The icon for the hidden state was familiar to me. My very first introduction to Spanish culture was Walt Disney Production's "Zorro" which depicted the return from Spain of university student Diego Vega to Old California in 1820 as Mexico was asserting its independence and before my country so brutally appropriated a huge chunk of territory in 1846. Zorro was Diego's alter ego, wearing always the "hidden state" mask and almost always coming out at night to right the wrongs of corrupt society. Sort of a Spanish Batman. The mark of Zorro's "Z" was seen everywhere in playgrounds across America in 1959.
