Chapter 4
Dinner With The CIA Despite my disagreements with the Coast Guard, what I learned from my three years with them would serve me well in life. Not only did seamanship
and
navigation,
I learn but
I
learned about vessels, sonar, weapons, engines, and the basics of investigations. Furthermore, the G.I. Bill paid for my university education at Inter American University where I studied for three years and earned bachelor degrees in Business Administration, Public Administration, and Political Science. This may seem like an odd combination to many but I thought it would give me a good base to study law when I got back to America, if I ever decided to leave.
But for now life in Puerto Rico for me was just too much fun. I started a diving and water sports business called Aquaventures which I started from my Oceanside house on Ramey AFB now called Punta Borinquen which is the Northwestern tip of the island. In the winter months the tourists from Canada gave me full time work teaching diving, snorkeling, and sailing, and during the summer months, the locals gave me steady business but at lower rates. I was a certified NAUI Divemaster and PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor and I accumulated over 3,000 hours of bottom time in the 7 years I lived in Puerto Rico diving an average of 6 hours per day. When I didn’t have class I was sailing my Hobie Cat or spear fishing, or just chilling out in a hammock under some 10 meter palm trees at Crashboat Beach. I was also the caretaker of a 60 acre oceanfront estate owned by some Canadian millionaires and earned about $300 a week from the hundreds of coconuts that fell from the many palm 51
trees on the property. Local surfers would also pay me $100 per day to collect “magic mushrooms” that grew on the property since the neighbor was a dairy farmer and his cows were allowed to graze on my property so I didn’t have to mow it very often. It was a laid back but fun and profitable life and I would throw parties for my Coastie friends on the estate every few months. This 60 acre estate was about 20 kilometers East of the Coast Guard Air Station in Aguadilla on the North Coast and about a 30 minute ride on my dirt bike. Perhaps about 20% of the guys who were discharged in Puerto Rico stayed there. As a U.S. territory it had most of the accommodations of living stateside with a year round tropical climate and a very low cost of living. Although the primary language is Spanish, it is language very easy to learn especially when taught by a friendly and beautiful Puerto Rican girl of which there was no shortage. I became fluent in Spanish in less than a year after arriving.
Perhaps it was because with my deep tan and fluent Spanish I was approached by a recruiter for the CIA after he monitored my Political Science class for a few days. He said his name was Jaime and he invited me for dinner at The Arbolito. At first he did not reveal his true identity and just said he had a business proposal for me and that he represented some government agencies. I had been negotiating with Carlos Diago from the Ministry of Tourism recently to do water sports packages with Air Canada and Iberian Airlines so it made sense to me. But after dinner we ordered a few drinks and he began asking my opinion on the politics of Puerto Rico and whether I favored statehood or independence for the island. At this particular time there was a large independent party movement growing and winning popular support after a 52
police
scandal
erupted
called
“Cerro Maravilla” in which the
A Young Rueben Berrios – Leader of Puerto Rico’s PIP Independence Party.
police were accused of executing some political opponents
in a
remote mountain location. Although I had been politically active in western Puerto Rico on local issues, I never weighed in on any national or island-wide issues. At the time I favored statehood because I had felt the Puerto Rican government was getting a free-ride from U.S. taxpayers
–
plenty
of
federal
subsidies and benefits without the burden of any federal income tax. My views have since changed and I now believe the current commonwealth status is a healthy balance so the local people will not be forced to abandon their autonomy, culture and language.
But on that particular night, the recruiter got the answer he was fishing for and then he began explaining the big picture of the problems created by Ruben Berrios (the independent party leader). I was not really buying into his “communist threat” he was trying to pitch to me but kept my disagreement to myself as I was curious to see what he wanted with me. But it became clear that unless I agreed with his point of view, he wasn’t going to go further. I conceded that his analysis of the situation was feasible, and if true, a threat to America.
He then proposed that I consider working with them as they needed to collect intelligence on the Independence Party and since I never supported any party publicly and was able to easily befriend the locals through my water sports 53
business, he suggested I join their party and infiltrate the leadership by volunteering for their many activities. His goal was to have 2 or 3 informants planted inside the management of the Independent Party within the next two years. He claimed he was successful in getting “his people” inside the two other major parties (PNP and PDP) and now because of Cerro Maravilla, getting inside the PIP was critical for them. The pay and benefits he offered was excellent but the risks were equally great. And to be honest, after what happened with the Coast Guard, I was not really keen on working an agency that had ethics and integrity issues related to drug smuggling from Southeast Asia. At that time soldiers returning from Vietnam reported that body bags and corpses of deaf soldiers were being used to conceal large amounts of heroin being smuggled by rogue agents and the allegations about the Nugan Hand Bank being a CIA front bank for la undering drug moneys were proving to be true.
This is Crashboat Beach wear I taught scuba diving and sailing for five years
54
non-committal and when he followed up with me a week later, I told him I simply did not want to get involved in something so controversial and dangerous. Besides I was simply having too much fun with my water sports biz. I later learned that one of my IAU classmates was recruited for the position but quit the gig less than six months after taking it when he learned that another person suspected of infiltrating that party had simply disappeared.
After it became known that I knew my classmate had been recruited by the CIA and I had defended the right of Ruben Berrios to be included in some public debates on the environment, something very strange and scary took place. After spending a weekend at the estate in Quebradillas I woke up early around 5:00am by noises downstairs in the two story mansion. I grabbed my gun and quietly made my way downstairs only to find five men in my house. I got the drop on them and made them freeze and put their hands on their heads. I hollered for my girlfriend to call the police. Then one of the guys said he was the police, but they sure did not look the part. But my girlfriend came downstairs and as it turned out, she grew up with one of the five men (Sgt. Irizarry) and so I allowed one of the guys to pull out some ID. When I was satisfied they were really the police, I put my gun down and they told me they had received reports that there were drugs on my property and they came to investigate. So as the sun came up they spent a few hours searching all 60 acres, parts of which even I never visited due to some thorny bushes.
Long story short, they
found
no
drugs or anything illegal in the house but they did find about
a
dozen 55
marijuana plants on the property, that were either planted by the surfers or growing wild. I was arrested but the charges were later dismissed after they realized the property did not belong to me and I did not reside their full time. This was a rural property (famous locally for a Eurpoean who committed suicide there by jumping off the 50 meter cliff to the rocks on the waterfront below) that anyone could access from adjoining properties or the public beach which was the northern border of the property. Also a police chemist determined that the plants discovered on the property were six months old and I had only been charged with the property four months previous. But I was quite curious who would give a tip with my name?
Everyone who knew me
knew I did not use drugs. Clearly someone wanted me arrested and off the island. In retrospect I personally believe that perhaps the CIA guys may have been concerned that I might compromise their efforts to insert their informants inside the PIP, something I never even considered, and I would never knowingly endanger the life of another person no matter what their brand of politics might be. Over the next 15 years there would be seven similar attempts to set me up and one would actually be successful.
This episode would be the first time in my life that I would personally experience how the U.S. government attempts to infiltrate foreign governments and political parties whose ideologies may not be convenient or perfectly aligned with those of their own. Three years later I would find myself on an small business advisory council for Governor Carlos Romero Barcelo and I had the occasion to ask the Governor if he realized how much political freedom he would have to forfeit if Puerto Rico became a state and if he was willing to become basically a puppet actor on a stage. His answer gave me a wake up call and immediate insight into the fine art of politics… “My friend, if we become a state, we will only have to dance with one devil, and at least we 56
know his favorite tunes by heart.” I thought about his comments for almost a week. At least the Governor had no illusions about what statehood would mean for PuertoRico.
Since the 1950s the American government has been pulling all the Strings In Puerto Rico since the days of Luis Munoz Marin as recently confirmed by the and
release
of
the
Cointelpro
report
you
declassification can
read
here
http://www.freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/Black%20Liberation%20Di sk/Black%20Power!/SugahData/Government/COINTELPRO.S.pdf
Pages
350-385 pertain to Puerto Rico but the rest of the document gives historical insight into how Uncle Sam has been strong-arming and persecuting protesters and even academics who dissent in both foreign and domestic policy issues.
I never could understand what legal jurisdiction the CIA would have in a U.S. territory that is legally the domain of the FBI. If you spend 30 minutes at the above link you will be shocked at the level of manipulation and political blackmail used by the U.S. to rule the island from the shadows while presenting the world with the illusion of a genuine democracy.
Whereas I was not really interested in involving myself in Puerto Rico politics before dinner with the CIA, it made me quite curious as to why America was spending over $500,000,000 million a year to subsidize the economy of this little Caribbean island of only 3 million people. The three huge military bases 57
that occupied the island gave me my answer. Ramey Air Force base has one of the longest runways in the world and was a former B52 SAC base. Roosevelt Roads Naval Station on the Northeast tip of the island was a deep water port and weapons testing base where Navy ships and submarines were able to experiment with new weapon technologies in relative seclusion and secrecy. And Fort Buchanan Army Base in San Juan next to Isla Grande Airport was a logistical convenience if America ever needed to intercede or invade any Latin American country. So in a two words, the answer to my own question was “Strategic Convenience” during that era. Today with remote controlled drones, killer satellites, nuclear submarines, and other space-based weapons, the island has lost some strategic importance and two of the three bases were closed, but are still being maintained. Ramey AFB is still utilized by the U.S. Coast Guard and the FBI maintain an office there, and the Air Force operates a solar observatory not far away. All three bases could be reactivated within a month or two if needed. Although after the Vieques bombing fiasco the local public would probably object to any new remilitarization of their beautiful and usually tranquil island. In retrospect I personally believe that perhaps the CIA guys may have been concerned that I might compromise their efforts to insert their informants inside the PIP, something I never even considered, and I would never knowingly endanger the life of another person no matter what their brand of politics might be. I believe their infiltrations of the PIP helped to neutralize and suppress the growth of that party although Rueben Berrios it’s founder now appears to be much respected and admired rather than feared in the days when I resided in Aguadilla at 125 E Street in the Punta Borinquen community. The CIA and other American law enforcement agencies are very good at intimidation and creating fear in the general populations – both abroad and domestically. Just as they scared the hell out of America about Saddam Hussein, they did equally well with Rueben Berrios in Puerto Rico who was consistently maligned and 58
painted as Fidel Castro’s communist buddy. Berrios from what I learned over the years admired Fidel for his courage to repel American imperialism, but was smart enough not to make the same political blunders as Fidel that would isolate Cuba for decades. His vision for Puerto Rico did not include a conversion to communism as his enemies repeatedly claimed.
I miss Puerto Rico and all the good friends I made there and left behind. Sadly most Americans do not even know that this heavenly tropical island is a U.S. territory. For sailors, surfers, and divers, the West coast of Puerto Rico is irresistible. I helped build an artificial reef there 25 years ago and long to see the results. Perhaps some of my old diving students now go spearfishing or bugging (lobster hunting) there. I highly recommend Western Puerto to all young couples looking for a romantic geta way or honeymoon paradise.
The beautiful City of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico where I lived for 5 years
"Any People who expect to be both ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, expects what never was and never will be." - Thomas Jefferson - © Cpyright 1995-2014 By Bruce A. Gorcyca – All Rights Reserved 59
