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The politics of complicity: the CIA and the death of Che Guevara
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Luca Trenta
Intelligence and National Security, Pages: 1 - 21
Swansea University Author:
Luca Trenta
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DOI (Published version): 10.1080/02684527.2026.2640398
Abstract
This article analyzes the United States role in Bolivia’s 1967 operation to capture and execute Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara. Existing literature is marked by three interpretations. One dismisses claims of CIA involvement as sensationalist and unfounded. Another, based on Bolivian military accounts, frames...
| Published in: | Intelligence and National Security |
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| ISSN: | 0268-4527 1743-9019 |
| Published: |
Informa UK Limited
2026
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| Online Access: |
Check full text
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71523 |
| Abstract: |
This article analyzes the United States role in Bolivia’s 1967 operation to capture and execute Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara. Existing literature is marked by three interpretations. One dismisses claims of CIA involvement as sensationalist and unfounded. Another, based on Bolivian military accounts, frames the operation as domestic and sovereign. A third perspective argues for US complicity, ranging from claims that the CIA ‘got away with murder’ to shadow involvement by American officials who ‘washed their hands’ of the affair. Drawing on newly available sources, we offer a fine-grained analysis of US intervention in the manhunt and execution. |
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| Keywords: |
Intelligence, covert action, Cold War, Bolivia, Cuba, Latin America, CIA |
| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Funders: |
This work was partially supported by the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Faculty Research Development Program. |
| Start Page: |
1 |
| End Page: |
21 |