The OPS Story: The True Story of Tupamaro Terrorists, Assassinati

by Adolph Saenz

The OPS Story approaches the Cold War with a well-considered balance of history, personal drama and experience. The violence, suspense and excitement are totally nonfiction. The communist quest for world domination aided by ideologues in America ranged worldwide. It was subtle and clandestine and cost many lives. Many of the Americans serving in the Office of Public Safety (OPS) died serving their country, defiled by communist propaganda and betrayed by self-serving politicians and ideologues.Adolph Saenz was an active participant in the Cold War struggle for over two decades and he recounts the history of United States' police assistance to foreign countries to help them combat communist aggression. He tells the story from a personal perspective, his own experience, and from a human side. As an American Hispanic from New Mexico, he blends well into the Latin American cultures that he works in. Despite the treachery of Cold War politics, he is an effective OPS officer and is accepted by his Latin American police and military counterparts as an ally. He is a constantly a potential target for terrorists and kidnappers, and his work is considered to be dangerous as per U.S. Government records. His replacement is kidnapped and assassinated by Marxist terrorists. His assignments take him to Bolivia and Che' Guevarra, to Uruguay and the Marxist Tupamaro terrorists, and to Colombia where he faces a deadly kidnapping cartel in Cali.

300 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2002

Reviews

[Timothy Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

The OPS Story - a clunky title, with a low res picture of the Washington Monument on the front - which has nothing to do with the book. A really amateurish cover, from a small publisher who I imagine took a fee of some kind from the author. The book is in serious need of major editing, it could easily shed 100 pages to make it a better read - the epilogue and appendix at the end is somewhat ridiculous, ending with a yarn of how his mate at school threw a blackboard eraser at a teacher (??).
The book begins with a general history of the OPS - an obscure long defunct organization called the Office of Public Safety (OPS) - which was was a U.S. agency within the Agency for International Development (USAID) that operated from 1962 to 1974, providing police assistance, training, and equipment to foreign nations, particularly in Latin America, to combat communism.
After about twenty initial pages of telling us what the OPS was, and what it did, the book then turns into an autobiography of his times in Uruguay, Colombia, Panama and Bolivia - and it's GREAT!
If a major publisher had gotten hold of this; with a reworked cover, a new title, and with some very diligent editing, this could have easily been a stellar book, and would have sold well I imagine. Unfortunately it got published in its flabby unvarnished manuscript stage.
But anyway, I think much of what was written about Uruguay is of genuine historical importance as regards that difficult period of its 20th century history. Moreover, his exploits cracking a kidnap gang and solving a murder in Colombia are riveting, although Saenz boasting about an extramarital affair, whilst he had a wife and kids in the US, wasn't cool - but never mind.
Saenz died in 2023 - he had led a remarkable life.