Epilogue to the Diary

One of the great mysteries surrounding Che Guevara's diary of his ill-fated guerrilla campaign in Bolivia is how it reached the hands of Fidel Castro. Almost immediately after Che had been captured and executed by Bolivia's army last fall, Western journalists swarmed to La Paz to bid for the publishing rights. "If I had the money," said Bolivian Minister of Government Antonio Arguedas at the time, "I would buy the diary myself and resell it at a profit." It seems, however, that money did not stand in Arguedas' way after all. Last week, less than a month after Fidel Castro had gleefully published the diary in Havana, an investigation by the Bolivian army charged that the No. 2 man in Bolivia's government had simply borrowed President Rene Barrientos' copy and was responsible for its "indiscreet handling."

Arguedas all but confirmed the charge by showing up in the Chilean port of Iquique to ask for political asylum. Barrientos still refused to accuse his old friend, instead issued a statement that spoke darkly of "Castro-Communist infiltration in high organs of the state." The army, on the other hand, published a harshly worded report that seemed as interested in embarrassing the President as his minister. That boded ill for Barrientos: the army's commander in chief, Alfredo Ovando Candia, a onetime political ally, is rumored to covet the presidency for himself.

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