let's bring in our senior latin american affairs editor rafael romo. ooking at one individual in particular. tell us about him, rafael? >> well, wolf, we know their names and how they became trapped while working at a mine in northern chile. but acloser loa closer look at lives is very revealing as you hear from family members and others. let's take a look at the life of the oldest of the trapped miners. four sons, that's the legacy. he's a strong man, a loving father. his handwriting made him famous. his letters will be on the history books in chile. he was the miner who wrote this message -- in english -- we're fine and the refuge, the 33 of us. mario is the oldest of the miners trapped 700 meters under the earth. his tory is per forfect for a m. he was going to file the papers for preretirement but he didn't because he was going to go to the mine and drive one of the brand new trucks taken to the site. he's a passionate guy. he loved his jobs and loves sal at a music. he enjoys life, but his health hasn't been at its best lately. he suffers from sili

rafael romo is here to talk us through what the experience is likely to be like for the miners, who wemoment ago, getting an update from the news conference going on in chile, that the process of hoisting them to surface will begin tonight. what's the experience going to be like? >> first of all, they are going to be put on a liquid diet to reduce the possibility of nausea. that starts in possibly a few hours or minutes because they want to make sure that there is no possibility of that. second, they're going to lower down before any miner can come out -- they're going toious the capsule to lower a paramedic and also a rescue expert. >> has that happened already? >> it hasn't happened yet. it's expected to begin at 11 p.m. eastern tonight. once they are inside the capsule, you can have a pretty good idea of how big this thing is. it's only 21 inches, 21 1/2 inches in diameter and 6'4" in height. >> that's enough room. you seem reasonably comfortable. >> you have to remember they will be wearing communications equipment that will allow them to communicate with the rescuers on the surfac

rafael romo has been explaining to us how exactly it's going to happen, all of the gear that they'reave on. kind of give us a show-and-tell. tell us your size, how they have been trimmed down. how will it feel? >> first of all, they have been there for about two months, so some of them have lost as much as 20 pounds, which is really good because this capsule is only 21 1/2 inches long. i will get inside the capsule to show the viewers how tight it is. once the miners are inside, they're going to be fitted with a communications equipment that is going to allow them to communicate with the surface every step of the way, and karl was telling us that all of them are going to be wearing, also, a belt, which is going to monitor their vital signs as they go up and at the same time, the reason that they want the most experienced miners to go first is because they want to look at the structural stability of the rescue shaft, and so once they're inside this capsule, the most experienced miners are going to be able to looking around them. not smudge space for movement as you can see because we

rafael romo is on the story for us. what have you learned? >> we have been able to confirm that anywhere from 60 to 100 police officers have been arrested related to charges of drug trafficking and all the sales of weapons. it started early this morning and it's being called a mega operation in puerto rico, and the fbi participated and federal authorities participated in the raids. we obtained video from wapa, and you see some of the people arrested, dozens of them being taken into a police station from a bus. this happened very early in the morning, and we understand there will be an announcement in less than a half hour from now where all of the details will be given, but, just to take a look into what's happening, tony, puerto rico has long been seen as a transit point of drugs between south america and the united states. so we don't know kwet if these arrests are related to that kind of drug trafficking, but a newspaper in san juan, puerto rico, the capital of puerto rico, rourting that as many as 133 people were arrested but so far we ha

latin american affairs correspondent rafael romo has the details. >> reporter: it's the biggest corruption investigation in the history of the fbi, the crackdown on police corruption in puerto rico produced 133 arrests, including 89 law enforcement officers, 2 u.s. army officers and 30 civilians. >> without question, this will disrupt drug trafficking operations in puerto rico and help to strengthen law enforcement operations across and beyond the island. >> reporter: puerto rico is just east of the dominican republic and is a major shipping port for drugs, and the united states federal officials say the two-year investigation is known as operation guard shack. >> involved an unprecedented level of logistical resources and technical assist by 30 of the 56 field divisions and hand-to-hand coordination with the department of justice and the united states attorney's office in puerto rico. >> reporter: as part of the investigation, undercover agents conducted over 125 drug transactions involving amounts ranging from $500 to $4500. >> you will be caught, you will be stopped, and you will be pun

our cnn senior latin affairs correspondent rafael romo has a mock-up of it. >> i'm glad you showed pictures bag of rocks in the rescue cage. it's very tight. as you can see, from my shoulder to my shoulder is just space of only 21 1/2 inches. the height, the total height is 6'4". so there's not a lot of space to maneuver here and also you have to take into account the fact that you need to wear the miners are wearing a belt that is helping the rescue team on the surface monitor the vital scenes. heart beat, blood pressure and the like so once you add the communications equipment to -- and that belt, there's really not a lot of space to maneuver. very tight space but, again, it was just incredible to see mario come out of the cage with that bag full of rocks to celebrate with the people in chile. kiran and john? >> yeah. it is amazing to see. just the way that you're showing it right there, i mean, it is -- for just an average-sized guy, it is a tight squeeze. some of them had to lose weight to fit into the capsule. >> it is, kiran. and just to give you an idea, i'm about 5'10". and i have a