Overview

Eugenio Rolando Martinez (1922-2021) was a Cuban exile and active CIA informant who was one of the five men arrested inside the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex on June 17, 1972. Martinez was notable as the only member of the Watergate burglary team who was an active, reporting CIA asset at the time of the break-in, a fact that fueled decades of speculation about the agency's possible foreknowledge. Martinez had fled Cuba after the Castro revolution and became deeply involved in anti-Castro exile activities in Miami. He participated in the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and subsequently made an estimated 300 clandestine boat missions to Cuba for the CIA, earning the agency's Medal of Honor equivalent. He remained on the CIA payroll as a $100-per-month informant at the time of the Watergate break-in, reporting to his CIA handler about exile community activities. Martinez was recruited for the Watergate operation by Bernard Barker, a fellow Cuban exile and Bay of Pigs veteran who had been working with E. Howard Hunt on White House operations. Like Barker, Martinez believed they were participating in a national security operation aimed at uncovering Cuban or other foreign funding of the Democratic Party, not a domestic political espionage mission. Martinez pleaded guilty to conspiracy, burglary, and wiretapping in January 1973 and was sentenced to one to four years in prison. He served approximately 14 months before being released. Judge Sirica later reduced his sentence. The question of whether the CIA had advance knowledge of the Watergate operation through Martinez's handler reports was never definitively resolved. Martinez died in 2021 at age 98.

Key Affiliations

Controversies & Concerns

Related Investigations (1)

Known Associates & Connections

Sources & Documentation

3 documented sources from official records, investigations, and reports