The Execution of Che Guevara

Lindsay Graham (0:10)

It's the middle of the day on October 9th, 1967 in La Higuera, a tiny village in central Bolivia. 26-year-old Felix Rodriguez smiles as a camera clicks. His youthful, clean-cut looks are a stark contrast to those of the haggard, handcuffed men who've just been posed for a photograph beside him. The revolutionary fighter Che Guevara is barely recognizable. His long, dark hair hangs lengthily around his face. His beard and the green fatigues he wears are filthy. But with the photo shoot now over, Felix gives Guevara a gentle shove and then marches him toward the dark doorway of the mud-walled village schoolhouse they're in. Like the other soldiers milling around the village, Felix wears a Bolivian army uniform. But in his case, though, it's just a cover. Felix is a Cuban-American CIA operative. He's been hunting Che Guevara for years, and at last he's snagged him.

But Felix won't have him for long. The Bolivian army rangers who captured Guevara have been given orders to execute him immediately. Felix thinks this is a mistake and has been stalling for time, but he doesn't have the authority to override the decision unless he hears from the Pentagon in the next few minutes. So, once Guevara has made prisoner once again in the dark schoolhouse, Felix takes out his radio.

He checks that there isn't any problem with his equipment, but everything is working normally, which means there's no word from his superiors.

Felix turns as the village school mistress peeks out from behind a wall. Timidly she asks whether Guevara is going to be shot because she's just heard on oblivion state radio news broadcasts that he's already dead. Felix just sighs, knowing he's out of time. Waiting by the schoolhouse is a Bolivian sergeant holding a rifle. His eyes are a little glassy as if he's been drinking. This is the man who's volunteered to be Che Guevara's executioner. So Felix reminds him not to shoot Guevara in the head. It has to look like he died in battle. Then Felix turns and walks away up the hill as the sergeant heads into the schoolhouse. Felix hasn't gone far.

When there's the unmistakable sound of gunfire, the building where children usually meet to learn has just become a death chamber.

After his success in helping to overthrow the US-backed government in Cuba, the Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara hoped to do the same in Bolivia. He met stiffer resistance than he had anticipated though, and after nearly a year of guerrilla warfare in the Bolivian jungle, Guevara was captured by US-trained Bolivian Special Forces. Fearful he would escape, the Bolivian government then decided to execute Guevara. But in death, Che Guevara will become more than just a man. His myth and status as a revolutionary icon will soon take on a life of its own, one that will continue long after Guevara himself was killed on October 9, 1967

Hello History Daily listeners. The live show I've been telling you about for a few weeks has a new date, October 23 at the Plaza Theater in Garland, Texas. This is my Days That Made America Tour, a thrilling evening of history, storytelling and music with me and a band live on stage. So if you're in the North Texas area or anywhere close, be sure to come out and see me live. More shows will be announced soon too. So for information on tickets and upcoming dates, go to historydailylive.com. That's historydailylive.com. Come see my Days That Made America Tour live on stage. Go to historydailylive.com.

From Noiser and Airship, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast, every day, we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world. Today is October 9th, 1967, the execution of Che Guevara.

It's December 28th, 1958, just outside Santa Clara on the island of Cuba, nine years before Che Guevara is executed. Pressing himself into the dirt, 30-year-old Guevara examines the city from a nearby hill, assessing its defenses through a pair of binoculars. When he first landed in Cuba with his friend Fidel Castro and 82 other rebel troops, Guevara was just an idealistic but naive young doctor. In the two years since, though, Guevara has fought numerous battles against the forces of Cuba's authoritarian president Fulgencio Batista. Guevara is now a seasoned and courageous fighter, with a growing reputation as a stern and occasionally brutal leader. And as the revolution has spread, more and more Cubans have joined the fight against the island's repressive government. And now Guevara commands a small army of over 300 soldiers. Their objective is to take the city of Santa Clara, the only major obstacle left between rebel troops and Cuba's capital, Havana. But Guevara's men are severely outnumbered.