Talk:Ricardo Morales (intelligence agent)

A fact from Ricardo Morales (intelligence agent) appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 12 September 2020 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that FBI informant Ricardo Morales, who testified against Cuban militant Orlando Bosch in 1968, shared a hotel with Bosch in 1976?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2020/September. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Ricardo Morales (FBI informant).

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Did you know nomination[edit]

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Yoninah (talk) 16:52, 6 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

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Article history

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... that FBI informant Ricardo Morales testified against Cuban militant Orlando Bosch in the United States in 1968, and lived in the same hotel as Bosch in Venezuela in 1976?

ALT1: ... that FBI informant Ricardo Morales, who testified against Cuban militant Orlando Bosch in 1968, shared a hotel with Bosch in 1976?

Reviewed: John Peele Clapham
Comment: Hook suggestions welcome

Moved to mainspace by Vanamonde93 (talk). Self-nominated at 17:44, 24 August 2020 (UTC).[reply]

This article is new enough and long enough. The hook facts are cited inline and either could be used, the article is neutral and I detected no copyright issues. A QPQ has been done. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 17:54, 2 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I came by to promote ALT1, but am having trouble finding the hook fact in the Atlantic article; could you point it out to me? Also, could you add more of his notability to the lead? Thanks, Yoninah (talk) 13:37, 6 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Yoninah: The Alantic article says "In return, [Bosch] was given [...] a suite at the chic Anauco Hilton, where García and his deputy, Ricardo “El Mono” Morales, also had apartments. Morales, a Cuban exile like his boss, [...] even testified against Bosch in the Polish ship case of 1968". The Miami News source discusses the trial in more detail, and says "It was after a 57-millimeter cannon shell hit the Polish freighter Polancia here last Sept. 16, that the [defendents, including Bosch] were arrested by FBI agents", and "During the seven-day trial which ended Nov. 15, the government produced a paid informer named Ricardo Morales Navarette, 29, who infiltrated Bosch's group with tape recorders tied to his body and kept the FBI informed of its activities." I really don't know what else to add about notability; his activities as an informant were enough to land him in the papers regularly, and as such he meets GNG. I don't want to add an isolated statement about his most notable activities because withouth the context provided in the body it would create neutrality problems. Vanamonde (Talk) 14:56, 6 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Vanamonde93: I just felt that the lead doesn't properly summarize the main points of the article. But thus is the way of DYK start-class articles. Thank you, I found the hook fact in the source. Restoring tick per Cwmhiraeth's review. Yoninah (talk) 16:49, 6 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

For future reference[edit]

The article seems to emphasize Morales’ role as an FBI informant (through subject title and intro). (Per UPI, Morales was an informant not just for the FBI, but also for the CIA and DEA.[1].) If a disambiguation title is needed, I would go with “intelligence officer” or “mercenary”. Also, I suggest specifying that he was a contract agent of the CIA[2] to emphasize that he was not a staff or career agent with official access. - Location (talk) 12:34, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Location: The sources I relied on to write this emphasize his role as an informant. "Officer" sounds unnecessarily puffy; it's unclear if he was ever in a position of authority outside Venezuela. "Ricardo Morales (intelligence agent)" would be an acceptable title, if you think it more appropriate. I do not want to use the google books source that you've provided, as its claims are decidedly at odds with what most sources say about him and the events he was involved in. Even if he was responsible for the Cubana bombing (which Bardach and others doubt) he certainly didn't plant the bombs himself. Then the book suggests the Cubana bombing was conducted at the behest of the CIA, an exceptional claim that needs multiple sources. It also implies that he was murdered by the CIA and FBI. I'm open to reconsidering if other sources supporting those statements are found. Vanamonde (Talk) 13:43, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

There are various sources that describe him as an "intelligence officer" or "intelligence agent"; apparently the Miami Herald used both in one article.[3] I am OK with either. "CIA agent" is ambiguous. He definitely was not a "CIA officer" (per the definitions used here) and he admitted/said he was a "contract agent" with the CIA in his 1982 deposition.[4]

You are absolutely correct in that the article by William Chambliss should not be used. Given that he references the Avirgan/Honey CIA drug smuggling conspiracy on the previous page, he definitely is implying that Morales was killed by the CIA and/or FBI. Good catch! (I blame working on my iPad at 3:00 am for missing that.)

By the way, here is a primary source document published by NARA that confirms his date of birth as 14 June 1939. - Location (talk) 16:42, 28 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]