Guevara. Hofmann is unable to add anything essentially new-to the speculation. He mentions the version about Castro having had his comrade-in-arms imprisoned or executed but appears to discount it. While Hofmann seeks to avoid any hard-and-fast conclusion, he seems ‘to lean to the hypothesis that Guevara is active on some revolutionary front but perhaps has political. differences with Castro.
No doubt Hofmann has available ‘the best possible sources of information in Washington. He reports that all the intelligence networks, including the Soviet and Chinese, "appear to be profes- Sionally piqued" that Guevara could "Slip into the unknown" and get away with it. All. of them are doing their utmost to crack the mystery but without success so far.
Noting Guevara’. s great popularity among youthful revolution- ot ists throughout Latin America he quotes "Francisco," a young gradu-. ate of Santo Domingo University who belongs to the June 14 Movement: "Che is the purest of. the pure." According to Hofmann, "Young intel-lectuals like Francisco, study Guevara's 'Guerrilla War' and Trot- — sky's writings." As for himself, Hofmann did not find Guevara to be very sympathetic. He considered Guevara to be arrogant and -- naturally +-- a bungling Marxist dogmatist. Such a reaction, however, speaks well for Guevara who seems to have been courteous ‘enough | not ° to express his own opinion of this bourgeois journalist..
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ADOLFO GILLY, FIDEL CASTRO AND THE