GUEVARA'S COMRADES SEEK REFUGE IN CHILE
In a dispatch from Santiago, February 19, Agence France-Presse reported that six survivors of the group of guerrilla fighters who were operating in Bollivia with Che Guevara were rumored to have succeeded in eluding their pursuers and entering Chile.
According to the rumors in Santiago, they were under the leadership of Guido Peredo Leigue, known familiarly as "Inti." Three Cubans, said to have been close collaborators of Guevara in Havana, were reported to be in the group.
They entered Chile, still according to rumor, through the Isluga pass at an altitude of more than 12,000 feet. Snow storms and severe winds blocked flights of reconnaissance planes and thus the guerrillas were able to make their way into Chile over trails known only to smugglers and the guides of llama pack trains.
The chairman of the Chilean Senate, Salvador Allende, asked the minister of the interior to grant them the right of political asylum. The Communist party made similar representations.
The government at first announced that the refugees would not be escorted back to the border but would be brought to Santiago where they could ask for the right of asylum in accordance with the laws of Chile.
However, the minister of the interior underwent a remarkable change of mind by the following day -- possibly after a telephone call from the American embassy. He said that the right of asylum could be granted only to persons who first applied for it in a Chilean embassy in a foreign country.
He further stated that if members of Guevara's group were found in Chile
they would be placed under strict police
control until the government decided
what to do with them.
On February 23, the Chilean police
permitted five members of the group to
hold a press conference in Santiago. It
was announced that they had crossed the
border the day before at Zavalla and had
surrendered to the police.
Harry Villegas, who said he had
been Che Guevara's bodyguard for nine
years, declared: "With us the guerrilla
movement in Bolivia stopped. But there
will be a thousand more battles which
will mean victory for us."
Asked why the guerrillas were un-
able to win wide support among the peas-—
ants, Villegas said, according to the As-
sociated Press: "Because peasants are al-
ways with the forces of power and
strength. We did not reach the necessary
phase of power."
Villegas continued: "We came to
Bolivia about a year ago and started
training to combat the army, which is
the worst in the Americas, even with
Yankee help. The army took us by surprise
in our first battles. After that, we were
taken by surprise again."
He described the hardships suf-
fered by the guerrillas -- only a small
bird called the loro for food, two months
of walking, and illness from bad weather.
He predicted that the guerrilla
movement will be reborn in Bolivia and
will flourish in Latin America because
"there is hunger, poverty, exploitation
dictatorships."
According to the UPI, there are
"indications" the Chilean government will
expel the five guerrillas, perhaps send-
ing them to Czechoslovakia.
MOSCOW POLITICAL