E0 13526 3 3 b 1 25Yrs 3BtfRET » 5BW8ITW B rrleUy Juam 23 1967 Mr Prafldtnti This la what la going on with guerrilla in Boliria Last March 24 Bolivian itevrlty forces ware ambushed in a remote area of southeastern Boliria aa they wara investigating raporta of a guerrilla training camp Since than 6 other skirmishes have bean fought The Bolivian forcea hare come off poorly In these angagamanta losing 28 of their man to 2 or 3 known rebela killed Interrogation of several deaartara and prisoners Including ayyotmg French communist •• Jules Debray •• closely associated with Tidal Castro and auapected of tarring aa a Cuban courier strongly suggests that the guerrillas are Cuban-sponsored although this la hard to documeat There la aoma evidence that Che” Quevara mav have been with the group Dabray reports seeing him a receat statemeat by Breahaev that Guevara la In X»atin Amarica making his revolutions Estimate of the strength of the guerrillas range from 50 to 60 men It appeara that they were flushed out while stltl ia a preliminary train ing phase and before they Intended to open operations Deispita this they have so far clearly out-claased the Bolivian security forces The performance of the government units haa revealed ariaerlous lack o€ command coordination officer leadership and troop training and discipline Soon after the presence of guerrillas had been established we sent a apecial team and aoma equipment to help organise another Ranger-type Battalion On the military aide we are haIping about aa ffcatfte the Bolivians are able to absorb our aeslstanee The diveralon of acarce rasourcea to the Armed Forces could lead to budgetary problems and our financial aasistance may be needed later this year The outlook Is not clear The guerrillas were discovered early before they were able to consolidate and take the offensive The pursuit by the government forces while not very effective does keep them on the run These are two pluases At their present strength the guerrillas do not appear to pose an immediate threat to Barrientos If their forces were to be quickly isaam rtrrmrg SA ft i %O E O 1352b bet 3 5 q q OT tBJ f S C f t T O -S B H O iT V t f - Z - AsgxstnUd tad they v«rii able to open new fronts ia 12m noar future «c sow nunoi«4 tbs Ihla Bolivian in m d f e m i would bs h trd -p rsiu d and the fragile political situation would bo threatened Tho hope la that with our help Bolivian socavity capabilities will outdistance guerrilla capabilities and eventually clear them oat State# DOD and CIA aro following developments tloioljr Aa 1 mentioned Defense Is training and equipping additional forces CIA has increased its operations The Argentines aad Brasilians are also watching this ooe Argentina is the only other country with a military mission ia La Pan Cloee mil itary ties between Argentina and Bolivia aro traditional The Argentines have also tarnished military supplies to the Bolivians W W Rostow utmmi ■ jmwntvg i k ' COPV tflJ UBhM' rm L OL••tKTP KiS fJ L %h “ r £% v 4 f l _ ti g '5 ©- ff This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu Read related article Che Guevara and the CIA in the Mountains of Bolivia 2020-10-09