Mitch Weiss - Hunting Che: How a U.S. Special Forces Team Helped Capture the World’s Most Famous Revolutionary

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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 worlds most

famous revolutionary / by Mitch Weiss & Kevin Maurer.First edition.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-425-25746-3

1. Guevara, Che, 19281967Death and burial. 2. Special forces (Military science) United StatesHistory20th century. 3. Bolivia. EjrcitoCommando troopsHistory 20th century. 4. RevolutionariesBoliviaHistory20th century. 5. GuerrillasBoliviaHistory20th century. 6. BoliviaHistory, Military20th century. 7. BoliviaHistory19381982. 8. Shelton, Ralph, 19292010. 9. Prado Salmn, Gary. 10. Rodriguez, Felix I. I. Maurer, Kevin. II. Title.

F2849.22.G85W45 2013

980.03'5092dc23

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.

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 revolutionfirst in Africa, then Bolivia.

KEY MEMBERS OF CHES GUERRILLAS

(The first name is the guerrillas 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 Ches 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 Ches most tactically proficient and capable fighters. He worked with Peruvian guerrilla fighters before joining Ches force.

Camba (Orlando Jimenez Bazan): A Bolivian guerrilla trained in Cuba.

Antonio (Orlando Pantoja): Ches lieutenant in the Sierra Maestra, he was the head of Cubas 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 Ches camp. He later confirmed Ches 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 Ches involvement with the guerrillas and provided the Bolivian government with sketches of the guerrilla fighters.