CIA man recounts Che Guevara's death
By Will Grant
BBC News, Miami


Hero. Rebel. Revolutionary. These are words one often hears in association with Ernesto Che Guevara.


Felix Rodriguez poses with Che shortly before Che was killed


Felix Rodriguez
But they are not words you will often hear in Miami where many people see Che Guevara as a brutal guerrilla who brought Cuba nothing but misery with his communist ideals.

One of those anti-Che voices in Miami belongs to Felix Rodriguez, a Cuban-born former CIA agent who was part of the mission of CIA operatives and Bolivian army forces that captured and killed Che Guevara in October 1967.

Forty years on, how does he feel about the role he played in ending the life of one of the most iconic Latin American leaders of the 20th Century?

I visited the ex-CIA man at his Miami home. He was wearing a shirt emblazoned with the logo of the 2506 Association of the Veterans of the Bay of Pigs, another of his earlier military incursions against the Cuban government.

Pride

Mr Rodriguez was present at some of the most notorious events of US anti-communist involvement in Latin America during the Cold War, including training the Nicaraguan Contras and advising the Argentine military government during the 1980s.

It is a history of which Mr Rodriguez is fiercely proud.


Felix Rodriguez relayed the order to shoot Che Guevara
His air-conditioned den is full of framed photographs and memorabilia of his CIA past: Felix Rodriguez and George Bush Senior talking in the White House, a CIA medal for exceptional service, a blood-soaked North Vietnamese flag.

But it was his short time in Bolivia with Che Guevara that interested me. Sitting by his pool, Felix Rodriguez showed me his Che scrapbook.

Inside were the yellowing and fragile pages of his log-book from October 1967: the expenses of every day meticulously recorded, each one within the $14 daily allowance from the CIA; a page from Che's code book, supposedly designed by the Chinese government, with a fresh code for each different message.


Reader L A Heath sent this image of a Che poster in Havana


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There were also more macabre items: photographs of the dead Che, laid out on a table for the world's press to see; the tobacco from Che's final pipe; a photo of Che's severed hands, which were cut from his body and put in formaldehyde to preserve his fingerprints, in case Fidel Castro tried to claim that the corpse was not Che's.

And the most important item: a photograph of a captured, injured and bedraggled Che Guevara, standing next to the soldiers who had caught him and the 27-year-old Felix Rodriguez, who had interrogated him.

Wasn't that humiliating for Che?

"No, I don't think so. Actually, I think he felt when the picture was taken that his life was going to be spared. I think he felt that he wasn't going to be shot," Mr Rodriguez said.

Death warrant

According to Mr Rodriguez's version of events, the atmosphere was so friendly that Che willingly agreed to the photograph and even laughed when Rodriguez said: "Watch the birdie, Comandante".


Che Guevara came to Bolivia after trying to foment revolution in Africa
An hour or so after the photo was taken, Che was killed.

Felix Rodriguez received the order from the Bolivian military high command. There was a simple code: 500 meant Che Guevara, 600 dead, 700 alive.

500 - 600 was the command.

Mr Rodriguez wanted confirmation on the crackly radio line. It was repeated: 500 - 600.

Mr Rodriguez broke the news to Che that there was to be no trial.

"Che turned white... before saying: 'It's better this way, I should have died in combat.'"

Man v legend

Mr Rodriguez ordered the soldier who pulled the trigger to aim carefully, to remain consistent with the Bolivian government's story that Che had been killed in action during a clash with the Bolivian army.

But wasn't Che entitled to a fair trial rather than such an ignominious death in La Higuera?

"I could have tried to falsify the command to the troops, and got Che to Panama as the US government said they had wanted," said Mr Rodriguez.

But he said it was a decision by the Bolivian presidency, and he had to let history run its course.

By killing Che Guevara the man, didn't Mr Rodriguez think he had simply helped create something much more powerful - Che Guevara the legend?


Memories of Che Guevara abound in this corner of Bolivia
"That was done by the Cuban government... Most people don't know the real Che Guevara - the Che Guevara who wrote that he was thirsty for blood, the Che who assassinated thousands of people without any regard for any real legal process."

After Che was killed, there was some argument over who should have his pipe. The iconic pipe belonging to the most famous guerrilla in the world. What young soldier there on that day wouldn't want it?

Felix Rodriguez says it was in his possession but, after being asked several times, he gave it to the soldier who had shot Che so that he would "remember his deed".

So did Mr Rodriguez have any regrets about what happened in 1967, I asked him.

Yes, he smiled. "I would have kept that pipe."




Agent felix with che guevara in the above photo

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7027619.stm

I dont know enough to be a fan of che, but the below song is nice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSRVtlTwFs8

Turkkan, can i ask you something?

During my visit to Cyprus, i realised that TC's, especially young ones have a big respect for two idols. Che Guevara and Bob Marley.

Am i just generalizing it with my selective perception or are these two guys really loved there?

Im not sure about bob marley but che guevara is very popular as the 'left wing' is very strong here, talats party for example, and that of akinci like to consider themselves socialists and quite a few of them as hardcore communists or even maoists. Not that most of them know anything about che guevara or his life apart from the fact that cuba is involved and he was a revolutinary, or even much about communism for that matter but they either follow their families political point of view or what they have learnt when they studied in turkey.

oh yeah eah eah

Che Guevara is my idol too, damn he was THE man!
viva la revolucion!

It sounds to me that you went to an Omonoia match.

x2

The Greek Cypriot left wing idolise Che like a God. The problem is I'm sure most of them know very little about him, and just get accustomed to idolising him from a young age at football and through the political youth movements that take them camping etc...

You see people waving hammer and sickles at Omonoia games and proudly calling themselves communists, yet they have probably never heard of Marx yet alone read the communist manifesto or know anything beyond token slogans like "for the good of the workers". The funny thing is, even when these people get wealth and own businesses (hiring cheap foreign immigrants and treating them like dirt, avoiding taxes as much as possible and generally being great capitalists) they still say the same rhetoric.

The truth is that Cyprus is a nation of entrepreneurs, and I remember a senior Akel man telling me once that Akel's (left wing communist/socialist party) biggest fear is that people sit up and realise what socialism really means. In reality Akel, for all the commie symbols (to get the old boys votes) is in reality probably more capitalistic than New Democracy in Greece (conservative party).

That's because Cyprus is a classic example of a country where voters just follow in their parents footsteps, floating voters are almost as rare as Greek Cypriot men who have not been to a cabaret.

Of course, as much as Che is worshipped by the left, he is despised by the right wing who have their own symbols- like Grivas.

Where the hell is my omonioa-flag-waving emoticon?

I guarantee the guy in the Red T-shirt has never heard of Friedrich Engels - but his dad once owned a Lada Samara.

I saw this man in a documentary about Che's life, he did not want to be shown on camera, but the eventually got him to show himself, but he was very sheepish.

He said that when they gave the order to shoot Che, and the executioner walked in to shoot him and seemed to be hesitant Che Guevara shouted at him "Shoot you coward, you are only going to kill a man" or something like that.

Anyway, one thing is for sure Che was a brilliant leader of men and inspirational, but he was also known for his callousness, he once shot a soldier for falling asleep when he was on watch.

A haaa! I finally found em!

Che was the consummate revolutionary

Che was a fucking pinko communist. Good riddance.

see the movie motorcycle diaries, you might get a slightly different appreciation of him, how he started, not how he ended up...