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| THE LEGACY OF CHE GUEVARA November 20, 1997 |
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Why should Che be the subject of so much attention now? Is it possible that Che represents something more than the era in which he died? Considering the manner in which he died, how will history treat Che relative to other guerrilla leaders? Will the mass iconization of Che fuel even more anti-American sentiments abroad, as well as anti-government sentiments among America's "lost generation X-ers"? What role did the CIA play in the death of Che?
Bertrand M. Bell of New York NY, asks: In your inquiry what role did the CIA play in the death of Che? Would the assassination have succeeded without the CIA?
Mr. Jon Lee Anderson, author of "Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life," responds:
The American role in the defeat of Che Guevara in Bolivia was probably decisive. The U.S. Special Forces trained a Bolivian army battalion in counterinsurgency techniques with the specific aim of pursuing Guevara's guerrilla band, and it was the this same Bolivian battalion which actually captured Che Guevara.
A Cuban-American CIA agent, Felix Rodriguez, was present at Che's execution. Although Rodriguez claims to have had CIA orders to try and 'keep Che alive' – but could do nothing to stop Che's execution when it was ordered by Bolivia's military president, General Rene Barrientos – there is no evidence to support his claims. Nor, it has to be said, is there any evidence showing that the CIA actually ordered Che's assassination. But in covert intelligence operations, deniability is everything. If there was a CIA order to kill Che, it was probably never committed to paper.
What we are left with, then, is the historical evidence that the CIA was involved in the effort to hunt Che down in Bolivia, and that a CIA agent was present at the moment of his execution. Having said that, if Bolivian soldiers managed to capture Che without American assistance, they probably would have killed him anyway, because they did not tend to take prisoners.
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