes, three bikes for four persons! They had it all figured out. Each of them would take turns giving the circuit overseer a ride on the crossbar that connects the handlebars to the seat. It was a cold, moonless winter night, and as they traveled, the silence was punctuated by grunts and groans and occasional breathless stops to change over the “load” as the shadowy figures made their way across the countryside.

Despite the hardships of the journey, the visit turned out to be a spiritual blessing to the small congregation in Torralba.