become very valuable tools to fight this war, and therefore he asks—”
Supo interrupted him in Swahili.
“The colonel begs you to conserve your airplanes, and yourselves, so that you will be valuable tools for a long time,” Totse translated. “He says he cannot afford the loss of one airplane, or any one of you.”
Lunsford stood up.
“With all respect, my colonel,” he said. “When we take care of this little job for you, and get on the plane to go home, I will bet you a case of beer that you will say, ‘My God, am I glad to see them go !’ ”
“A soldier,” Supo said in his painful English, “is never glad to say good-bye to another soldier.”
He turned and marched out of the room.
[ NINE ]
SECRET
Central Intelligence Agency Langley, Virginia
FROM : Assistant Director For Administration
FROM: 26 March 1965 1530 GMT
SUBJECT : Guevara, Ernesto (Memorandum #63)
TO: Mr. Sanford T. Felter
Counselor To The President
Room 637, The Executive Office Building
Washington, D.C.
By Courier
In compliance with Presidential Memorandum to The Director, Subject: “Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara,” dated 14 December 1964, the following information from your sources in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is relayed as received: (Reliability Scale: Not Applicable) .
Begin Intelligence Relayed:
Ernesto Guevara de la Serna has secretly moved into a single family residential building controlled by the Fight Against Bands of Counterrevolutionaries (Acronym from the Spanish, LCB) at Calle Hernandez 134 in the La Corona section of Havana. Neither his wife nor daughter are with him.
He has shaved his beard and the top of his skull, apparently to give the appearance of a smooth shaven bald-headed man. He has also been fitted with prosthetic devices apparently intended to change the appearance of his lips.
It may be that he intends to use the name Ramón Benítez and travel on a Brazilian passport, but this has not been confirmed.
End Intelligence Relayed.
Howard W. O’Connor
HOWARD W. O’CONNOR
SECRET
XIX
[ ONE ]
SECRET
Central Intelligence Agency Langley, Virginia
FROM : Assistant Director For Administration
FROM: 31 March 1965 1530 GMT
SUBJECT : Guevara, Ernesto (Memorandum #66)
TO: Mr. Sanford T. Felter
Counselor To The President
Room 637, The Executive Office Building
Washington, D.C.
By Courier
In compliance with Presidential Memorandum to The Director, Subject: “Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara,” dated 14 December 1964, the following information from your sources in Buenos Aires, Argentina is relayed as received: (Reliability Scale: Not Applicable) .
Begin Intelligence Relayed:
Victor Dreke was taken afternoon of 30 March 1965 to the house at Calle Hernandez 134 in the La Corona section of Havana by Alberto Chivina, an aide to Castro. Dreke, who will be Guevara’s deputy, was introduced to Ramón Benítez, whom he either pretended not to recognize as Doctor Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, or actually did not recognize, which seems rather unlikely.
Dreke now has a Uruguayan passport in the name of Roberto Suárez Milían and Guevara one in the name of Ramón Benítez. Both are believed to be genuine Uruguayan passports furnished the Cubans blank. It is probable that other such passports have been made available by Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, and others.
When the masquerade was revealed, Dreke and Guevara finalized the roster of the personnel they intend to take with them to the former Belgian Congo.
The 113-man strong force was described by Guevara as a “column,” and will consist of a General Staff, three platoons of infantry and one of artillery. So far as is known the column does not have small arms or artillery.
Guevara and Dreke and a small, unknown number of others will probably leave tomorrow on the regularly scheduled Aerolineas Cubana flight to Prague, Czechoslovakia, and probably move from Prague via Cairo, Egypt to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania aboard a scheduled Czechoslovak Air flight to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, as soon as possible.
A roster of the revolutionary column will be furnished when available.
End Intelligence Relayed.
Howard W. O’Connor
HOWARD W. O’CONNOR
SECRET
SECRET
URGENT
FROM : CIA LANGLEY 31 MARCH 1965 1605 GMT 03/5788
TO: STATION CHIEFS:
ALGIERS, ALGERIA
BERLIN, GERMANY
CAIRO, EGYPT
DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA
MONTREAL, CANADA
PARIS, FRANCE
PRAGUE, CZECHOSLOVAKIA
VIENNA, AUSTRIA
SUBJECT: POSSIBLE MOVEMENT OF ERNESTO “CHE” GUEVERA AND OTHERS
THE AGENCY IS IN POSSESSION OF UNVERIFIABLE BUT PROBABLY RELIABLE INTEL THAT ERNESTO “CHE” GUEVERA AND VICTOR DREKE, AND PROBABLY A SMALL GROUP OF UNIDENTIFIED OTHERS WILL DEPART HAVANA CUBA 1 APRIL 1965 ABOARD AN AEROLINEAS CUBANA FLIGHT TO PRAGUE, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, AND LATER FLY TO DAR ES SALAAM VIA CAIRO ABOARD A CZECHOSLOVAK AIR FLIGHT.
THE DIRECTOR PERSONALLY REPEAT PERSONALLY IS VERY INTERESTED IN CONFIRMATION OR DIS-PROVAL OF THIS INTEL INCLUDING ADDITIONAL DETAILS FOLLOWING: BOTH GUEVARA AND DREKE MAY BE TRAVELING ON URUGUAYAN PASSPORTS USING THE NAMES RAMÓN BENÍTEZ AND ROBERTO SUÁREZ MILÍAN RESPECTIVELY. GUEVERA MAY BE CLEAN SHAVEN, WEARING