Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are

Next to Fidel Castro, the most visible man in Cuba long was Ernesto ("Che") Guevara, 37, the Argentine-born Marxist who landed in 1956 with the original 81-man band of insurgents, quickly emerged as Castro's closest confidant and jack of all trouble (TIME cover, Aug. 8, 1960). Che was the brain behind Castro's hide-and-seek guerrilla tactics during the revolution; after the takeover, Castro made him Cuba's economic czar, first as head of the National bank and later as Minister of Industries, put him in charge of exporting Castroite subversion throughout Latin America, sent him on trips abroad to beat the drums for Communist revolution. Che's latest trip was a three-month propaganda tour through nine African and Asian nations, including seven days in Red China. He returned to Havana on March 14 -- and has not been seen since. Now Castrologists around the world are asking: What ever became of Che?

The rumor mills are grinding out every kind of story among anti-Castro Cuban exiles, pro-Castro students, travelers and diplomats on both sides of the fence. A popular theory has it that Che is -- or was -- the secret mastermind behind the leftists in the Dominican civil war. The story comes in half a dozen versions: Che has shaved his beard, and is fighting with Caamano's rebels in downtown Santo Domingo; he was killed a few weeks ago, and his features disfigured so no one could prove that he had been there. Variations have him directing the rebels by radio from Cuba's nearby Oriente province or from a command post in the Haitian mountains. Moving him farther, other rumors put him in Colombia or Peru (see following story), training Red guerrillas, or in Venezuela, planning a new campaign for the FALN terrorists.

Asylum or Asthma. Other speculation places Che at home in Cuba -- but at odds with Castro, partly because Che preaches a tough pro-Chinese, anti-Russian line, partly because Castro blames him for Cuba's continuing economic chaos. One report has it that he quarreled with Castro at a party in the Soviet embassy, sought asylum there to avoid Fidel's wrath. A second version has Che hiding out in the Mexican embassy. He is variously supposed to have been executed at Castro's orders, slapped into prison, demoted to a junior job. However, the theory that the two men have been at odds suffered something of a blow when Fidel and his brother Raul stood next to Che's wife and child at the May Day parade. So other reports say he is merely convalescing from a recurrence of asthma complicated by a heart condition.

Castro seems to enjoy all the speculation immensely. He himself disappeared for nearly a month in 1962, only to reappear and have a high old time scotching the rumors about his demise. "If the Americans are puzzled," cried Castro on TV last week, "let them remain puzzled. If they are nervous, let them take a tranquilizer." Che "was allergic" to publicity, he explained, then quickly corrected himself to say "is allergic." If the Americans are so curious, added Castro, "Why don't they take a picture of Che with the U-2?"

"He's Resting." What some sources consider a solid clue that Che is still in Cuba came when U.S. radio monitors heard Cuba's internal communications system "calling car 2912." "What car?" interrupted a second Cuban operator. "Car 2912--Che's car," replied the first Cuban. There is some evidence that he has been relieved of his post as Minister of Industries: fortnight ago, Radio Havana mentioned that another official was now "acting" Minister of Industries. But whether this means a demotion is a moot point. Che's major value has never been as an economist; he is a political theorist and guerrilla tactician, at his best in promoting subversion.

Many experts reason that Che has simply taken a few months off to dream up new strategies for Latin America now that the U.S. has changed the rules by intervening in the Dominican Republic. "He's resting, and that's all I know," said a Castro Cuban at the U.N., who may--or may not--have more than rumors to go on. "But even while he is resting, he is making trouble for the U.S."

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