Ex-CIA Agent on Capturing Che Guevara, Who Truly Killed JFK, and Election Predictions

this is the last photograph of Cuban

revolutionary CH guara alive it was

taken in Bolivia in 1967 it's a very

famous photograph um probably familiar

to most people watching this this man

standing right there is not familiar to

most people watching this he should be

he's about to be his name is Felix

Rodriguez he's a longtime CI officer in

the operations directorate and um and he

joins us now to explain this picture and

to tell us about his life Mr Rodriguez

thank you very much pleasure to be here

so um it's a it's a remarkable picture

and the longer I look at it the more I

think that um can you tell us where this

was and what was happening well that was

uh in liera Bolivia that's where he was

captured and I I came in with the

helicopter with the colonel in charge of

the operation and after a while I got to

talk to him and I even thought about

taking the picture but while I was

talking to him the pilot of the

helicopter came with a camera from the

head of intelligence who wanted a

picture with SH so I asked him Commander

do you mind he say no so we took him out

of the schoolhouse and gave my camera to

the pilot and he took that

picture what so so you talked to guar

what of course what what were the

circumstances he' been captured by

Bolivian soldiers is that right yes Yes

actually uh they thought that he had

been killing Africa but then when they

captured de BR ustu who was a a French U

intellectual and then a a newspaper guy

from Argentina they confirmed that Shara

was was there so as long as they

understood that he was there they sent a

Special Forces Unit from Panama to train

a special Battalion to operate against

him because the Bolivian didn't have any

experience and then they sent a couple

of us from the CIA to provide them with

intelligence and the reason they s all

because we were not US citizen at the

time Vietnam was taking place and there

were people coming back in plastic back

from Vietnam and they didn't want any

American coming back and plastic back

from the Latin America at the time we

were not even res residents we were not

citizens so we didn't fall into the

Restriction of Ambassador Henderson

that's why we were able to go there so

you were working for the CIA full-time

obviously carrying a weapon obviously

but not a US citizen yes what was Chay

like that day when I first a lot of

people ask me you know what I thought

about sh sh at the time was nobody she

became a figure after he was dead Cuba

made him a figure yes after after War

even though they were the one who sent

him to be killed uh Fidel could not

stand him there because Fidel depended

on the Soviet Union Shara was

pro-chinese so when he was in Africa in

1965

64 uh all the weapon he received was

from Red China and then he didn't want

to go back to Cuba he went to hire in in

the Czech Republic and they had to send

people to convince him to go back to

Cuba and to give him an opportunity in

another place but when he was sent to

Bolivia was definitely mind for him to

be killed because the Soviet didn't want

him to be any successful because they

knew that Shay was pro-chinese and if he

took a revolution in there would be

toward the Chinese and at the time the

Chinese and the Soviet hated each other

very much so when he was sent to Bolivia

his transmitter was not even working in

December of 66 when they had a dinner

with Mario M the head of the Communist

Party of Bolivia who had been with Fidel

two months before complet complete prish

he told the Bolivian uh guerillas that

were with Shay if they stay with Shay

they were expelled from the Communist

Party

and then they had a a officer in

intelligence that they had sent to laas

Rena Monto to help him and as soon as he

was inen with all 17 people they took

him out of the the picture and told Shay

that they had to take him out because

his Visa had expired and actually he was

a Bolivian citizen by then so he was

definitely sent there to be killed by

Cuba because he could not succeed

because it will be a revolution that

will be Pro Chinese and Cuba depended on

the Soviet

Union so he's he's obviously he's a

prisoner in this picture um does he know

when this was taken that he's about to

die not at that time no so what happened

in the moments after this

picture well in in the sequence first of

all when we arrived with the helicopter

on the following date uh which is the

9th of October in Monday uh we came to

the room with the officers and he would

not talk to anybody cor was trying to

interrogate him he look at him he didn't

say any word to the point the guy said

look you invaded my country the least

you can have the courtesy of answering

me he didn't say a word so when we

finished that I came out I asked all his

documentation to photograph it from my

government and the col order his back be

given to me and he had some Chinese code

books he have some picture of his family

some medicament for his asthma inside

and he had a diary it's a German book

was written in Spanish that's his diary

so I photographed all of that uh then

while I was there they came and used

that the Great telephone call at the

getas and I was the highest ranking

officer uh so the there was definitely

the orders to execute him we had a very

simple code 500 shed 600 kill him 700

keep him alive so he came 500 600 which

Colonel senteno came out I told him I

said look this order from y High

Bolivian command to eliminate the

prisoner the order from my Government

tried to keep him alive at all cost so

we have helicopters to take him to

Panama for interrogation so he look at

me and say Felix my name was Felix Ramos

he said uh we you have been very hateful

to us helpful to us but this is order

from my president he looked at his watch

and he said the helicopter is going to

come several time bringing food and

ammunition taking our wound and our dead

but after 2:00 he's going to come up and

pick up check's dead body you can jti

shate him any way you want because we

know how much harm he have done to your

country so I said M Corell try to make

the change their mind but it does not

change in mind I give view my word of

Honor I will bring you dead body of sh

so we Embrace and he left and sure

enough the helicopter came several time

that's when the major came and asked for

a for a picture with the prisoner then I

started waiting and see what happened

and then there was a a school teacher

who came to me and said said why are you

going to kill him I said why do you say

that I said look we saw saw that you

took a picture of him outside and look

the radio is already giving the news so

at that that point I knew there was

nothing else to be done uh so I got into

the room I stood in front of thing and

said Commander I'm sorry I Tred my best

he white like a piece of paper and he

said it's better this way you have never

been captured alive so you told CH grar

he was about to be killed yes in a way

the way I say say I'm sorry I tried my

best he understood what I was saying

then he took his pipe out on S to give

this pipe to a soldo who treated me well

and at that time major Sergeant Teran

who he knew was the one executing the

the life prisoner burst into the

room I want the pipe and she say no I

won't give it to you so I ordered him

three times to leave the room when he

did I look at she I said would you give

it to me she see I will give it to you

so I put my pipe here I say any want

anything you want for your family then I

will say in a sarcastic way he say well

if you can't tell Fidel he will soon see

a triumphant revolution in America then

he changed expression and saying if you

can't tell my wife to Remar and try to

be happy that was his last word he

approached me we shook hand we embrace

it was a very uh strange unique moment

in my life because we never order

prisoner to be executed at the time I

even thought about cutting the telephone

line and telling the pilot that my

government was able to convince them to

bring share life and I remember what

happened when Batista released Fidel

Castro and what happened to my country

so I told myself look this is not your

word you're here to advise not to

command this is the Bolivian decision so

let history wrong itself so I let it go

the way it was and that was the the end

of it and what happened to Jay at that

point well after we embrace uh which was

like I say very strange moment for me

because he was My Enemy at the same time

I I feel sorry for him he conducted

himself with dignity at the end I left

the room and there was Sergeant Teran I

told him that not shoot to from here

down up shoot from here down because he

man supposed to die from combat one see

me capan see me capan and he left so it

was 1:00 in the afternoon Bolivian time

when I left there about 1:15 I heard the

burst and that's the time that he was

killed executed so they just shot him in

the room he was shot by M2 carabin that

was borrowed by this sergeant from

Lieutenant Paris who had an automatic

carabin I understand because I was in

present he came in and said Shar I'd

like to talk to you and uh he told him

said look I know you're coming to kill

me he said no no we are not going to

kill you you're wor you was more our

life than that and then he told him I

know you you want you to know you're

going to kill a man so he open fire sh

went like this or is a bullet that hit

here which is normal reaction to try to

cover yourself uh so he was shot and

killed I came back few hours later with

two of the captains from the operation

Captain G PR and celo torelli and we got

into the room his his head was facing

the the the ceiling he was covered with

mud uh so there was a dead body of two

Cuban behind him that have been killing

operation one was Captain panoan another

captain from the Cuban Army who died in

combat so we Embrace him there and and K

plow semi capan we have finished in the

gorillas in LA America and I told him

capan we haven't finished it at least we

have delayed them for a long time so we

could hear the helicopter coming and

they immediately left so I asked for a

bucket of water I clean his face I took

all the mud out of his face I tried to

clo his YW with my handkerchief which I

lost in the helicopter with the wind and

then I tried to close his eyes and it

was impossible they have been open too

long so I tried to close it pop up again

several times so I gave up on it so we

took the body and we tie at the right

side of the helicopter

and while we're finishing to do that I

remember tied it to the struts of the

helicopter to the to right right pontoon

of the helicopter on the right side and

I remember the the the pilot I capan

moved forward to balance the helicopter

so I put my hand under him and pulled it

out when he brought it out was

completely covered with blood apparently

it was shot in the aorta and see these

plastic things are and didn't allow any

water to go through it was a big pool of

blood in there I look at it I didn't say

anything but I thought to myself there

are people who have blood in their hands

I have the hell of a lot of here so I

clean the blood and this right side of

my pants I came in and then a soldier

came and said mayor mayor father sheers

went to see him so we stood with

helicopter running for maybe a couple of

minutes and there was a priest who came

on a on a mule he came around uh he get

down of the mule and he gave him the

last benediction which I took picture of

it with a Mino camera that I have left I

thought to myself this this guy was an

at he didn't believe in God nevertheless

he received the ra Ritual from the

Catholic church and from there we took

off and then we landed the inag grand

there were thousands of people waiting

at the wrong way there was like 15

different plane from the Press from the

military waiting for the for for him to

arrive so I put my cap and run into the

people so I my picture was never taken

and then he was taken into Schoolhouse

excuse me to a hospital seor de Malta

then in the evening there was a a a

meeting and the general was telling a

colonel if if Fidel deny this is Shara

we need tangible proof of it cut his

head and put him for Malahide so I said

meal you cannot do that I say why not

say supposedly Fidel Deni this is Shara

you are ah head of a state you cannot

show the head of a human being a proof

said well what do you suggest I said

well you want some tangible proof of it

CAU one finger and we have the

fingerprint from the Argentinian federal

police and he can be checked so so he

ordered both hand to be cut so I left

with all the documentation for Santa

Cruz and my other friend is staying

there and then about 3 or 4:00 in the

morning when the Press was gone uh they

took his body they cut both hands and

put him for Malahide and two other

bodies and they took it to the very end

of the wrong way and they bury him in

there with two bodies there was a

bulldozer there who was uh making longer

the wrong way than he was buried right

there now later on years later when

Fidel said he found the body on the side

of the wrong way with sving all the body

I can assure you that was not Shara

because he wasn't buried there amazing

and so what did you do it was 1967 it

was back up really quickly you're you

born in Cuba right how did when did you

come to the United States I came in 1954

for a school I came to perky prep in

penor Pennsylvania I spent six years in

there seven and8th grade in my high

school and I actually uh went off um my

last year to go to the first person that

was against Castro was the

anti-communist Legion of the Caribbean

the Dominican Republic so I participated

in that operation when I was 17 18 years

old and I came back and then after

graduation I was accepted at the

University of Miami for civil

engineering but before I went there I

learned there was something going on in

Latin America against Castro I joined

where later became the Bay of pig

Invasion I was 19 year old at the time

what was your role in the Bay of Pigs

invasion I was part of what they call

the special forces or INF ation thing so

I was a group of about 36 people we got

into Cuba a month and a half before The

Invasion to work with the resistant I

Came In clandestinely by boat I start

working inside the island uh helping

with them with all kind of equipment and

trying to do an uising another area then

actually the Bay of pig surprise us

because they never told us anything if

they had being able to tell us that the

invasion was coming we had enough

explosive to be able maybe to blow some

bridges toward the Bay of pig and delay

the advancement of Castro troop but they

never told anything we learned through

the Cuban radio so at that time was lo I

was able to make it through the

Venezuelan Embassy where I spent five

and a half months in Havana in Havana

and then finally got safe conduct went

back to Venezuela at the end of

September how did you get from the Bay

of Pigs to Havana that's a long way

isn't it it wasn't in the Bay of pig I

landed near Havana a month and a half

before the Bay of Pigs I'm working with

the resistant you know we had a

mechanism of the of the internal

resistant to pick us up near the highway

and then take off to safe houses in

Havana then we start working with them

in there during that time so I wasn't at

the B of PE at the time and I was lucky

because I didn't have any idea of any

Embassy in there but the lady who was

driving me around was close connected to

the Espanish Embassy and the

spaner Alejandro vgar who was in charge

of they called propaganda actually was

Intelligence came to pick her up because

they were surrounding our building

building Fidel very successfully what he

did he surrounded every single block in

Havana and if you wear a male a military

agan you were not assigned to a military

unit even though you might have been

even a communist they will take you and

put in custody they were baseball field

with 250,000 Cubans in there a theater

that capacity for 5,000 people 5,500 so

they were able to disarticulate internal

resistance that way even they pick up

some of my friend that came in and then

they released them because they had no

idea who they were but I was lucky to

make it to the Venezuelan Embassy and

then back back into um into Miami

actually I got to Miami on the very

first of October of 1961 and then by the

end of October I was back inside Cuba

went back seven times because I was the

only one who left the contact open after

the failure of the Bay of Pi to bring

people and equipment in and for

intelligence

purpos what what kind of equipment were

you bringing in oh we were bringing

explosive were bringing in M3 machine

guns uh all kind hand grenades and all

those in that they were still bringing

in to be able to support a future

resistance but then it didn't work out

then I decided actually in 1962 I

decided to marry my present wife for 62

years and I told her I said look Rosa uh

I'm going to quit I'm going to go into

civilian life but I want you to know if

there is something serious about Cuba I

will go so she made the mistake of

agreeing to that because we we got

married in the 25th of August I start

working a company for $1 an hour called

called is letter service propaganda then

I was improving toing packaging company

$135 an hour so while I was working

there and remember I got married 25th of

August in the in the month of October I

got a call from a CIA guy and said look

I need to talk to you after you work at

that company so I went to see him at the

parking lot of the uh Howard and Johnson

across from the University of Miami I

sit in his car and I say Felix the

Marines are going to land in Cuba we

need you I look at him and say Tom if

the Marine is going to land in Cuba what

the hell do you need me for good point

he said well you know how to operate a

radio Beacon we like you to parachute

behind a Soviet missile base in Santa

Clara to set up a radio Beacon so that

our air force can hit with Precision the

airbase at the time we didn't have the

GPS system that we have today so at that

time I agreed so they took me to a safe

house and my basic training was romping

from different altitude uh and the three

point of contact didn't break a leg I

couldn't even call my wife my wife went

back to the to the apartment and and of

course that night when Kennedy went on

National Television declared the October

crisis so she realized was something

related to that so the day we were going

to parachute into Cuba the day the Cru

Chef backed down the operation and then

you know I after that was had a job so

then I continued to work with the CIA

for how long oh until 1976 when they

retired me for for security

consideration after Colonel senteno NAA

who I was his advisor was assassinated

in Paris uh he was the Bolivian ambassad

there and he was killed and they left a

sign saying the sheara Commando then

they also assassinated major quania was

the colonel then Roberto kintan in

Hamburg Germany who was the consul

General from Bolivia there also left a

sign saying uh Commando Shara and they

call my home and say Felix Ramos you're

next that's the name that I use in

Bolivia that never came out so the

agency proposed me one of those program

to change my name and go to another

state which I would not accept because

of my kids so what they did they came to

my home they did a security evaluation

they uh actually gave me a bulletproof

car they bulletproof my car in in

Langley Virginia I got a license to

carry concealed weapon that was

difficult to get at the time and they

gave me a total disability I didn't have

to work to have a routine of work and

put some iron fences in my house some

security and then I signed a paper for

them if I got killed related to my job

my family could not show you know they

could not sue them in any way of form

because what they offer me that they

consider I refuse to but then after that

I continue independently to do something

like I went in into El Salvador uh

flying with Salvadorian guill as a

volunteer with a concept that I

developed in Vietnam where I spent two

and a half years in Vietnam after

Bolivia and um he was very effective in

El Salvador when he was there what were

you doing in Vietnam as a CI officer

well that my responsibility was to stop

the rocketing of Saigon and the

rocketing of the both g into Saigon we

were advising unit called the pru

provincial reconnaissant unit a CIA unit

who was managed paid and controlled by

the CIA and it was almost impossible to

stop the rocketing of Saigon and it did

it for for psychological reason every

week there will be one or two 122 Point

uh Soviet missiles going into the city

at random normally they tried to hit the

presidential Palace and the US Embassy

which they never did but it was a

psychological SC and we start looking in

area it was impossible to locate these

people until I was able to capture one

uh who was The Bodyguard of tutan the

commander of that unit and he told me

that they were hiding in an area that we

never thought of because there was the

tie of the water will come up like 17 ft

and what they did he told me they had 55

gallon drums they solder one on top of

the other thought they sleeping there

when the water went up when the water

went down they run across the river they

fired the rocket into the area and then

they came back and hide again then I

start looking in that area which we

never did before and actually on the 4th

of December of 19 70 I was able to

establish contact with the commander of

the unit we killed like 18 of them we

lost three of our pru and from there on

we continue the pressure and there was

not a single Rock of fire into sa after

that and for that I got equal to the the

Congressional Medal of Honor from the

Vietnamese his armed forces called the

the um the cross of gallantry was gold

star I got one of that two silver star

and six bronze star during the time that

I was with the with them then I got the

intelligence star for from the CIA

because of the operation in Vietnam I'm

sure you've been asked us a thousand

times but since you worked there you

worked for President Kennedy yes and he

was of course killed in November of 1963

and countless books have been written

blaming Cuban Exiles people participated

in the Bay of Pigs for being involved in

some way with the CIA in that

assassination what's your assessment of

that claim well I'll tell you most of

the Brigade member believes uh president

Kenn was a traitor and he was the one

who definitely he had the responsibility

and he was responsible or was

failure looking from another point I

believe he was a young president ill

advised and we PID the price and I

believe that actually he was killed

because he tried to amend that uh after

he was able to pull the Brigade out of

prison he opened the Arm Forces of the

United States for the Brigade members

out became a second lieutenant in the US

Army in 196 63 and then he promised us a

special operation which was started in

Central America in three different bases

and not not many many people know about

it but then he was assassinated and a

lot of people believe that it was only

one shooter I believe there were two

shooter uh we have information that

there was a Cuban which is now a retired

General Fabian Escalante who was a

captain at the time who was in Dallas

and he was the second shooter in the

assassination of the president well you

just okay I'm sorry will you say that

one more time what's his name Pavan

Escalante Escalante Pavan ESC and he was

in Dallas that that day and then he left

uh it was something that and and Castro

said that that he knew that cu the

United State was trying to kill him but

be very careful because the Cuban also

had very long hand so it wasn't matter

either Kennedy or or or or

I think that that's why he got killed so

you believe that Kennedy was

assassinated by Cuban forces Castro

great yes remember that Oswell was in

the Cuban Embassy uh for several hours

before he went to Dallas that day and we

also have the fact that with no question

about it that Fabian Escalante was there

and then CUA deny at the beginning that

he was ever in the Cuban Embassy later

on when they learned that we as CIA we

had pictures a movie of him getting into

our Embassy then they said that they