BOLIVIAN GENERALS "DISCOVER" NEW SENSATIONS IN CHE'S DIARY
At the beginning of November Bolivian army chief, General Ovando, announced that Che Guevara's diary would be auc-— tioned off in the near future. One Paris publisher offered $100,000 before he drop~ ped out of the bidding. Then the generals hit a snag.
Apparently some questions arose about the right of the Bolivian government to sell the private papers of the slain guerrillas. Probably a squabble also broke out inside the government as to who would collect the booty if Guevara's diary were sold.
Finally Barrientos issued a proclamation that the auction would be carried through and the pay-off would go to the army:
An Agence France-Presse dispatch from La Paz November 24 reported that "The Bolivian government has issued a decree authorizing the army to sell Comandante Ernesto 'Che' Guevara's field journal to 'the highest bidder.' The decree stipulates that documents found on the guerrillas become the property of the armed forces. Several offers, running up to very high amounts, have been made by publishers in the United States."
The decree was followed immediately by a full-scale "merchandising" campaign. A November 25 United Press International dispatch reported that Barrientos had suddenly "discovered" evidence in the diary of "an evident falling-out between Mr. Guevara and Premier Fidel Castro."
"Without giving the dates of the entries," the dispatch continues, "General Barrientos said in an interview that several remarks in the diary seemed ironic or critical toward Mr. Castro."
Such an unlikely possibility would naturally vastly increase the value of the document to American publishers. In view of the notorious record of the Bolivian government for fabricating "proofs" and adding "details" to material in its possession, who knows what amazing political secrets will be discovered in Che's diary before it is finally auctioned off at a suitably inflated price?
But Che's diary may be only the beginning. Having got hold of a good thing, Barrientos appears only too happy to supply a steady stream of literary remains of the guerrillas he murdered.
The "gorillas" are assiduously spreading the rumor that they have in their possession another notebook of Guevara's, even more sensational than the diary.
David F. Belnap writing from La Paz in the November 27 New York Post suggests some of the juicy contents of the new "find":
"Best guess is that the mystery notebook contains some surprising names and perhaps provides a tipoff to underground Castro Communist movements hitherto unsuspected in other parts of Latin America."
Belnap reports that both United States and Latin-American “intelligence sources" have seen the notebook. Undoubtedly this, too, will go on sale when the bidding has sufficiently warmed up.