Monday 8 June 2009

BERNARD BARKER: MY GUARDIAN OBIT

My obit of the Watergate burglar Bernard Barker (pictured right with the rest of the Nixon Five, he's the one in the stylish hat) is in today's Guardian, you can find it here. I'm less convinced of Barker's presence in Dallas on November 22nd, but if you believe Hunt was there then that would make sense. I'd be curious to learn about his activities with Batista's secret police; Havana in the 1950s is a fertile ground for the imagination.

Cut from the piece was his career after he took 'early retirement' from his building inspector job: he came a 'zoning consultant' and was arrested in 1983 and charged with trying to bribe a zoning commissioner. He was eventually acquitted on what was described as a technicality. The time he served in Florida was for using his notary public seal to endorse Nixon campaign funds to himself. As the man said, the price of freedom is high.

Barker is also survived by only one of the Watergate burglars, Eugenio Martinez.

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