Ex-CIA agent in Nixon’s downfall

Eugenio Rolando Martínez, one of five men whose arrest while burglarizing the Watergate complex in Washington led to President Nixon’s resignation in 1974, has died. He was 98.

Martinez died Feb. 6 at his daughter’s home in Minneola, Fla.

A CIA contract agent who ran hundreds of covert missions from Miami to his native Cuba, Martínez was among four Miami Cuban exiles recruited by top Nixon aides to break in to the Democratic National Committee’s Watergate headquarters in May and June of 1972 along with a security coordinator for Nixon’s reelection campaign.

They were told to tap phones and look for financial connections between Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and George McGovern, Nixon’s opponent in his reelection bid.

While in the Watergate office building on June 17, the men were discovered by a security guard who called police. Their arrests set off a series of investigations that ultimately brought down Nixon, who resigned rather than face impeachment.

All five burglars were convicted in the scheme, as were two of Nixon’s senior aides. Martínez, served 15 months in prison.

Martínez, born in July 1922 in Artemisa, Cuba, was a prolific asset for the CIA in the 1960s, running hundreds of missions to the island from Miami.

After his release from prison, Martínez worked as a car salesman. He was pardoned by President Reagan in 1983, becoming the only person embroiled in the Watergate scandal other than Nixon to receive a presidential pardon.

Martínez is survived by his daughter, granddaughter and grandson.