2-A Mr Bowdler -flat B W O M M W DECLASSIFIED E O 12356 Sec 3 4 6 - Mr Kohler TO FROM ABA Gov T Oliver SUBJECT Handling of Documents Relating to Cuban Intervention Captured in Bolivia In a nMting oa September 1 of the IRG AHA Committee on Counterinsurgency to determine 1 the validity of the documents in question and 2 the coarse of action to be followed it was agreed that the docunents could have rather broad ramifications and should therefore be considered at a higher level The Bolivian Government specifically General Ovendo had instructed the Bolivian military courier who brought the documents to return before the resumption of the Debray trial with the most Important documente and a report of their analysis which would provide answers to two questions 1 Has Che Guevara been present In Bolivia 2 Is there proof of Cuban participation in the guerrilla operations A reaponae to General Ovando's request raiaes at leaat the following questions 1 COPY LBJ LIBRARY Does it involve us in the Debray trial in a way that - a would hart us and the golivianat for raoplt at aaaart w Tba fn— ml it« «bric«t d ttw docotntt Tha Frtnch prut m y charg w a n out to at Dabray ato 2 Om m c h tacbnical analyala tboold w docunants On only aoaaf la nltlatt p mi d t T On all Orallyt oncooraga Bolivia to aaak halp alaa haraT 3 Should m 4 Can tba docuaants ba uaad la tha MS caao of Vanaauala vs Cobat 5 Should wa counsal Bolivia to dlseloaa aaaa doeuasnts but not all ainea k m of tha docuaants provide addi- tional iatalligaaoa laada that nay ba valuablaf Various altarnativaa war auggastad for handling tha problaa Tha poaaibility was notad that tha ratura of tha Bolivian couriar with tha docuaants and raport could if naeaaaary ba dalayad for a fav days to pandt adaquata tlna for impt— anting whichavar option vara choaan Tha 3 optiona conaidarad varat 1 TO raturn tha documanta with a taotaical raport for tha Bolivian Govarnaant to uaa at tha trial l a raapood to tha Ovando raquaat 2 Hava tha Bolivian Govaraaant public-lVy aimranca that it had capturad cartain doewntnta aspaeially paaaporta COPY LBJ LIBRARY -ggqgrr- - Jand request the a i G o m o n t t t prevlde « p « t i o Identification to « m 1 m 3 Tb follow the m m the 4oenMta procedure as J but for tha Bolivian Govermant to direct its requeet to N w n l cotutrlaa 0 b poiit b U ceuntriee include Argentine niwn Guevara was bora Mexico Ptra and Oiatcnala itei ha la known to h n t U « 4 and Ira 11 where anoag other placaa the peaeports were ueed A To follow tha aaaa procedure aa In 2 but with tha Bolivian Qovernaant requeet directed to tha QAI and with waabe g o w n a n t a of tha 0At being called on to aaalat on tha verification aa faaelble 5 To follow tha prooedurc of 4 but Include the requeat that tha OAS establlah an investigating conittee with tha purpoae of eoordlaeting tha afforta of m— tier governments Of the vexious alternatives Tha first baa tha deficiency of » « m «b the U S too closely to tha Debray trial Alternative 2 alao repreaenta m tnaneeeaaary lovolvenant of tha U S on a bilateral basis As between Bolivia celling oa various cowntrlaa Individually and turning to the Mt for aesistence tba lattes would be preferable if feaalbla particularly alnoe it wold COPY IBJ LIBRARY I vvv - - 4 coincide with the forthcoaing seating of the QAg 7orelgn Ministers to eoaddnr Cabas Intervention la Venesuela The evidence vAlch has be— fond in the Bolivian case «onU generally strengthen tha anti-Cuban case la ths MM MsiU alternative 3 la preferable to 4 because it Inclodes a font OAS mechaniaa for dealing with tha Bolivian lssae However the Bolivian Qovera— nt has so far been unwilling to utilise the 048 machinery on its guerrilla problea or aaaoeiate its case with the Venemelan case There is also the complicating problea that the Qtl Machinery nay grind toe slowly to meet Bolivia's needs Haas X suggest we encourage Bolivia to follow alternative 3 on the passports and tha false OAS documentation we should ask ths Bolivian Ooveranent to keep secret ths docuasnts on ooanaies tloas procedures for further study Moreover a preliminary analysis of thas suggests that they would be useful publiclyly only If we ware willing to disclose 0 1 conauaieatloas Intelligence AKA BCtVBrodsrlcktnf HNSsyrsiars 9 2 47 ccj Mr Ulster Mr Allan ggqEHP- COPY LBJ LIBRARY Source Lyndon B Johnson Presidential Library National Security Files Intelligence Files Box 2 Folder Guerrilla Problems in Latin America 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