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Soviet Spymaster Remembers Che

09 October 2012 21:24 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Forty five years after Che Guevaraâ€™s death a senior former Soviet/Russian intelligence officer paid tribute to the legendary revolutionary, disclosing some details of his life and death in an exclusive interview with RIA Novosti, APA reports.
Lt. Gen. Nikolai Leonov (Ret.), of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), a successor to the KGB, who first met Che long before the victory of the Cuban revolution, described him as an â€œoverwhelming figureâ€ who belongs to all generations.
â€œHe was the embodiment of the mythical and literary types that have always struck a chord with the people,â€ said Leonov, who retired as head of the KGB analytical directorate in August 1991.
â€œIn such cases I think of Christ the Savior and Don Quixote.â€
Leonov said he was the first Russian to meet Che, in 1956 in Mexico.
â€œWhen I met him he was just another guy. At the time we were both average young men,â€ he said, adding that no one who had ever known him could think of a case where Che Guevara was cruel.
Che was an absolutely independent, â€œholisticâ€ political figure, who â€œalways acted in Cubaâ€™s national interests, as well as in the interests of all Latin American nations,â€ the retired general said.
Guevara was greatly impressed by the Soviet reaction to the victory of the Cuban revolution, in particular the readiness of then-Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Alexei Kosygin to provide all-out support and assistance.
Che had flown to Moscow not as a diplomat but on a mission to sell 2 million tons of Cuban sugar that could not be sold in the US.
Waxing sentimental about the USSR, Leonov noted that Che was amazed at how more than 260 million Soviet citizens were able to live without having to worry about becoming rich the expense of others.
Che dreamed about Man free from the lust for money.
Money is a horrible thing that sticks to you like toxic glue, Leonov cited Che as saying.
Commenting on Che Guevaraâ€™s revolutionary activity in Congo, Bolivia and other Latin American countries, Leonov said it would be wrong to compare it to the export of color revolutions practiced by the Americans across the world.
â€œChe had very clear social goals - to make life better for the people, for the majority.â€
â€œNone of those who are now organizing color revolutions cry at the sight of other peopleâ€™s distress, but Che Guevara cried,â€ Leonov said.
â€œThat was why he went to Congo, Bolivia, and Cuba.â€
Che was killed on orders from the CIA, Leonov claimed.
Although the order was formally issued by Bolivian President Rene Barrientos, he acted on peremptory advice from the CIA station chief in Bolivia who was in charge of the operation.
The US acted in great hurry to get rid of Che, seeing him as â€œa colossal danger - greater than a nuclear bomb dropped on US territory.â€
â€œHis image still haunts the US now.â€