1992 introduced the Curro Killer as a being of pure vengeance. He made an explosive entrance (literally) by blowing up Roberto Valcarcel, a wealthy businessman, and then placing the Curro mascot from the ‘92 Seville Expo in his hand. He went after another rich individual named Domingo Granjero and burnt him to a crisp in his bathtub with his flamethrower, before carefully placing the Curro mascot on his palm. By the time he repeated this pattern with Jose Zamorano at the old-age home where the latter was staying, it was evident that these murders weren’t random, and the aforementioned expo connected the serial killer, his calling card, and, of course, the victims. By the time the miniseries approached the end, though, it became apparent that there was someone else pulling the strings, thereby making the Curro Killer’s already sad revenge quest feel all the more tragic. So, let’s talk about the killer’s past, the meaning behind the manipulation of his emotions, and if there’s any truth to his association with the ‘92 Seville Expo.
Spoiler Alert
Netflix’s Show Isn’t based On A True Story
Speaking of the “factual” stuff of 1992, yes, there was an expo in 1992 at La Isla de La Cartuja, which is where the miniseries was shot. The organizer was Manuel Olivencia, and its mascot was Curro. On February 18, 1992, a fire did break out at the key pavilion. It was allegedly caused by a worker who was using a blowtorch or a soldering gun. Apparently, these events in Spain were plagued by ransom threats and whatnot, but the authorities said that the fire wasn’t a case of foul play; it was an accident. The site of the expo isn’t as barren as it’s shown in the miniseries. After the expo came to an end, it was divided into two sections: the Cartuja 93 and the Isla Magica. People can visit Cartuja 93 for free, but they have to pay an entry fee to get into Isla Magica. With all that said, I don’t think its organizers killed a sex worker there and then used a fire to cover up the murder. And I am certain that an assistant of a member of the organizing committee for the expo didn’t motivate the son of a deceased sex worker to start off a series of killings in 2022, while making him use the expo’s mascot as his calling card. As far as I know, it’s all fictional in nature. I don’t really know how the organizers of the ‘92 Seville Expo feel about the fictionalizing of historic events.
The Curro Killer’s Origins
Chronologically speaking, here’s how the story of the Curro Killer in 1992 goes. So, back in the ‘90s, three sex workers—Marga, Azu, and Rosa—used to work for a pimp named Ramiro. Marga had a son named Victor, and Azu or Rosa used to babysit him when Marga went to work. Victor was deeply aware of the kind of socio-economic stratum they hailed from, and he took on the challenges that life presented on a day-to-day basis. But things went out of hand when the aforementioned trio was sent to a private party on the site of the ‘92 Seville Expo one night. The organizers, Roberto Valcarcel, Domingo Granjero, Jose Zamorano, and Esteban Palacios, wanted to avail themselves of the services of Ramiro’s girls in order to celebrate the grand opening of their life’s work. All kinds of drugs and drinks were involved, and an overexcited Palacios accidentally ended up killing Marga. Azu and Rosa were quickly whisked away from the room and then thrown off the site, along with Ramiro and Victor, who were waiting outside. The head of security of the expo, Jose Luis Martinez, temporarily disposed of the body, got the site shut down with an explosion, and then started a fire to remove all evidence of the murder. Martinez obviously took much more than his monthly salary for doing all this.
Now, unbeknownst to Martinez, Victor was at La Isla de La Cartuja to look for his mother when the main pavilions were set ablaze. While extracting Marga’s corpse from its inner chambers, Victor suffered third-degree burns, and he had to be hospitalized. Later on, Rosa took care of him. The trauma of his mother’s death and the pain of the burns took a toll on Victor’s mental health, and he had to be institutionalized when he was in his 20s, I suppose. Nearly 30 years after the death of his mother, Victor broke out of that institution and came to Rosa seeking shelter. Since the expo site had been largely abandoned, Rosa turned one of the warehouses into his home and helped him with food, clothing, and anything else that he needed. Victor’s physical and psychological wounds wouldn’t have healed in this lifetime or the next, but maybe he would’ve made peace with that if Fernando Victoria hadn’t entered his life and essentially turned him into a serial killer. You might think that Victor was evil for taking so many lives, but, in my extremely humble opinion, I think that Victoria was far, far worse than the Curro Killer.
Victoria Turned Victor Into The Curro Killer
Back in the ‘90s, Victoria used to work as Zamorano’s aide. He was there on the night the incident happened; he just didn’t take part in all the spicy activities. This isn’t addressed very explicitly, but it was obviously him who had put secret cameras in the Curro masks that Valcarcel, Granjero, Zamorano, and Palacios wore while having fun with the sex workers. I guess his plan was to use that footage to blackmail them, but he struck gold when Palacios murdered Marga. He held onto that footage while the group blew through their savings by paying Martinez to take care of the body, set off an explosion, and burn down a major part of the expo’s site. That said, all those shenanigans did get the government to pay the ransom that the organizers were secretly demanding in an effort to save the expo from becoming a national and international scandal. I’m guessing that that money allowed the organizers to figure out their future plans. However, since Victoria was just an assistant, his cut was probably small, and, on top of that, his business acumen was garbage. So, he eventually went bankrupt and ended up being hounded by loan recovery agents. When he saw Rosa taking care of a mentally unstable Victor, a plan hatched in his brain.
Victoria approached Victor with the promise of giving him everything he needed to avenge his mother. Back in ‘92, on that fateful night, Victor was waiting at the tower full of Curro memorabilia. He eventually made his way to the top of the tower and saw both Palacios and Victoria standing over his mother’s dead body. Since he rushed to get to his mother, he didn’t get a good look at Victoria’s face. So, Victoria took a huge gamble while coming to Victor with the proposal of a revenge quest, and it paid off. Victoria painted this image that Valcarcel, Granjero, Zamorano, Palacios, and Ramiro were responsible for Marga’s death, and killing them would allow her soul to go into the afterlife peacefully. With each death, Victoria’s main target, Palacios (who was a wealthy politician), felt more and more cornered and became increasingly desperate to save himself and his career. Hence, when Victoria sent him a ransom note, along with the footage of that fateful night, Palacios immediately coughed up a bunch of money, thereby ensuring Victoria’s retirement plan. He even faked his own death to escape the loan recovery agents. Things seemed perfect. However, he made a couple of mistakes that made Victor realize that Victoria wasn’t helping him get revenge out of the goodness of his heart; he had some ulterior motives.
Victor Killed Victoria
Victoria’s first blunder was that he orchestrated an assassination attempt with the help of Victor because he had to convince the authorities, Richi, and Amparo that he wasn’t behind all the killings. You see, a kind-hearted soul named Alvaro was present when Valcarcel was murdered by Victor, and the man died for no fault of his own. His wife, Amparo, and friend, Richi, started an investigation of their own, and given how they were getting really close to figuring out Victoria’s involvement in all this, he had to make it look like the Curro Killer was after him too. As a result of that, Rosa, who worked at Victoria’s office as a cleaner, became collateral damage. Additionally, Victor probably grew suspicious, because if he wasn’t responsible for Marga’s death and the subsequent cover-up, why would he need to make it look like the Curro Killer wanted him dead?
The second and the biggest blunder was the Curro-cam footage that was left unattended after it was sent to Palacios as a part of his ransom demand. Once Victor saw Victoria in the footage from the night Marga was killed, Victoria’s fate was sealed. He followed his “guru” all the way to the train station and turned him into a freshly cooked kebab with his flamethrower. Soon after that, Amparo shot at the gas tanks of Victor’s leaking flamethrower and blew him to smithereens, thereby bringing his revenge saga to an explosive end. Victor deserved to live, though. Amparo was well within her rights to shoot at him because he was the reason why her husband was dead. However, if she knew why Victor was doing what he was doing, she might’ve put down that gun and given him a shot at redeeming himself. That said, Victor had been consumed by his need for revenge, and death was the only thing that could’ve freed him. So, maybe Amparo gave him the one thing that he needed at the end of his vengeful journey.
The Symbolism Behind Curro And Victor’s Flames
1992 is essentially about the evils of capitalism and how it can ruin the lives of the working class while the upper class walks away unscathed. Although the miniseries doesn’t really focus on it, the tragedy of a rich guy like Victoria using Victor’s need to avenge his mother to make money is immense. Victor’s criminal actions were a result of the circumstances that were created by the organizers of the ‘92 Seville Expo and the patriarchal world that he and his mother lived in. But Victoria was in a (heinous) league of his own because he used Victor’s righteous crimes to set up a lavish life for himself. The man didn’t even have the heart to give Victor a portion of the cash that he had gotten from Palacios. I am not saying that doing so would’ve somehow redeemed Victoria, but at least that would’ve shown that there was some humanity left in him. Given how he just up and left as soon as he got the duffle bag full of cash said so much about him. I think Victoria got off easy because Victor’s flames weren’t painful enough to punish that spawn of evil. He deserved something much worse. Victor’s fire, literal and metaphorical, was supposed to be cleansing in nature, but Victoria almost robbed it of its underlying meaning. I say “almost” because eventually that cleansing fire came for him too.
Victoria was so horrible that he even got Victor to turn the Curro mascot into a symbol of terror. There’s no real meaning behind the origins of the Curro mascot. It’s white; it’s part-bird, part-elephant; and its beak and crest are rainbow colored. It’s supposed to evoke feelings of wonder, amazement, and joy. And what did Valcarcel, Granjero, Zamorano, and Palacios do to it? They used the Curro masks like the masks from Eyes Wide Shut and wore them while partying with sex workers. Victoria went a step further and turned the Curro masks into his personal snooping device. Once Victor started using the Curro mascot as his calling card–because he was surrounded by Curro dolls when Marga was murdered and Victoria handed him 4 Curro dolls that represented his 4 targets–it lost all the nostalgia, innocence, and happiness that it was probably associated with. The guy who had originally designed it in real life, Heinz Edelmann, passed away all the way back in 2009. But what about the people who probably owned the rights to Edelmann’s artwork? Are they okay with this fictional desecration of his creation? What about the people who attended the ‘92 Expo and might still have Curro dolls kicking about? What will they think after watching the demented way it has been used in 1992? I, for one, am interested to know.
