1. THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES FROM THE BUENOS AIRES HERALD ARE FORWARDED FOR GENERAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION. YOUR ATTENTION IS INVITED TO SUBPARAGRAPH TWO OF 4- BELOW.
2. EXTRACT FROM HERALD OF WEDNESDAY 14 SEPTEMBER 1966
TOYNBEE ARRIVES TOMORROW.
ARNOLD J. TOYNBEE, THE BRITISH HISTORIAN AND ADVOCATE OF INTERNATIONAL PEACE, WILL ARRIVE FROM URUGUAY TOMORROW, AND REMAIN ABOUT ONE MONTH IN ARGENTINA. HE WILL LECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITIES OF BUENOS AIRES; LA PLATA; CUYO; TUCUMAN AND AT THE WAR COLLEGE.
3-EXTRACT FROM HERALD OF TUESDAY 27 SEPTEMBER 1966
PRINCE PHILIP ON PRIVATE VISIT
THE ON-AND-OFF VISIT OF PRINCE PHILIP, HUSBAND OF QUEEN ELIZABETH II OF BRITAIN, FINALLY CAME TRUE YESTERDAY. PRINCE PHILIP ARRIVED IN BUENOS AIRES FOR A 23-DAY VISIT DESPITE THE QUESTIONS ASKED IN PARLIAMENT ABOUT HOW HE WAS GOING TO MANAGE ON THE 50 POUND STERLING TRAVEL ALLOWANCE GRANTED TO ALL BRITISH TOURISTS.
HE IS HERE OFFICIALLY AS THE PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL EQUESTRIAN FEDERATION AND WILL PRESIDE AT THE OPENING OF THE HORSE SHOW AND JUMPING CHAMPIONSHIP ON SEPTEMBER 30.
A FRONT-PAGE EDITORIAL IN THE EVENING NEWSPAPER “CRONICA,” DESCRIBING HIM AS AN “UN-DEROCCUPIED PLAYBOY,” ASSURED THE PRINCE HE WAS NOT WELCOME IN ARGENTINA.
4-EXTRACT FROM HERALD OF SUNDAY 2 OCTOBER 1966
PHILIP TAKES A TUMBLE
PRINCE PHILIP, HUSBAND OF QUEEN ELIZABETH II OF ENGLAND, RECOVERING FROM A FALL FROM HIS HORSE, TEAMED WITH PRESIDENT ONGANIA FOR A 5-4 POLO VICTORY YESTERDAY. THE WIN WAS A PLEASANT CHANGE FOR PRINCE PHILIP, WHOSE VISIT HERE HAS BEEN MARRED BY DAILY ANTI-BRITISH DEMONSTRATIONS.
PRESIDENT ONGANIA AND PRINCE PHILIP TEAMED WITH TWO CRACK PLAYERS, JUAN CAVANAGH AND GEOFFREY CRAIG, FOR A HARD-PLAYED GAME AT THE MILITARY SAN JORGE CLUB. WHILE GALLOPING BEHIND THE BALL, PRINCE PHILIP ATTEMPTED A QUICK SWERVE AND FELL FROM HIS HORSE. HE IMMEDIATELY REMOUNTED AND CONTINUED THE MATCH.
AT THE END OF THE POLO MATCH, A LUNCHEON WAS SERVED AT THE SAM JORGE CLUB IN HONOR OF THE VISITING PRINCE. PRESIDENT ONGANIA AND MEMBERS OF BOTH TEAMS WERE PRESENT, AS WERE 60 GUESTS.
G.W. LUNSFORD, MAJ INF
CONFIDENTIAL
[ NINE ]
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ARG 0019 2205 ZULU 25 OCTOBER 1966
VIA WHITE HOUSE SIGNAL AGENCY
FROM: POLO SIX
TO: EARNEST SIX
SITUATION REPORT #23
1. LTCOL RANGIO HAS PASSED THE FOLLOWING INTEL FROM HIS SOURCES TO THE UNDERSIGNED:a. GUEVARA, WHO HAS SHAVED OR PLUCKED THE HAIR FROM THE ROOF OF HIS SKULL, HAS DYED THE REMAINING HAIR GRAY AND IS WEARING BOTH SPECTACLES AND A PROSTHETIC DEVICE TO ALTER THE SHAPE OF HIS MOUTH, AND AN UNKNOWN NUMBER OF OTHERS DEPARTED HAVANA UNDER CONDITIONS OF GREAT SECRECY ABOARD MEXICANA FLIGHT 6363 FOR MEXICO CITY 1630 ZULU 24 OCTOBER 1966, PRESUMABLY FOR BOLIVIA.
b. MRS DOLORES DIAZ DE ZAMMORO HAS BEEN REPORTED BY THE CUBAN INTERIOR MINISTRY TO HAVE DIED “OF COMPLICATIONS OF INFLUENZA” AT THE ISLA DE PINOS “DETENTION FACILITY” AND TO HAVE BEEN IMMEDIATELY BURIED THERE “BECAUSE OF THE DANGER OF CONTAGION.”
2. RANGIO, WOJG WILLIAM PETERS, SFC EDWARD YOUNG, AND UNDERSIGNED WILL DEPART VIA L23 (CRAIG, SANTIAGO FLYING) FOR LAPAZ 2300 LOCAL TIME FOR FOLLOWING PURPOSES:a. EXCHANGE OF INTEL RE APPEARANCE OF GUEVARA AND PROBABLE ARRIVAL IN BOLIVIA
b. POSSIBLE ESTABLISHMENT OF COVERT ASA INTERCEPT STATION(S) WITHIN BOLIVIA.
c. RANGIO WILL INFORM MAJOR JULIO ZAMMORO OF BOLIVIAN ARMY OF THE DEATH OF HIS CUBAN RELATION. UNDERSIGNED HAS DEFERRED TO RANGIO’ S VERY STRONG FEELINGS IN THIS REGARD.
G.W. LUNSFORD, MAJ INF
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[ TEN ]
La Paz International Airport
La Paz, Bolivia
1530 3 November 1966
“That has to be him,” Lieutenant Colonel Guillermo Rangio said, pointing through the one-way glass in the wall overlooking the Immigration Desk toward a middle-aged man wearing a snap brim fedora.
He spoke in English, out of courtesy to Major George Washington Lunsford and Warrant Officer (j.g.) William E. Thomas, whose Spanish was not very fluent.
All three were in uniform, Rangio because he was performing an official visit to the security division of the Bolivian Army, and Lunsford because he’d decided that he and Thomas would really attract less attention as army officers than as black men in business suits.
“You sure, Colonel?” Thomas asked, seeking confirmation, not a challenge.
“That man meets the description I have,” Rangio replied, just a little coldly. “You have seen Dr. Guevara before, Mr. Thomas?”
“The last time I saw the sonofabitch, sir,” Thomas said. “He was getting into a boat on the shore of Lake Tanganyika.”
He made a cross of his index fingers and held it over his forehead. Rangio understood the gesture to mean Thomas had had Guevara in the crosshairs of his sight, and chuckled.
“And he didn’t look like that, Mr. Thomas?” Rangio asked.
“Not much,” Thomas said.
“That’s him, Thomas,” Julio Zammoro said. He was wearing the uniform of a Bolivian major of infantry.
“Well, then, I’m impressed as hell,” Thomas said. “As they say, he could have fooled me.”
“I don’t really understand the disguise,” Rangio said thoughtfully. “Castro has something like thirty-five hundred men in his Anti-Counterrevolutionary police. They obviously suspect— know—we have agents, who know what’s happening and when. Who does he think he’s fooling, even with hair plucked out?”
“I noticed that word in the heads-up,” Thomas said. “He really ‘plucked’ his hair out? It’s not just shaved?”
“Plucked,” Rangio confirmed. “I understand it was rather painful.”
“Ego, Julio,” Lunsford said. “He’s right on the edge of being an egomaniac. He’s the only one in disguise, because the others are anonymous, and he, on the other hand, is famous.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a photograph of him without his beard,” Lieutenant Colonel Enrico Cupull of the Bolivian Army said.
“I have,” Rangio said. “He’s a rather good-looking young man.”
“Who only you, Willy, of this group would recognize on the street—or passing through immigration,” Lunsford said. “Making my point. He sees himself as a world-famous guerrilla; he therefore needs to be disguised.”
“I would,” Zammoro said, “recognize him, I mean, with a beard or without, in a suit, in fatigues—”
“Well, he’s through,” Cupull said. “Give me a moment to make sure he’s left the terminal, and then we’ll go have our lunch at the club.”
Cupull left the room with the one-way mirror overlooking the line of Immigration stations, and returned several minutes later to report that the bald-headed man they’d seen was carrying a Uruguayan passport issued to Adolfo Mena González, who told the Immigration officer that he was on a fact-finding mission for the Organization of American States, and had the documents to prove it.
“I’d love to know if they’re real, or not,” Cupull said. “And if real, who issued them.”
“They are probably genuine,” Zammoro said. “And the passport, too. In my experience, bureaucrats tend to do favors for both sides, in the logical presumption that one side or the other will win, and they can then claim to have been on their side all along.”
“I’m sure you’re right, Julio,” Cupull said, and then smiled. “And now let us go for our lunch. As the beef in Argentina, as everyone knows, is next to inedible, I have arranged for what I think is known in the U.S. as a barbecue.”
As they were having their coffee in the officers’ club, an officer reported to Cupull, who listened carefully, thanked him, and then offered the report to the others.
“Dr. Guevara is at this moment,” he related, “conversing with your fellow Argentine, Willy—Señora Laura Gutierrez de Bauer, formerly known as Haydee Tamara Bunke, and sometimes as ‘Tania’—in suite 316 of the Hotel Copacabana on Prado Boulevard. The Bolivian Communists wi
th him are pretending they do not know he is Guevara, although last night, when arranging tomorrow’s transport, they used the phrase ‘to transport Che Guevara to the farm in Ñancahazú several times.”
“I’m sorry about your wife, Zammoro,” Doubting Thomas said to Zammoro as they used the urinal.
“Thank you,” Zammoro said.
“Was I right not to pop the sonofabitch in the Congo?”
“You had no choice, Bill,” Zammoro said. “You are a soldier— you had your orders.”
“Sometimes I forget my orders,” Thomas said. “Zam, I had my crosshairs on his forehead, and it’s been a long time since I missed at that range.”
“You are a soldier,” Zammoro repeated. “You had your orders. You did the right thing, Bill.”
[ ELEVEN ]
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ARG 0065 2010 ZULU 1 DECEMBER 1966
VIA WHITE HOUSE SIGNAL AGENCY
FROM: POLO SIX
TO: EARNEST SIX
SITUATION REPORT #33
REFERENCE US ARMY MAP SERVICE MAP 4774
BOLIVIA
1-LTCOL CUPULL HAS PASSED THROUGH MAJOR ZAMMORO THE FOLLOWING INTEL FROM HIS SOURCES TO THE UNDERSIGNED:
SEÑOR CIRO ALGARANAZ, A LAW-ABIDING BOLIVIAN PIG FARMER, HAS REPORTED TO BOLIVIAN AUTHORITIES HIS SUSPICIONS THAT THE NEW OWNERS OF A PIG FARM ON THE RIVER ÑANCAHAZÚ ADJACENT TO HIS ARE IN FACT ENGAGED IN THE DRUG TRADE, BASING HIS SUSPICIONS IN PART ON “THE FUNNY WAY” THEY SPEAK SPANISH.
ON BEING COMMENDED BY MAJOR ZAMMORO FOR HIS SERVICE TO THE STATE, AND REMINDED THAT SUSPICIONS ARE NOT PROOF, ALGARANAZ WAS HAPPY TO GO ALONG WITH ZAMMORO’S SUGGESTION THAT A SOLDIER BE ASSIGNED TO WORK IN CIVILIAN CLOTHES ON HIS FARM IN ORDER THAT HE MAY KEEP AN EYE ON THE SUSPECTED DRUG TRAFFICKERS. THE ONLY ROAD TO THE “DRUG TRAFFICKERS” PROPERTY RUNS PAST SEÑOR ALGARANAZ’S HOUSE.
G. W. LUNSFORD, MAJ INF
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[ TWELVE ]
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ARG 0019 2300 ZULU 2 FEBRUARY 1967
VIA WHITE HOUSE SIGNAL AGENCY
FROM: POLO SIX
TO: EARNEST SIX
AFTER-ACTION REPORT #4
REFERENCE US ARMY MAP SERVICE MAP 4774 BOLIVIA
1. AFTER HAVING BEEN ADVISED THAT INTERCEPTS OF ENCRYPTED RADIOTELETYPE MESSAGES FROM ÑANCAHAZÚ TO HAVANA (WHOSE CALL SIGN FOR THIS PURPOSE IS “MANILA”) REVEALED THAT GUEVARA “AS A NEAR FINAL STEP IN THE TRAINING PROCESS” INTENDED TO LEAD HIS MEN ON A TWO-WEEK TRAINING MARCH LTCOL CUPULL APPROVED A SURVEILLANCE OF THE MARCH BY BOLIVIAN TROOPS.
2. WOJG WILLIAM THOMAS IN HIS COVERT ROLE AS SUBOFICIAL MAYOR (SGT MAJOR) TO MAJOR ZAMMORO OF LTCOL CUPULL’S STAFF JOINED THE PATROL WHICH DEPARTED FROM THE BOLIVIAN GARRISON TOWN OF CAMIRI 1 FEBRUARY 1967.
G. W. LUNSFORD, MAJ INF
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[ THIRTEEN ]
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ARG 0019 2300 ZULU 16 FEBRUARY 1967
VIA WHITE HOUSE SIGNAL AGENCY
FROM: POLO SIX
TO: EARNEST SIX
AFTER ACTION REPORT #7
REFERENCE US ARMY MAP SERVICE MAP 4774 BOLIVIA
1. THE UNDERSIGNED AND MAJOR ZAMMORO MET WITH WOJG WILLIAM E. THOMAS AT COORDINATES 2909/4512 AT 1600 ZULU 15 FEBRUARY WITH THE INTENTION OF RECEIVING THOMAS’S REPORT OF GUEVARA TRAINING MARCH AND RELIEVING HIM OF HIS ADVISER ROLE TO RECONNAISSANCE PATROL.
2. THOMAS DESCRIBED THE CONDUCT OF THE GUEVARA PATROL AS “A CHINESE FIRE DRILL,” STATING THAT THEY HAD INADEQUATE AND IMPROPER EQUIPMENT, INADEQUATE OR NO MAPS, POOR MARCH DISCIPLINE, HAD EXHAUSTED THEIR RATIONS, AND, IN THE ABSENCE OF AN ABILITY TO HUNT MORE ADEQUATE GAME, WERE FORCED TO EAT PALM HEARTS, MONKEYS, HAWKS, AND PARROTS. HE REPORTED FURTHER THAT TWO BOLIVIAN COMMUNISTS HAD PERISHED ATTEMPTING TO CROSS THE ÑANCAHAZÚ RIVER, WHICH IS SWOLLEN BY RAIN AT THIS TIME OF THE YEAR.
3. STATING THAT HE BELIEVED IT WAS ENTIRELY POSSIBLE THAT GUEVARA MIGHT PERISH ON THE MARCH, AND THAT, IN ANY EVENT, IT “WOULD BE INSANE FOR THEM TO KEEP IT UP MORE THAN A FEW DAYS MORE,” THOMAS REQUESTED PERMISSION TO REMAIN WITH THE RECONNAISSANCE PATROL, AND WAS GIVEN PERMISSION TO DO SO.
G. W. LUNSFORD, MAJ INF
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[ FOURTEEN ]
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ARG 0019 2300 ZULU 25 FEBRUARY 1967
VIA WHITE HOUSE SIGNAL AGENCY
FROM: POLO SIX
TO: EARNEST SIX
AFTER-ACTION REPORT #18
REFERENCE US ARMY MAP SERVICE MAP 4774 BOLIVIA
1. MAJOR PAOLO DESAZ, COMMANDING OFFICER OF BOLIVIAN TROOPS IN CAMIRI, WHO HAS NOT BEEN MADE AWARE OF LTCOL CUPULL OR MAJOR ZAMMORO’ S ANTI-GUEVARA ACTIVITIES, AND NOT GIVEN ANY INTEL, NEVERTHELESS BECAME SUSPICIOUS OF ACTIVITIES AT ÑANCAHAZÚ AND BEGAN PATROL ACTIVITIES IN AREA, INCLUDING AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE BY BOLIVIAN L-19 AIRCRAFT.
2. ON 22 FEBRUARY TWO BOLIVIAN COMMUNISTS TOOK ADVANTAGE OF ABSENCE OF “RAMON” (GUEVARA) AND OTHERS FROM ÑANCAHAZÚ FARM AND ATTEMPTED TO DESERT. THEY WERE CAPTURED BY DESAZ TROOPS AND DURING INTERROGATION REVEALED EVERYTHING THEY KNEW, WHICH DID NOT INCLUDE THAT “RAMON,” COMMANDER OF CUBANS, IS GUEVARA.
3. CUPULL IS DELAYING TRANSMISSION OF DESAZ’S REPORT TO LA PAZ, BUT CANNOT DO SO FOR LONG.
4. WOJG THOMAS REPORTS BY RADIO THAT GUEVARA-LED TRAINING MARCH IS STILL “STUM-BLING AROUND” IN WILDERNESS, OUT OF FOOD, POSSIBLY LOST, AND A MINIMUM OF FOURTEEN DAYS’ MARCH FROM ÑANCAHAZÚ FARM.
5. CUPULL’S OBSERVER ON ALGARANAZ FARM PHOTOGRAPHED PASSENGERS OF PICKUP TRUCK EN ROUTE TO ÑANCAHAZÚ FARM. THE TRUCK IS REGISTERED TO LAURA GUTIERREZ BAUER IN LA PAZ, AND SHE AND FRENCH JOURNALIST REGIS DEBRAY HAVE BEEN POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED BY PHOTOS AS PASSENGERS IN PICKUP TRUCK.
G. W. LUNSFORD, MAJ INF
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[ FIFTEEN ]
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ARG 0044 2300 ZULU 20 MARCH 1967
VIA WHITE HOUSE SIGNAL AGENCY
FROM: POLO SIX
TO: EARNEST SIX
AFTER-ACTION REPORT #35
REFERENCE US ARMY MAP SERVICE MAP 4774 BOLIVIA
1. WOJG WILLIAM THOMAS REPORTED 19 MARCH 1967 THAT GUEVARA-LED TRAINING MARCH, “HAVING FINALLY FOUND ITS WAY HOME,” WAS ONE DAY’S MARCH FROM ÑANCAHAZÚ FARM. GUEVARA STILL ALIVE BUT SICK.
2. AT 1135 ZULU 20 MARCH 1967 RENDEVOUS WAS EFFECTED WITH RECONNAISSANCE PATROL. THOMAS, WHO LOST APPROXIMATELY TWENTY-FIVE POUNDS DURING PATROL, WAS FLOWN TO BUENOS AIRES IN L-23 BY 1LT CRAIG AND WOJG DE LA SANTIAGO. FOLLOWING DISCREET PHYSICAL EXAMINATION IN ARGENTINE CENTRAL MILITARY HOSPITAL BUENOS AIRES ARRANGED BY LT COL RANGIO, THOMAS WILL BEGIN SEVEN-DAY RECUPERATIVE LEAVE, NOT CHARGEABLE AS ORDINARY LEAVE.
G. W. LUNSFORD, MAJ INF
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[ SIXTEEN ]
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ARG 0044 2025 ZULU 23 MARCH 1967
VIA WHITE HOUSE SIGNAL AGENCY
FROM: POLO SIX
TO: EARNEST SIX
SITUATION REPORT #42
REFERENCE US ARMY MAP SERVICE MAP 4774 BOLIVIA
1. AT APPROXIMATELY 1615 ZULU 23 MARCH 1967, A PATROL OF CAMIRI-BASED BOLIVIAN SOLDIERS WAS AMBUSHED APPROXIMATELY 15 KILOMETERS FROM ÑANCAHAZÚ FARM. ONE (1) KIA; THREE (3) WIA; TWO (2) MISSING.
2. UNDER CIRCUMSTANCES LTCOL CUPULL MUST NOW FULLY REPORT ON HIS AND MAJOR ZAMMORO’S ACTIVITIES IN AREA.
3. CUPULL’S OBSERVER ON ALGARANAZ FARM REPORTED “TANIA” AND REGIS DEBRAY PASSING AS THEY LEFT ÑANCAHAZÚ FARM.
4. CUPULL BELIEVES AMBUSH WILL RESULT IN FAR GREATER BOLIVIAN ARMY REACTION AGAINST CUBANS, OVER WHICH HE WILL HAVE LESS CONTROL.
G. W. LUNSFORD, MAJ INF
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[ SEVENTEEN ]
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1820 GREENWICH 27 MARCH 1967
FROM STATION CHIEF, LA PAZ, BOLIVIA
TO DIRECTOR, CIA, LANGLEY
COPIES TO STATION CHIEF, BUENOS AIRES ARGENTINA
MR SANFORD T. FELTER, COUNSELOR
TO THE PRESIDENT,
THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON
1. GENERAL RENÉ BARRIENTOS BECAME PRESIDENT OF BOLIVIA AS OF 2815 GREENWICH 27 MARCH 1967.
2. THE UNDERSIGNED CONSIDERS IT GERMANE TO REPEAT THE EXTRACT OF THE PRIVATE CONVERSATION BETWEEN BARRIENTOS AND THE UNDERSIGNED OF 24 MARCH 1967, FOLLOWING THE AMBUSH BY CUBANS OF BOLIVIAN ARMY UNIT, PREVIOUSLY FURNISHED.
BEGIN QUOTE
KEEP HIM ALIVE? WHAT WE SHOULD DO IS BEHEAD THE COMMUNIST (OBSCENITY) AND STICK HIS HEAD ON A POLE ON THE BOULEVARD PRADO.
END QUOTE
3-THE UNDERSIGNED AGAIN RECOMMENDS IN THE STRONGEST POSSIBLE TERMS THAT DIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATIONS AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL BE MADE VIS-À-VIS U.S. GOVERNMENT POLICY RELATIVE TO ERNESTO GUEVARA.
DONALD J. MACNAMARA
STATION CHIEF BUENOS AIRES
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[ EIGHTEEN ]
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EARN0225 WASH DC 1405 ZULU 29 MARCH 1967
VIA WHITE HOUSE SIGNAL AGENCY
FROM: EARNEST SIX
TO: POLO SIX
STATION CHIEF BUENOS AIRES
1. PRESIDENT BARRIENTOS WILL SHORTLY NAME LIEUTENANT COLONEL ANDRÉS SELICH, DEPUTY COMMANDER OF THE PANDO REGIMENT OF MILITARY ENGINEERS STATIONED AT VILLEGRANDE, TO OVERALL COMMAND ANTI-GUEVARAN ACTIVITIES IN BOLIVIA.
2. PRESIDENT BARRIENTOS HAS REQUESTED, AND US GOVERNMENT WILL FURNISH ASAP, A SPECIAL FORCES UNIT TO TRAIN A BATTALION OF BOLIVIAN RANGERS. CAPT JOHN S. OLIVER, WHO HAS BEEN KEPT ABREAST OF ALL DEVELOPMENTS, WILL COMMAND.
3. SELICH, OF YUGOSLAVIAN BACKGROUND, IS WELL KNOWN TO OUR FRIEND IN GERMANY. HE HAS AGREED WITH OUR GERMAN FRIEND THAT GUEVARA SHOULD BE KEPT ALIVE, AND WILL DO WHATEVER HE CAN IN THIS REGARD. SELICH HAS BEEN INFORMED OF ACTIVITIES OF CUPULL (OF WHICH HE WAS AWARE) AND ZAMORRO/THOMAS (OF WHICH HE WAS NOT) AND BELIEVES INFORMING BARRIENTOS AND OTHERS OF CUPULL/ZAMMORO/THOMAS ACTIVITIES WOULD BE COUNTERPRODUCTIVE.
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