My guest on today\u2019s show was so interesting, his life story couldn\u2019t fit in just one episode! So, look for episode two of this interview to go live on June 12, 2022.\xa0
My guest on the show today is New York Times Bestselling Author and retired Operations Officer of the Central Intelligence Agency Enrique \u201cRic\u201d 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.\xa0
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\u2019s \u201cspecial operations force.\u201d His service included 36 months in Central American jungles as the first CIA officer living in the anti-Sandinista \u201cContra\u201d camps. Subsequently running counterterrorism/insurgency operations in Latin America and in the Philippines. \xa0
Cuban born and immigrating solo to the US at 10 - which landed him in an orphanage in Pueblo, Colorado - \u201cRic\u201d inherited early on a \u201cdebt of honor\u201d to the USA. Thus, he volunteered for military service at 20. Ric joined the US Air Force elite Pararescue Teams P.J.\u2019s.\xa0
\xa0In today\u2019s episode we discuss:
\xb7\xa0 \xa0 \xa0 Why Ric carried the Walther PPK as a backup weapon, the iconic spy gun used by James Bond.
\xb7\xa0 \xa0 \xa0 The false portrayal of the Central Intelligence Agency spun by Hollywood common in movies and television.
\xb7\xa0 \xa0 \xa0 Common C.I.A. terms and vocabulary.
\xb7\xa0 \xa0 \xa0 Ric\u2019s early memories of Fidel Castro\u2019s forces invading and occupying Cuba.
\xb7\xa0 \xa0 \xa0 John F. Kennedy\u2019s betrayal of the people of Cuba and the failed Bay of Pigs invasion.
\xb7 What life in Castro\u2019s 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.\xa0
\xb7 Ric\u2019s escape from communist Cuba to the United States at age ten without his parents and landing in an orphanage in Pueblo, Colorado.
\xb7 Ric\u2019s path to becoming a member of the Air Force\u2019s elite Pararescue Teams known as the P.J.\u2019s, him being a firefighter/paramedic for Miami Dade Metro, and how those experiences helped him eventually become a C.I.A. Operations Officer.\xa0
\xb7 Ric\u2019s first job with the C.I.A. as a contractor helping the Contras fight the communist Sandinistas in the jungles of Honduras.
\xa0All of this and more on today\u2019s episode of the Cops and Writers podcast.
Visit Ric Prado's website to learn more about him and his book, Black Ops.\xa0
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