Although we have no direct connection to the 65th Infantry, this fact does not deter us from feeling a great commitment and obligation to present the previously untold stories of the 65th Infantry Regiment. A regiment with a compelling past that must not be forgotten.

Raquel Ortiz has thirty years of experience with the public broadcasting system in production, program development and management. She began her tenure with public broadcasting in l968 at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. She has also worked at three public television stations; WNET-13 in New York; WETA/26 in Washington DC; and WGBH-TV, Boston, where she spent two years as a producer/host of her own series, La Plaza and a decade as Executive Producer for Community and Cultural Programming. In l990, she formed Ortiz/Simon Productions, a Cambridge-based independent production company with a primary focus on multi-cultural projects. Among their many projects, OSPI completed the outstanding documentary on Puerto Rico/US relations, Mi Puerto Rico, which premiered on PBS in January of l996. Shortly after completing this program, Raquel became Senior Producer for VPG, Inc., a multi-media production house serving the niche market of US educational textbook publishers. She is a recent graduate from the National Hispana Leadership Institute. Throughout her television career, she has been honored with numerous awards, including regional and national Emmys, Silver and Golden Apples and CPB Programming citations. Raquel is writing a memoir, "The Silk Purse", about her growing-up years in the South Bronx of the 1950's, with her Puerto Rican extended family.

Noemi Figueroa Soulet produced, wrote and directed the short The Borinqueneers: The 65th Infantry Regiment, selected to participate in the 2000 Westchester Film Festival and in 1999 at the New York Latino Film & Video Festival and the Puerto Rico International Book Fair. She has received grants from the Latino Public Broadcasting Project, the Puerto Rico Humanities Council and the Westchester Arts Council for an expanded 1-hour program on the 65th Infantry. She is an experienced commercial producer who has worked with major advertising clients and has a degree in Education from New York University. Noemi attended workshops in video production at Downtown Community TV Center. She has been published in Hispanic Magazine and served as a commentator on the Latino USA national radio network. She has conducted presentations on the 65th Infantry at various organizations, including The San Juan Chapter of the Rotary Club, Verizon Hispanic Support Group, the National Conference of Puerto Rican Women, the Westchester County chapters of the Korean War Veterans Associations and the Marine Corps League and the Readjustment Counseling Center of the Veterans Administration.

Rafael Parra is owner and founder of Time Line Film & Video, Inc., a post-production house in New York which was founded in 1995. Rafael has been an analog editor for the past 17 years and an AVID editor since 1993. Some of his credits include: Cuban Roots, Bronx Stories, a 1-hour documentary directed by Pam Sporm about a Cuban family growing up in the Bronx of the 1960's (which was recently funded by Latino Public Broadcasting); Hurricane Mitch, a ½ hour documentary about the devastating effects of Hurricane Mitch in Central America; The Sixth Feminist Encounter, concerning a 1992 feminist meeting in El Salvador and Island Dream, the story of the Virgin Islands Olympic Team participation in the Summer Olympics of 1996. Rafael has also worked on several segments and on educational documentaries about parenting and asthma with the Children's Television Workshop. He has taught AVID editing at New School University and Film/Video Arts Center. Rafael is a graduate of the Andes University in Colombia and has a B.A. in Film Production from C.U.N.Y.

Ernest Acosta,Jr. is our historical researcher. He is a veteran and founder of the Puerto Rican-American Research Institute whose mission is to develop projects based upon historical information to enhance the image and self-esteem of the Puerto Rican people. As a Computer Systems Analyst at the Library of Congress, he was cited for developing automated procedures for the control of the manuscript collection, a major library publication, and budgetary processing. At the National Archives he conducted an agency-wide automation study for the Archives' records. He also worked at the Presidential Libraries. Mr. Acosta conducted lectures on the history of the 65th at various sites, including the William Joiner Center at the University of Massachusetts. As Vice-Chairman of the 65th Regiment Recognition Committee, he organized a historical document as part of two bills presented by Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez to the Congressional Staff to recognize the accomplishments of the 65th Infantry Regiment. He is currently doing extensive research on the 65th Infantry and is writing a book on the U.S. invasion of Puerto Rico.

Luis Hernandez is owner of Fiddler Productions, Inc., an independent production company based in Naples, Florida which produces films, award-winning real estate commercials and promotional videos for local communities. His short film, Tackle Box, won Best Florida Film at the West Palm Beach Independent Film Festival. Mr. Hernández was formerly Senior Vice President and Creative Director at Laurence, Charles, Free & Lawson, an advertising agency based in New York where he contributed creatively and directed for major clients. Among the almost 100 awards that Mr. Hernández has been awarded are the Clio Awards, American Advertising Awards and International Film and TV awards. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America and a graduate of Yale University.

Dr. Felix Matos Rodriguez ­ is Director for the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College (CUNY), as well as Associate Professor of History. He has been published in a number of professional journals and publications and authored Women and Urban Life in 19th Century San Juan, Puerto Rico and edited Latino Time: A History of Boston's Latino/a Communities, Blackwell Reader on The Americas and Puerto Rican Women's History: New Perspectives.

Dr. Luis Gonzalez Vales - is the official historian of National Archives in Puerto Rico appointed by the Puerto Rico Legislature and the Governor. He is also currently Director of the Puerto Rican Academy of History and history professor at the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico. He is a retired history professor from the University of Puerto Rico and a former Adjutant General of the Puerto Rico National Guard. He is a former soldier and a retired Major General, U.S. Army.

Col. George L. MacGarrigle (Ret.) ­ is a military historian. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy and has received an M.A. in history from Pennsylvania State University. He served with the 1st Cavalry Division in Korea and during the Vietnam War. He co-authored Black Soldier: White Army ­ The 24th Infantry Regiment in Korea, authored The Year of the Offensive and is working on a second volume, The Tet Offensive, both of which tell the Army's story of combat in Vietnam.

Jaime Rodriguez - a veterans' affairs activist. He is a former Team Leader of the Boston Vietnam Veterans Outreach and Counseling Center, and former Special Assistant to the Office of the Commissioner of Veterans Services of Massachusetts. Currently he is the Research Coordinator with the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences at the University of Massachusetts. He has a Masters in Education from Harvard University.