Felix Rodriguez with the captured Che Guevara.

Cuban-born Félix Rodríguez, fled Cuba in 1959 shortly after Fidel Castro took power and has had a long career in the US intelligence community. Most of Rodríguez’s family including his father and two of his brothers were either executed or disappeared within the first months of the new Castro regime. He left Cuba for the United States when he was 18 years old. Rodríguez became a US citizen in 1969 and enlisted in the Army. During his career with the CIA he also went by the name Máximo Gómez. Rodriguez arresting Che Guevera File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Rodriguez arresting Che Guevera File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... 1959 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Fidel Castro Fidel Castro Ruz (born August 13, 1926), has led Cuba since 1959, when, leading the 26th of July Movement, he overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, and transformed Cuba into the first Communist-led state in the Western Hemisphere. ... 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... CIA, see CIA (disambiguation). ... --24. ...

After fleeing Cuba in 1959 he joined the CIA-backed Brigade 2506. Rodríguez was infiltrated into Cuba a few weeks prior to the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and would be involved in many anti-Castro operations throughout Latin America over the next 30 years. In 1967 the CIA recruited him to train and head a team to hunt down the famous leftist guerrillero Che Guevara in Bolivia. When Guevara was captured it was Rodriguez who interrogated him. After his execution he took Guevara's Rolex watch as a souvenir. The Bay of Pigs (Spanish: Bahía de (los) Cochinos) is a bay on the southern coast of Cuba. ... Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the American sense of the word), or with opposition... Che Guevara Dr. Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna (June 14, 1928¹ – October 9, 1967), commonly known as Che Guevara, was an Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary and Cuban guerrilla leader. ... Rolex is the brand of Swiss wristwatches and accessories renowed for their quality, as well as their cost; they sell for several thousand dollars. ...

Rodríguez flew over 300 helicopter missions during the Vietnam War, and was shot down five times. He won the Intelligence Star for Valor from the CIA and nine Crosses for Gallantry from the Republic of South Vietnam. In 1971 Rodriguez helped train Provincial Reconnaissance Units for Operation Phoenix. He was also involved in anti-Communist operations in El Salvador employing mobile helicopter strike units similar to those he developed Vietnam. He flew over 100 combat missions in Central America, and captured the Cuban backed Martí National Liberation Front’s top commander Nidia Díaz. The Vietnam War was a war fought roughly from 1957 to 1975 after the North Vietnamese government secretly agreed to begin involvement in South Vietnam. ... National motto: ??? Official language Vietnamese Capital Saigon President Huynh Tan Phat Prime Minister Nguyen Huu Tho Area  - Total 173,809km² population  - Total  - Density 19,370,000 (1973 est. ... 1971 is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ... The Phoenix Program, known as Kế Hoạch Phụng Hoàng (a word related to fenghuang, the Chinese phoenix) in Vietnamese, was a covert intelligence operation undertaken by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in close collaboration with South Vietnamese intelligence during the Vietnam War. ...

In 1988, senator John Kerry from Massachusetts was holding Congressional hearings on the alleged involvement of US intelligence agencies in Central American drug trafficking. On June 30, 1987, a story leaked out of the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism and Narcotics, of accusing Rodríguez of soliciting a $10 million donation from the Colombian cocaine cartel. Rodríguez viewed this as an attempt to slander then presidential candidate George H. W. Bush, because of Bush’s and Rodríguez’s long personal relationship as well as Bush’s former role as head of the CIA. 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A senate is a deliberative body, often the upper house or chamber of a legislature. ... John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is the junior United States Senator from Massachusetts. ... State nickname: Bay State Other U.S. States Capital Boston Largest city Boston Governor Mitt Romney Official languages English Area 27,360 km² (44th)  - Land 20,317 km²  - Water 7,043 km² (25. ... Central America is the region of North America located between the southern border of Mexico and the northwest border of Colombia, in South America. ... June 30 is the 181st day of the year (182nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 184 days remaining, as the last day in June. ... 1987 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Cocaine is a crystalline alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. ... A cartel is a group of producers whose goal it is to fix prices, to limit supply and to limit competition. ... Order: 41st President Vice President: J. Danforth Quayle Term of office: January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993 Preceded by: Ronald Reagan Succeeded by: Bill Clinton Date of birth: June 12, 1924 Place of birth: Milton, Massachusetts First Lady: Barbara Pierce Bush Political party: Republican George Herbert Walker Bush (born June...

Rodríguez demanded that he be publicly allowed to testify in front of the Senate Subcommittee, but Kerry insisted that any testimony given to the committee be done in private. Rodriguez refused to testify in private demanding that any allegation made against him be made in public so he could refute it in public. Rodríguez finally did privately testify to the committee after several months, but when Rodríguez asked his testimony be made public, Kerry refused.

Kerry later publicly apologized to Rodríguez for his treatment during the affair.