Smerdou's family had to leave Mexico once the Mexican Revolution broke out in 1910, moving to Brussels, the capital of Belgium, and later, to the Spanish cities of Seville and Málaga.
[1] On January 1, 1931, once his father was retired as honorary consul of Mexico, he took up this position with jurisdiction in Eastern Andalusia and Spanish Protectorate of Morocco.
At the beginning of the Spanish Civil War and the massacres of the red terror in Málaga, Smerdou takes advantage of his contacts and friendships, including the sincere collaboration of José Gálvez Ginachero, and manages to provide shelter in his private home, Villa Maya, to hundreds of Malaga militants of Carlism, Falangism and conservatism, whose lives were in danger.
Among the many curiosities of Villa Maya, which had its diary, its anthem and very rigorous protocols to avoid being discovered (which happened several times), was the arrival of supplies and news from Gibraltar through the yacht Honey bee by William Grice-Hutchinson, a British businessman established in Malaga who became known in the Rock as the Scarlet Pimpernel.
[8] Given these comments, the mayor of Málaga, Francisco de la Torre, proposed that Smerdou receive the City Medal posthumously.
That small Mexican territory on Malaga soil known as "Villa Maya" became a refuge for the Spanish for many months... (Vicente Fox)An honorary consul acting as an ambassador, a modest lodge apprentice showing off his newly released influences to achieve a single objective: saving lives.
That is the case of Smerdou, about which there are more than 96 testimonies that are kept in the Ortega y Gasset Foundation and which has already been worthy of some articles and publications; That is the perfect example of how to save lives, to do good, the essential thing is the will of the person, what our parents and catechists called the right intention, the means being less than an anecdote.