GUEVARA BELIEVED KILLED---PROOF AWAITED HERE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP69B00369R000200270027-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 26, 2003
• Sequence Number: 27
• Publication Date: October 10, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

October 10 1967
Approved For Releas 20Q3909/02 ; GiAfDP 9B,QQ369R000200270027-6
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T' . ~"?n'r' I. ri ,; 1 ,, Thee am persons in Bolivia -er lets v,h1Ch he said had
..y JEREM 1_r O'LEARY today who are expert CL]ougll in b p`found 0[ TAW in eaves used by the
fingerprint comparison to Cs-
Ernesto "Chc- Guevara ap- tcablisn iii-` or rule out whether thei.bl-CuevaS rear gerpril.
pa:'en?iy has been killed by the
t, Guevara's finge'pts were
dead man Guev rz, or,, 1 ,
_..clls 1niy. round on two fake Uruguayan
oiivian The death of i'idel Castro's here say. It vas not imire-Irpassports and on. battle orders
diately known whether the body
longtime guerrilla leader was in his known handwriting, the
retorted to officials in La Paz would be flown to La Paz fra-n Bolivians said. The photos
the battle area or whether the
late yesterday by Col. Joaquin definitive , showed a man with a shaved
zellteno Anaya, commander oft identification would ihead and without Guevaras
the Bolivian r'.rmy's 8i 1 Divi- be "made in the field. I beard and mustache. Compari-
sion? The rattle son with known pictures `bf
zCllteno said the body of one of , . Guevara appeared to consti-
seZen guesidas shot and kneed Tile guerrilla casua, .tles? oc- t
ute compelling evidence th
at
in a battle Sunday has been) cur:'ell during z your-Their . file "`Clio" " had been or. was still in
.mdetlfled as that OF Guevara. flght',with BO11V1a11 soldiers Sur Bolivia.
Tln army chief of staff, Col. day about four mules northwest Informed ? sources said they;
Marcos Vascuez SCmperte? ui, ~f I-li~uer as, in the general area relieved Guevara had cnt red'
said, .Official reports from Val- .ooliviaia with the forged pass o
lenrancie affirm Guevara was torts by way of Spain and Sao
ot" Cari'iri, where the insurgents Paulo, Brazil. There was some
killed 'and that his body is row,first opened their drive against
with the Bolivian army" But he
said t his was not conclusive [the government of President i1]enticity 'cpticism of here the about evidence. the The
he
Rene Barrientos last spring.
prod. skeptics said the photos and
The battle waS i mountaillpusl The guerrillas fought clasper finierprints could have been
atoly against tl]o Bolivian r,,- " plantod" in tho Bolivian cavos,
Country near B-1 quotas, about trol. Pour soldiers were killed
300 miles southeast of La Paz. -
- the fnge was no'grestien ne,
that
The guerrillas' bodies were tak- I1
were nenuime
the fingorn not.
cr, to Vallegrande. Of the seven guerrillas killed planted or not. a
Gen. Alfredo varrdo Candia, in the fight, two weer positively It. was generally believed that
chief of the Bolivian armed identified as Cubans. One Boli- Guevara was dead, perhaps as a
r r vian military source said Gue- forces, . a the Bolivian capital result of a dispute with Castro,
last night for Valegrande to vara was mortally wounded in when he first vanished in Ha
check ast the rC t. The Arm ,to the battle and talked with his vana in mid-1965. Subsequently,
l
o` 5 captors before he died. he was reported in a score vited reporters to fly to Val- First word that Guevara may legrande today, presumably to y countries but no non-Co mmu-
view the body. The town is ie have met a violent end began to mist nation had any certain
rough terrain about 400 miles seep out of the Bolivian capitol knowledge of his whereabouts.
from La Pazyesterday morning when Pres-
.
Cautious ground meeting with newsman.
At this session, Barrientos re-
Officials here said they were I vealed first det ails of the
awaiting positive indentification 1 encounter and mentioned the
-comparing fingerprints with possibilty that Guevara :light
the known prints of Guevara. have been caat.red or slain.
There have been a number of - Later in the day, Can. Ovando
recent reports that Guevara was strenghtened the report, telling
d
d b
US
ffi
i
ea
ut
o
c
als put a lot "e
,.. reporters,the Reds lost fiv more stock in yesterday's. Part men among whom, presumably,
of their reasoning's that the is Ernesto Che Guevara ... I
Bolivians have learned a lot hope to God it's true."
about the guerrilla force, and
the Bolivia would suffer a major 2nd Force in Area
propaganda setback if the death Before leaving La Paz for the
report is later proved false. I'scene last night, Ovando said the
Guevara, a 39-year-old Argon- Army is on the track of a second
tine, disappeared under mysteri- guerrilla group which tried to be
ous circumstances' about two a decoy government troops
years ago. If it is true that he away rom the unit presumably
has been leading Communist led by' Guevara. It was Ovando
guerrillas and now has been! who announced on Sept. 24 that
l;i''led, it could be a major the 4th and 5th Army Divisions
'glow to Castro-sty's guerrillas were closing in on the guerrilla
trrauchcut Latin America. group led'cy Col]lmandante Ra-
:_olivia now Possesses e n cx- mon, the psydonym Guevara
cellcr.t set of Guevara's finger- Was reported luS'r:g in Bolivia.
7,:'II: s 11'0:]7 ?:r;;entine sources, ?3,01hvian Foreign Y tntst0F
'iris a less perfect set prints 'alter Guevara Arze, at a
obta lied in tiO\'C0. These prints mect^?' c. the Organization of
will be used to determine if.the 'American States here last
+bout' :)resumed to be, that OfI m021ti1, released a group of pho-
_,:va a is actually l]ibe the e~ *i ` &Ie eMtf3 /0 ': ICIA-RDP69B00369R000200270027-6