Guevara ‘Slain After Capture’

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31499, 13 October 1967, Page 15

Guevara ‘Slain After Capture’

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

LA PAZ (Bolivia), October 12.

A medical report has indicated that Ernesto “Che” Guevara was slain at least 24 hours after his capture in the southeastern jungle on Sunday, the “New York Times” News Service reported today.

The medical evidence points to a serious discrepancy between the nature of the wounds on the body described as that of the guerrilla leader and the statement by General Alfredo Ovando Candia, the Bolivian military commander, that Guevara died on Monday—a day after the clash.

Dr Moises Abraham, who prepared the military medical report on the guerrilla’s death, said late yesterday the body had seven bullet wounds. They included mortal wounds in both lungs and a shot directly through the heart. There was also a massive contusion on the back, the doctor said, which could have

been caused by a blow with a rifle butt.

It is considered impossible that Guevara, an associate of Dr Castro of Cuba, could have lived even five minutes

with such wounds. The supposition is that he was captured in the clash on Sunday with a minor wound—perhaps in the wrist or thigh—and was fatally wounded th* next day. As far as can be learned, Guevara said little to his captors during the day he was alive, aside from acknowledging that he was “Che” Guevara. According to General Ovando, who returned late yesterday from the hamlet of Vallegrande, 350 miles southeast of La Paz, Guevara said before be died that the Bolivian guerrilla movement had been a “failure." General Ovando said last night that Guevara’s body, which had been on public display in Vallegrande on Tuesday, had been buried that night in an unmarked grave near the hamlet. He gave no reason for the secret burial, nor would he say whether there had been a ceremony. Elimination Suspected

According to one theory, three guerrillas were killed in Sunday’s clash and four others—including Guevara—captured. The Army is said to have eliminated them one by one the next day. Guevara apparently was the last.

The Bolivian Army estimates there were 40 guerrillas in the clash. For those who escaped, the end is considered near.

The French Marxist intellectual, Regis Debray, yesterday abandoned his court martial defence against charges of rebellion, murder and armed robbery in connection with guerrilla activity. He said he wished to share in the responsibility for guerrilla actions in southeast Bolivia.

Debray, sobbing over the death of Guevara two days ago, made the statement to a group of law students from the University of San Andres in La Paz. Defence Reversed

His statement marked a reversal of his defence that he was not involved in guerrilla activity in Bolivia and that he only entered the country to interview Guevara. Since the nqws of Guevara's death, Debray has appeared stunned in court, scarcely listening to the proceedings.

One of his friends said: "Regis knows as well as anybody that this is an incalculable blow to the cause of revolution in South America.” Debray, answering questions for 90 minutes in his cell in military headquarters, said he planned to ask the military tribunal trying him that it consider his share of responsibility in guerrilla acts.

Debray appeared before the tribunal earlier today in Camiri, a town near the heart of guerrilla territory on charges of rebellion, murder and armed robbery. “I am in mourning for the death of a continental leader,” Debray told the students.

Finland Devalues.—Finland tonight announced a 31.25 per cent devaluation of the Finnish markka.—Helsinki, October 12.