Red Terror (Spain) on 25 July, feast day of St James, patron saint of Spain. August saw a further 2,077 clerical victims. After just two months of civil war, 3400 priests, monks and nuns had been murdered. According to recent research, some of the Republican death squads were heavily staffed by members of the Soviet Union's secret police, the NKVD. According to author Donald Rayfield, "Stalin, Yezhov, and Beria distrusted Soviet participants in the Spanish war. Military advisors like Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko, journalists like Koltsov were open to infection by the heresies, especially Trotsky's, prevalent among the Republic's supporters. NKVD agents sent to Spain
Michelle Patron professor at New York University's Center for Global Affairs. Patron is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has written for "Foreign Affairs", "Financial Times", and the "Los Angeles Times". Patron is the daughter of Judi Billig and Bob Billig of North Miami Beach, Florida. She was married on November 15, 2008, to David I. Patron, at the time an executive with American Express. Michelle Patron Michelle Naomi (Billig) Patron (born 1974) is an energy policy expert who currently serves in the White House as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for energy and climate change