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| Sunday, 5 February 2006 |
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Features |  |
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CIA complicity in killing Che Guevara by Jayatilleke de Silva
It is well known that the CIA had a hand in the killing of Che Guevara but the United States never admits so. However, de-classified documents of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) give the lie to their pretensions. US- trained It is no secret that the Second Ranger Battalion of the Bolivian Army was trained by the US Special Forces Group. The Memorandum of Understanding Concerning the Activation, Organization and Training of the Second Battalion of the Bolivian Army was written by the Head of the US Military Group (MILGP) in Bolivia and was signed by Chief USARSEC/MILGP Colonel GS Kenneth T. Macek, Chief USARSEC/MILGP David Lafuente, Commander of the Bolivian Army and Armed Forces Commander General Alfredo Ovando. Specialists
"The mission of this team shall be to produce a rapid reaction force capable of counter-insurgency operations and skilled to the degree that four months of intensive training can be absorbed by the personnel presented by the Bolivian Armed Force", said the Memorandum. When Che Guevara was executed in La Higuera, Bolivia one CIA official was present. He was a Cuban-American named Felix Rodriguez who used the codename "Felix Ramos" in Bolivia. He posed as a Bolivian military Officer and only one or two high-ranking officers of the Bolivian Army knew his actual identity Rolex watch It was Rodriguez who transmitted the order to execute Che from the Bolivian High Command to the soldiers at La Higueras. It was also Rodriguez who personally informed Che that he would be killed. After the execution he took Che Guevara's Rolex watch and kept it as a souvenir. A CIA memorandum dated June 3, 1975 declassified under a CIA Historical review Program contains a statement by Felix Rodriguez concerning his assignment in Bolivia and his role in the capture of Che Guevara. He explains how he was hired by the CIA for assignment in Bolivia and how he and another Cuban were sent as guerilla experts to the Second Ranger Battalion. After some time he admits that his "duties gravitated to becoming basically those of an advisor." He also claims that his interrogation of captured guerillas led to an understanding of the guerilla's strategy, which turned out to be the key to the capture of Che Guevara. CIA involvement is also seen by several declassified confidential memoranda sent by Presidential Security Advisor W.W. Rostow to President Lyndon B. Johnson. On October 9, 1967 he wrote that the Bolivian unit engaged in the capture of Che Guevara "is the one we have been training for some time." The following day he wrote to the President saying that according to the CIA, Che was taken alive and after a short interrogation General Ovando ordered his execution." On October 13 Rostow sent another note to the President confirming the death of Che Guevara quoting intelligence information.
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Legendary revolutionary leader Ernesto Che Guevara was captured by units
of the Second Ranger Battalion of the Bolivian Army on October 8, 1967. On
October 9 he was shot dead by Sergeant Teran of the same unit. 
According to the MoU the United States provided a training team of US
Specialists from the 8th Special Forces, US Army Forces, Panama. It
comprised ranger-qualified and combat experienced specialists. There were 16
officers and non-commissioned officers commanded by an officer with the rank
of Major or above. 
