to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Covarrubias uses her diplomatic connections to help Mulder infiltrate the Russian province of Krasnoyarsk, allowing him to reach the site of the Tunguska event. However, it is later seen that Covarrubias is working for The Smoking Man (William B. Davis) and the Syndicate. During the fifth season, the Syndicate discovered that Covarrubias had betrayed them and was providing information to Mulder. Covarrubias was infected with black oil during her betrayal of the Syndicate, and Syndicate scientists used her to test a vaccine they had been working to create. While the Syndicate-developed vaccine proves ineffective, Covarrubias' infection is ultimately cured by an effective vaccine stolen from a Russian shadow-government group by Alex Krycek. In the following season, Covarrubias is discovered by FBI agent Jeffrey Spender (Chris Owens) at a decontamination chamber. She begs him to help her escape the facility, addressing him by name as well as giving him information about the whereabouts of his mother, Cassandra. Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea), a former Syndicate agent now acting alone, is also present at the facility. He declines to help the pair, and leaves Covarrubias for dead. Covarrubias returns in the seventh season finale "Requiem", restored to health. She makes contact with Krycek at the behest of The Smoking Man, who wishes to resume the work of the now-eradicated Syndicate. Having been given the location of a downed UFO, she and Krycek betray The Smoking Man, instead going to FBI assistant director Walter Skinner and Mulder to inform them about the craft. They later turn on The Smoking Man, pushing him down a flight of stairs and leaving him for dead. In the series finale "The Truth", Skinner seeks Covarrubias as a witness in Mulder's trial for murder. After Skinner fails to track her down, the ghost of X hands Mulder a scrap of paper with her new address on it. She is called upon to testify, and speaks about her involvement with the Syndicate to some extent. However, when pressed for further information about the continuation of the conspiracy she clams up, and at Mulder's request is dismissed from the stand for fear that if she divulges certain knowledge, she would be killed. Reception The character of Marita Covarrubias has been met with generally negative criticism. Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium &