Who Killed Che? How the CIA Got Away with Murder": New Book Ties Johnson Admin to Guevara’s Death
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 Ratner and Smith draw on previously unpublished government documents to argue the CIA played a critical role in the killing.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
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Felix Rodriguez, left foreground with "Operation 40" in Mexico City.
He sits next to Porter Goss, who's next to Barry Seal, CIA guys.
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