By Brad Hubbard | 7/22/2024
Ric Prado is a badass. He and others like him, are the tip of the spear when it comes to doing things that keep this country safe that we will likely never know about unless they do what Prado did and write a book.. ‘Black Ops: The Life of a CIA Shadow Warrior’ is worth the read if you want a peek into this world. From Cuba to Central America to Korea and beyond,
Prado has a pretty amazing story. Born in Cuba before Castro came to power. Sent to the United States on a ‘Freedom Flight’, on to be the Air Force Pararescue and then to the CIA after, well, they needed someone who spoke Spanish and someone there met him at a training event. Shows up in Langley, VA on a Monday and by the end of the week he is on a plane to Honduras to work with the Contras.
Battling communism was personal for Prado. He saw communism take his family’s business in Cuba and he didn’t want to see that happen to others as communism reached other countries in Central and South America. But he fought back by being CIA’s one guy out there training Contras and later batting back against Shining Path in Peru. He is grateful and proud to be an American and did everything he could to defend this country.
He went on to battle against North Korea, terrorists in the Philippines and even Al Qaeda. He certainly did more than his fair share in keeping this country safe against those that seek to do us harm. He could have done more had, as he would say, the political will was there.
I would certainly recommend this book for anyone who has an interest in this slice of history. It’s in depth, personal and covers essentially the last 25 years of American foreign engagement. At least on the intelligence side. Yes, you would like to see less things redacted and Prado allowed to tell some of the other stories that are there but you understand why he can’t.
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