My sister, when she was 8, named an Arab stallion after Che. I sold the horse a few days later. He had been a present for her birthday. She cried. I kicked her butt.
Sun, March 20, 2022, 3:54 AM
The Bolivian soldier who earned the admiration of Cuban exiles by executing Ernesto “Che” Guevara is dead in 1967 died earlier this month. That’s big news for Miami’s historic Cuban exile community.
They consider Terán, 80, who was following orders from his government when he fatally shot Guevara 55 years ago, a hero.
Without apology, exiles despise Guevara for his role in Cuba’s 1959 revolution, which has landed his image on t-shirts, advertising, and posters. It’s a glorifying Guevara that baffles them.
And they have good reason to hate him. Guevara executed more than 500 Cubans in treason trials after the revolution. There is even a website called: “The Secret Victims of Che Guevara.”
Seven decades after his death, any public honoring of Guevara or his image in South Florida is met with outrage. And it should be.
Miami exile, former Bay of Pigs veteran and CIA operative Felix Rodriguez remembers Terán well. He was there the day Terán executed Guevara.
Sent by the CIA to Bolivia, Rodriguez was among the last people to speak to the Argentine rebel leader on Oct. 9, 1967. Rodriguez has written a book and has been interviewed countless times about his experience that day.
In memory of the late Terán, Rodriguez recapped that day for the Editorial Board in the hopes of explaining Cubans’ hatred of Guevara, who was leading another Marxist insurrection when he was captured.
In Miami, Rodriguez said his CIA case manager approached him. He had an assignment for him and a handful of other Cuban exiles. The CIA had intelligence that Che Guevara had left the Congo, where he had unsuccessfully tried to create a Marxist uprising, and instead was now in Bolivia doing the same in the countryside.
“Was I interested in going to Bolivia to help capture Che,” Rodriguez said he was asked; he couldn’t say yes fast enough.
Rodriguez’s job was to become embedded with the Bolivian soldiers tracking Guevara. Six months after the mission began, Bolivian soldiers encountered Guevara and his rebels. There was a firefight, and Guevara was wounded in the leg and captured. Rodriguez said the problem then became what to do with him. Do we kill him or take him prisoner?
Rodriguez was ordered to detain Guevara in a Bolivian schoolhouse in the countryside until the highest levels of the Bolivian government decided Guevara’s fate. Though he too hated Guevara, Rodriguez told the Board he was not oblivious that he witnessed the last few minutes of a man’s life. He also reminded himself of how this man had killed so many Cubans.
He gave the bad news to Guevara, who had told them as they waited: “Don’t kill me; I am worth more to you alive than dead.”
Rodriguez told him, “I’m sorry, comandante, but you will be executed.” Guevara said: “I should have never been captured.”
To this day, Rodriguez says those words are up for interpretation. He knows that other Cubans with Guevara had been told to kill themselves instead of surrendering.
Guevara said two more things, Rodriguez remembers: “Tell Fidel that the revolution will continue and will spread and tell my wife to remarry.” Guevara then gave Rodriguez his pipe, which he later gave to Terán.
Rodriguez says he heard, but did not witness Guevara’s execution. For years Terán kept secret that he had been the soldier at the schoolhouse who fired the fatal shot that killed Guevara. Many years later, he said that “was the worst day of his life.”
In the early days of the revolution, a tearful Cuban mother showed up at the central holding jail for political prisoners, called La Cabaña,
She came to beg Guevara to have mercy on her teenage son, arrested for protesting against the rebels.
“Comandante Guevara please release my son; he’s only 15 and doesn’t know what he’s doing. He has been held for two weeks. I haven’t been able to sleep since he was arrested.”
Guevara asked for the teen to be brought to him, Rodriguez said. The mother thought she had convinced the rebel leader; she was wrong.
“ Your mother says she hasn’t been able to sleep for two weeks because of you!” Guevara screamed at the teen, then pulled out his gun, executed the teen in front of his mother, and walked away, smiling at his clever turn.
“For Cubans, that’s our memory of Guevara,” Rodriguez said.
Sun, March 20, 2022, 3:54 AM
The Bolivian soldier who earned the admiration of Cuban exiles by executing Ernesto “Che” Guevara is dead in 1967 died earlier this month. That’s big news for Miami’s historic Cuban exile community.
They consider Terán, 80, who was following orders from his government when he fatally shot Guevara 55 years ago, a hero.
Without apology, exiles despise Guevara for his role in Cuba’s 1959 revolution, which has landed his image on t-shirts, advertising, and posters. It’s a glorifying Guevara that baffles them.
And they have good reason to hate him. Guevara executed more than 500 Cubans in treason trials after the revolution. There is even a website called: “The Secret Victims of Che Guevara.”
Seven decades after his death, any public honoring of Guevara or his image in South Florida is met with outrage. And it should be.
Miami exile, former Bay of Pigs veteran and CIA operative Felix Rodriguez remembers Terán well. He was there the day Terán executed Guevara.
Sent by the CIA to Bolivia, Rodriguez was among the last people to speak to the Argentine rebel leader on Oct. 9, 1967. Rodriguez has written a book and has been interviewed countless times about his experience that day.
In memory of the late Terán, Rodriguez recapped that day for the Editorial Board in the hopes of explaining Cubans’ hatred of Guevara, who was leading another Marxist insurrection when he was captured.
In Miami, Rodriguez said his CIA case manager approached him. He had an assignment for him and a handful of other Cuban exiles. The CIA had intelligence that Che Guevara had left the Congo, where he had unsuccessfully tried to create a Marxist uprising, and instead was now in Bolivia doing the same in the countryside.
“Was I interested in going to Bolivia to help capture Che,” Rodriguez said he was asked; he couldn’t say yes fast enough.
Rodriguez’s job was to become embedded with the Bolivian soldiers tracking Guevara. Six months after the mission began, Bolivian soldiers encountered Guevara and his rebels. There was a firefight, and Guevara was wounded in the leg and captured. Rodriguez said the problem then became what to do with him. Do we kill him or take him prisoner?
Rodriguez was ordered to detain Guevara in a Bolivian schoolhouse in the countryside until the highest levels of the Bolivian government decided Guevara’s fate. Though he too hated Guevara, Rodriguez told the Board he was not oblivious that he witnessed the last few minutes of a man’s life. He also reminded himself of how this man had killed so many Cubans.
Kill Guevara
As the highest-ranking officer at the scene, Rodriguez said he received orders he believes were approved by Bolivia’s president: “Kill Guevara. “He gave the bad news to Guevara, who had told them as they waited: “Don’t kill me; I am worth more to you alive than dead.”
Rodriguez told him, “I’m sorry, comandante, but you will be executed.” Guevara said: “I should have never been captured.”
To this day, Rodriguez says those words are up for interpretation. He knows that other Cubans with Guevara had been told to kill themselves instead of surrendering.
Guevara said two more things, Rodriguez remembers: “Tell Fidel that the revolution will continue and will spread and tell my wife to remarry.” Guevara then gave Rodriguez his pipe, which he later gave to Terán.
Rodriguez says he heard, but did not witness Guevara’s execution. For years Terán kept secret that he had been the soldier at the schoolhouse who fired the fatal shot that killed Guevara. Many years later, he said that “was the worst day of his life.”
Glorifying “Che”
Rodriguez has never understood the glorification of Guevara. To remind himself of Guevara’s cruelty, Rodriguez keeps one story fresh in his mind.In the early days of the revolution, a tearful Cuban mother showed up at the central holding jail for political prisoners, called La Cabaña,
She came to beg Guevara to have mercy on her teenage son, arrested for protesting against the rebels.
“Comandante Guevara please release my son; he’s only 15 and doesn’t know what he’s doing. He has been held for two weeks. I haven’t been able to sleep since he was arrested.”
Guevara asked for the teen to be brought to him, Rodriguez said. The mother thought she had convinced the rebel leader; she was wrong.
“ Your mother says she hasn’t been able to sleep for two weeks because of you!” Guevara screamed at the teen, then pulled out his gun, executed the teen in front of his mother, and walked away, smiling at his clever turn.
“For Cubans, that’s our memory of Guevara,” Rodriguez said.
