[TTBRAHWTMG]

Rico's ethnicity is one of those topics that will stir up much debate amongst Heinlein enthusiasts...but there are some clues about his upbringing that could suggest he is Filipino...or atleast has some in his heritage. Heinlein often intentionally makes it difficult to peg his characters down. I recall a story from Heinlein about how, while writing one female character, he kept pictures of 2 beautiful women on his desk, one black and one white. He purposely wrote in such a way that his physical descriptions of the character could describe either woman in the photographs, and he would make an effort to visualize both as the character while he wrote.