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My guest on today’s show was so interesting, his life story couldn’t fit in just one episode! So, look for episode two of this interview to go live on June 12, 2022. 

My guest on the show today is New York Times Bestselling Author and retired Operations Officer of the Central Intelligence Agency Enrique “Ric” Prado. Mr. Prado is a twenty-four-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency where he served as an Operations Officer in six overseas posts. 

Mr. Prado spent his first ten years at CIA as a paramilitary officer in Special Operations Group/Special Activities Division (SOG/SAD, Ground Branch), the CIA’s “special operations force.” His service included 36 months in Central American jungles as the first CIA officer living in the anti-Sandinista “Contra” camps. Subsequently running counterterrorism/insurgency operations in Latin America and in the Philippines.  

Cuban born and immigrating solo to the US at 10 - which landed him in an orphanage in Pueblo, Colorado - “Ric” inherited early on a “debt of honor” to the USA. Thus, he volunteered for military service at 20. Ric joined the US Air Force elite Pararescue Teams P.J.’s. 

 In today’s episode we discuss:

·      Why Ric carried the Walther PPK as a backup weapon, the iconic spy gun used by James Bond.

·      The false portrayal of the Central Intelligence Agency spun by Hollywood common in movies and television.

·      Common C.I.A. terms and vocabulary.

·      Ric’s early memories of Fidel Castro’s forces invading and occupying Cuba.

·      John F. Kennedy’s betrayal of the people of Cuba and the failed Bay of Pigs invasion.

· What life in Castro’s Cuba was really like, including the government taking all your possessions, public lynchings, children encouraged to spy on their parents, and what a Castro neighborhood watch looked like. 

· Ric’s escape from communist Cuba to the United States at age ten without his parents and landing in an orphanage in Pueblo, Colorado.

· Ric’s path to becoming a member of the Air Force’s elite Pararescue Teams known as the P.J.’s, him being a firefighter/paramedic for Miami Dade Metro, and how those experiences helped him eventually become a C.I.A. Operations Officer. 

· Ric’s first job with the C.I.A. as a contractor helping the Contras fight the communist Sandinistas in the jungles of Honduras.

 All of this and more on today’s episode of the Cops and Writers podcast.

Visit Ric Prado's website to learn more about him and his book, Black Ops. 

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