by Mitch Weiss
HUNTING CHE
How a U.S. Special Forces Team Helped Capture the World’s Most Famous Revolutionary
Mitch Weiss
and Kevin Maurer
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
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Copyright © 2013 by Mitch Weiss and Kevin Maurer
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eBook ISBN: 978-1-101-62451-7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Weiss, Mitch.
Hunting Che : how a U.S. special forces team helped capture the world’s most
famous revolutionary / by Mitch Weiss & Kevin Maurer.—First edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-425-25746-3
1. Guevara, Che, 1928–1967—Death and burial. 2. Special forces (Military science)— United States—History—20th century. 3. Bolivia. Ejército—Commando troops—History— 20th century. 4. Revolutionaries—Bolivia—History—20th century. 5. Guerrillas—Bolivia—History—20th century. 6. Bolivia—History, Military—20th century. 7. Bolivia—History—1938–1982. 8. Shelton, Ralph, 1929–2010. 9. Prado Salmón, Gary. 10. Rodriguez, Felix I. I. Maurer, Kevin. II. Title.
F2849.22.G85W45 2013
980.03'5092—dc23
2013003086
First Edition: July 2013
Jacket design by D. Abbiate
Jacket photos: book cover © Shutterstock; Landscape © Irene Lamprakou / Trevillions Images
Book design by Laura K. Corless
Interior maps copyright © 2013 by Travis Rightmeyer
While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the author nor the publisher is responsible for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Cast Of Characters
Map
PART ONE
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
PART TWO
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
PART THREE
Map
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
EPILOGUE
AFTERWORD
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
AUTHORS’ NOTE
REFERENCES
INDEX
Photographs
To Ralph “Pappy” Shelton, a true patriot
The green beret is again becoming a symbol of excellence, a badge of courage, a mark of distinction in the fight for freedom.
John F. Kennedy, 1962 letter to the United States Army supporting Special Forces
CAST OF CHARACTERS
U.S. SPECIAL FORCES
Major Ralph “Pappy” Shelton: Leader of the Green Beret team that trained the Second Ranger Battalion in La Esperanza, Bolivia. Born in Corinth, Mississippi, he dropped out of school in the tenth grade to pick cotton and do odd jobs to help support his mother. Shelton joined the military as a private and worked his way up to major. He fought in Korea and was deployed to Laos and the Dominican Republic. The mission to Bolivia was his last.
KEY MEMBERS OF HIS TEAM
Captain Edmond Fricke: Executive Officer/S-3
Captain LeRoy Mitchell: Executive Officer/S-3
Captain Margarito Cruz: S-2
First Lieutenant Harvey Wallender: S-2
Master Sergeant Oliverio Gomez: Team Sergeant
Master Sergeant Roland Milliard: Intelligence Sergeant
Sergeant First Class Daniel Chapa: Light Weapons Sergeant
Sergeant First Class Hector Rivera-Colon: Heavy Weapons Sergeant
Staff Sergeant Jerald Peterson: Medical Specialist
Staff Sergeant James Hapka: Medical Specialist
Staff Sergeant Wendell Thompson Jr.: Radio Operator
Sergeant Alvin Graham III: Radio Operator
THE GUERRILLAS
Ernesto “Che” Guevara: An Argentinian doctor, he abandoned his profession to help Fidel Castro overthrow Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Che was the charismatic, iconic symbol of the Cuban Revolution. With his long hair and scraggly beard, green fatigues and beret, he preached a simple message: The duty of a revolutionary was to make revolution. He eventually left Cuba to spread revolution—first in Africa, then Bolivia.
KEY MEMBERS OF CHE’S GUERRILLAS
(The first name is the guerrilla’s alias, followed by his or her real name.)
Joaquin (Acuna Nunez Juan Vitalio): A Cuban-born officer who was a member of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party. He was the rear guard commander.
Tania (Tamara Bunke Bide): Born in Argentina to German parents, she was sent to Bolivia in 1961 to facilitate the arrival of the guerrillas and set up an urban support structure.
Paco (Castillo Chavez): A Bolivian Communist recruited to the party with promises of going to the university in Havana or Moscow. Instead, he was drafted into Che’s guerrilla band. After his unit was ambushed, he provided key information and details that allowed the Bolivians to find Che.
Inti (Guido Peredo): A Bolivian guerrilla, he was one of Che’s most tactically proficient and capable fighters. He worked with Peruvian guerrilla fighters before joining Che’s force.
Camba (Orlando Jimenez Bazan): A Bolivian guerrilla trained in Cuba.
Antonio (Orlando Pantoja): Che’s lieutenant in the Sierra Maestra, he was the head of Cuba’s Coast and Harbor Surveillance.
Arturo (Rene Martinez Tamayo): A captain in the Cuban Army Department of Investigation.
Moises (Moises Guevara Rodriguez): A Bolivian Communist and union mining leader.
Ernesto (Freddy Maymura): A Bolivian who was a medical student on scholarship in Cuba.
Braulio (Israel Reyes Zayas): A Cuban veteran of the Sierra Maestra and the Second Front of the Escambray.
Miguel (Manuel Hernandez): A veteran of the Sierra Maestra campaign with Che.
Chino (Juan Pablo Chang Navarro): A Peruvian Communist Party leader.
Coco (Robert Peredo Leigue): A Bolivian who bought
the Nancahuazu farm property.
Julio (Mario Gutirrez Ardaya): A Bolivian medical student on scholarship in Cuba.
Pacho (Alberto Fernandez Montes de Oca): A longtime Che friend and Cuban director of mines. He entered Bolivia with a Uruguayan passport and alias: Antonio Garrido.
Willy (Simon Cuba): A Bolivian guerrilla who was captured with Che near La Higuera.
Jules Regis Debray: A French Communist, he was famous for writing a book about revolutions. He was arrested in April 1967 after leaving Che’s camp. He later confirmed Che’s presence in Bolivia. His arrest kicked off the manhunt that eventually led to the death of the guerrilla leader.
Ciro Roberto Bustos: An Argentinian painter and a salesman, he was with Che and arrested with Debray. Like the Frenchman, he eventually revealed Che’s involvement with the guerrillas and provided the Bolivian government with sketches of the guerrilla fighters.
George Andrew Roth: An Anglo-Chilean journalist who was arrested with Bustos and Debray after leaving Che’s camp.
CIA OPERATIVES
Félix Rodríguez: A member of the Cuban exile community, he was part of a clandestine unit that had taken part in the Bay of Pigs invasion. Rodríguez worked with the CIA on numerous anti-Castro plots and raids before being selected to hunt Che in Bolivia.
Gustavo Villoldo: Another Cuban exile, Villoldo fought in the Bay of Pigs invasion and was a veteran of numerous raids into Cuba. He volunteered to hunt for Che in the Congo and was urged to “volunteer” for the Bolivian mission.
Larry Sternfield: The CIA officer who recruited Rodríguez and Villoldo for the Che mission.
John Tilton: The head of the CIA in La Paz.
THE AMERICANS
Douglas Henderson: A career diplomat, Henderson served as the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia during the guerrilla insurgency led by Che.
Walt Whitman Rostow: A staunch anti-Communist, Rostow served as a national security advisor in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.
Dean Rusk: The secretary of state under Kennedy and Johnson, he wanted to keep U.S. forces out of Bolivia.
Richard Helms: The CIA director, he was highly critical of Barrientos and wondered if the Bolivian president could survive the Che crisis.
Robert Porter: The commander of United States Southern Force (SOUTHCOM), the general sent a Special Forces unit to Bolivia to train the Rangers.
William Tope: A brigadier general on Porter’s staff, he went on a fact-finding mission in Bolivia to gauge the rebel threat.
Magnus Smith: The Eighth Special Forces Group commander, the colonel assigned Shelton to Bolivia.
Harry Singh: An American with the U.S. Agency for International Development, he provided Shelton with the materials and machinery to help build a school in the village.
BOLIVIAN HIGH COMMAND
René Barrientos Ortuno: A dashing air force general elected Bolivian president in 1966. A charismatic leader, he was pro-American and had strong ties to the peasants, who supported his administration.
Alfredo Ovando Candía: A general who seized power with Barrientos in a 1964 military coup. They ruled together until January 1966, when Barrientos resigned to run for president. After Barrientos’s victory, Ovando took over the military.
Luis Adolfo Siles Salinas: A close friend of Barrientos who was elected vice president in 1966.
Jorge Belmonte Ardile: An air force general, he was a member of Barrientos’s inner circle.
BOLIVIAN COMMANDERS
Gary Prado Salmon: A captain in the Bolivian Army, he became a commander of one of the Bolivian Ranger companies trained by Shelton’s team.
Joaquin Zenteno Anaya: A colonel in the Eighth Division, his unit worked with the Rangers to trap the guerrillas.
Arnaldo Saucedo: An Eighth Division intelligence officer, the major worked closely with the CIA’s Félix Rodríguez to track down Che Guevara.
Andres Selich: A lieutenant colonel who was one of the first Bolivian officers to interrogate Che.
Jose Gallardo: A colonel who was placed in charge of the new regiment and training camp in La Esperanza.
Miguel Ayoroa Montano: A major, he was appointed the Rangers’ battalion commander.
Mario Vargas Salinas: A captain who was in charge of an ambush that wiped out Che’s lost contingent at Yado del Yeso.
Jaime Nin de Guzman: A helicopter pilot who shuttled Bolivian officers from Vallegrande to La Higuera after Che was captured.
BOLIVIAN SOLDIERS
Augusto Silva Bogado: A captain with the army’s Fourth Division in Camiri, his unit was on patrol when the guerrillas ambushed in March 1967.
Hernan Plata: A major who was among the Bolivian soldiers captured in the same ambush.
Ruben Amezaga: A second lieutenant and friend of Prado, he was killed during the ambush.
Mario Salazar: Trained by the Special Forces, he joined the army to hunt down and destroy Che’s guerrilla force.
Ruben Sanchez: A major whose unit was ambushed on patrol in the Nancahuazu River valley in April 1967. He was captured in the ambush.
Luis Saavedra Arambel: A lieutenant, he was fatally shot during the same patrol.
Jorge Ayala: A second lieutenant who helped reorganize troops during the April ambush.
Carlos Martins: Another second lieutenant who tried to come to Sanchez’s rescue.
Remberto Lafuente: A lieutenant who led Bolivian soldiers into the jungle to rescue Sanchez and his men.
Juan Vacaflor: A lieutenant, he was briefly captured by the rebels during the raid on Samaipata.
Bernardino Huanca: A sergeant with Prado’s B Company, he took out a guerrilla nest during a firefight near La Higuera, leading to Che’s capture.
Sergeant Mario Teran: Another member of Prado’s company, he was the soldier who volunteered to “take care” of Che in the schoolhouse.
CIVILIANS
Epifano Vargas: A civilian guide who was shot by guerrillas as he was helping an army patrol in March 1967.
Honorato Rojas: A farmer who betrayed Che’s men at Yado del Yeso.
Dioniso Valderomas: A resident of La Esperanza, he lived near the sugar mill where U.S. Special Forces soldiers trained the Bolivian Rangers.
Dorys Roca: One of fourteen family members who lived in a three-room house in La Esperanza, she fell in love with American soldier Alvin Graham III.
Erwin Bravo: The mayor, he supported the presence of U.S. troops in La Esperanza.
Manosanta Humerundo: As the Holy Hand, he was a medicine man who treated sick villagers in La Esperanza.
© 2013 Travis Rightmeyer
PART ONE
MANY VIETNAMS
PROLOGUE
3 November 1966
The passengers on the flight were buckled in and braced for landing, crossing themselves and breathing deeply.
Flying into La Paz was almost always a white-knuckle experience, and most of the passengers on the packed DC-6 were too busy praying to ponder the spectacular Andes views outside their windows. The pilots pointed the plane at the runway of El Alto International Airport, thirteen thousand feet up, the world’s highest. They knew what to expect, but the blasts of wind off the mountaintops rocked the craft from side to side and wrung cries and shouts from the people in the seats. They’d come fifteen hundred miles from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to the Bolivian capital, three hours of bucking and pitching. The air in the cramped cabin was clammy with fear.
One man did not seem to notice the atmosphere of imminent death. He sat on the aisle seat near the front of the cabin, his white shirt and Windsor-knotted tie crisp and fresh. Adolfo Mena Gonzalez maintained the comfortable calm of a man whose plans are carefully laid, a man accustomed to being obeyed. He was a pudgy, clean-shaven, middle-aged man with black horned-rimmed glasses and flecks of gray along the edge of his receding hairline. In his pocket was a Uruguayan passp
ort.
On his mind was his mission.
He felt confident no one in Bolivia would recognize him. It was thirteen years since he’d been there last, and he looked nothing like the unwashed young medical-school graduate who’d passed through with a friend on a transcontinental motorcycle journey. They were scruffy kids then, carefree thrill-seekers. But that trip opened Gonzales’s eyes to the ugly sides of South America, country after country where a few wealthy people controlled the riches and resources while the rest struggled through lives of horrifying poverty. At the end of the journey the idealistic young doctor changed his career path. He abandoned medicine to fight for social justice.
He was coming back to Bolivia to take on the biggest challenge of his life. After two years of meticulous planning, everything was now in place: the cars he would drive, the routes he would follow, the remote farmhouse where he would live. He wasn’t sure how long he would stay in Bolivia. A few months? A year? Much depended on the people on the ground. All he had to do now was survive this landing, and make it through customs.
The plane’s wheels bounced onto the runway, the engines screamed. Gonzalez felt adrenaline shoot through his body. He pushed his glasses up onto his nose and nodded to Antonio Garrido, the white-faced man in the next seat, his comrade.
When the cabin door opened, the men bounded off the plane into the glorious mid-afternoon sun. They breathed the thin air deeply and moved quickly from the tarmac to the terminal. A slim, sexy woman with long black hair approached them, her black beret tilted so rakishly down it covered her eyebrow. Heads turned toward her. Her high cheekbones and upturned nose singled her out as a European, and her clothing said she was a Bohemian intellectual, maybe a poet or a sculptor. She trained her brown eyes on Gonzalez and embraced him like an old friend.
Into his passport pocket she slipped a folded paper. The trio made for the security gates, and as the woman greeted Garrido, Gonzalez reached for his passport and opened the new document. It was invaluable, exactly what he had hoped for: