Che Guevara’s Hair To Be Sold at Auction
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
MIAMI — A former CIA operative and Cuban exile plans to auction what he says is a lock of Che Guevara’s hair, snipped before the Argentinean revolutionary and friend of Fidel Castro was buried in 1967.
Gustavo Villoldo, 71, was involved in Guevara’s capture in the jungles of Bolivia, according to unclassified American records and other documents. He plans to auction the hair and other items kept in a scrapbook since the joint CIA-Bolivian army mission 40 years ago.
“It’s time for me to put the past behind and pass these on to someone else,” said Mr. Villoldo, also a veteran of the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.
The scrapbook also holds a map used to track down Guevara in Bolivia, photos of Guevara’s body, intercepted messages between Guevara and his rebels, and a set of Guevara’s fingerprints taken before his burial.
