Who Killed Che? How the CIA Got Away with Murder": New Book Ties Johnson Admin to Guevara’s Death

[Judi Lynn]

Who Killed Che? How the CIA Got Away with Murder": New Book Ties Johnson Admin to Guevara’s Death
Wednesday 8 February 2012
by: Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! | Interview & Video

Michael Ratner and Michael Steven Smith are the co-authors of a new book about the U.S. role in the killing of Cuban revolutionary, Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Born in Argentina in 1928, Che rose to international prominence as one of the key leaders of the 1959 Cuban Revolution that overthrew U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. After a period in the new Cuban government leadership, Che aimed to spark revolutionary activity internationally. On October 8, 1967, he was captured by Bolivian troops working with the CIA. He was executed one day later. In their book, "Who Killed Che?" Ratner and Smith draw on previously unpublished government documents to argue the CIA played a critical role in the killing. "The line of the [U.S.] government was that the Bolivians did it, we couldn’t do anything about it. That’s not true," Smith said. "This whole operation was organized out of the White House by Walt Whitman Rostow. And the CIA, by this time, had become a paramilitary organization." On Che’s significance, Ratner says Che became "a symbol for revolutionary change... He still remains, of course, that today. If you go to Occupy Wall Street, if you go to Tahrir Square, you will see people who are wearing Che T-shirts, because they understand that their obligation, their necessity, is to take on the 1 percent. And that’s what Che was about. And that’s why I think he remains such a hero for people in the streets today."


(Transcript of the interview follows)

~snip~
The line of the government was that the Bolivians did it, we couldn’t do anything about it. That’s not true. This whole operation was organized out of the White House by Walt Whitman Rostow. And the CIA, by this time, had become a paramilitary organization. They were told, "We’ll give you the broad outlines on what to do, but don’t tell the president, because we don’t want to embarrass him." And the indication was: get Che. And that’s what was organized right out of the White House.

We have a quote from Jorge Castañeda, the Mexican diplomat and historian who wrote one of these biographies, saying that he interviewed Gustavo Villoldo. This was an artistic representation of Villoldo, who I’ll tell you about. And Villoldo said to him, "When I got off the plane in La Paz, I went right to the palace, where Barrientos, the U.S.-installed dictator, sat." And he said to Barrientos, "We’re going to supply you with everything you need to get Che. When you get him, we want him killed." And Barrientos said, "I give you my word, as president of Bolivia, that if we catch him, we’ll kill him." That’s only one of the things in the book.

The CIA had tried to kill Che before. They tried to kill Castro 602 times. They killed Lumumba, as you indicated. A CIA agent drove around with the body of Lumumba in his trunk. It’s Murder Incorporated down there. Why? Because of regime change. Cuban Revolution took the 99 percent, and they became the 1 percent. And the 1 percent of the Cuban oligarchy went to Miami. And what they want to do, and what they still want to do, and why they have the embargo, is they want to take that 1 percent and put them back in and restore capitalist property relations in Cuba.

More:
http://www.truth-out.org/who-killed-che-how-cia-got-away-murder-new-book-ties-johnson-admin-guevaras-death/1328724831

[MisterP]

1. an oldie but a goodie from the 80s: Bill Sienkiewicz paints things you won't see in your worst

fever dreams

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brought_to_Light

[polly7]

2. That's a fascinating article.

I love this quote from the second part of it, where Smith tells of his favourite part of the book:

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2012/2/7/part_2_who_killed_che_how_the_cia_got_away_with_murder_new_book_ties_johnson_admin_to_che_death

"I have a—yeah, my favorite part of the book is actually the last piece of it, which is a poem by Victor Hugo about another revolutionary doctor called Jean-Paul Marat. And if you wouldn’t mind—it’s very short—could I read it?"

"They said Marat is dead. No. Marat is not dead. Put him in the Pantheon or throw him in the sewer; it doesn’t matter—he’s back the next day. He’s reborn in the man who has no job, in the woman who has no bread, in the girl who has to sell her body, in the child who hasn’t learned to read; he’s reborn in the unheated tenement, in the wretched mattress without blankets, in the unemployed, in the proletariat, in the brothel, in the jailhouse, in your laws that show no pity, in your schools that give no future, and he appears in all that is ignorance and he recreates himself from all that is darkness. Oh, beware, human society: you cannot kill Marat until you have killed the misery of poverty."

and then ... this:

"MICHAEL STEVEN SMITH: Che was—Che was sitting down. And the sergeant comes in, and Che stands up. And the guy says, "Sit down." And Che said, "I will remain standing for this," because he knew what was happening. And the sergeant lost his will and couldn’t do it and went back out and had some alcohol and came back in again. And Che, wanting to get it over with, said—to calm this guy, he said, "Remember: you’re killing a man." And the guy was so nervous—he was instructed not to shoot Che in the face, but he was so nervous, he shot him, and he kind of sprayed the bullets, and the bullets shot Che in the lungs. His lungs filled up with blood, and he died.

There’s an interesting story about this sergeant. He later developed cataracts and was blind and living in La Paz. And the Cubans had sent doctors to Bolivia. And they sent a team of eye surgeons. And they actually found this guy who was blind, and they performed surgery on him, and now he can see again."

[ellisonz]

3. Agreed. n/t

[Bucky]

4. What? A US president involved in killing a Communist during the Cold War? I'm shocked!