Félix Ismael Rodríguez Mendigutia (born 31 May 1941) is a Cuban American former Central Intelligence Agency Paramilitary Operations Officer in the Special Activities Division, known for his involvement in the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the execution of communist revolutionary Che Guevara as well as his close ties to George H. W. Bush during the Iran–Contra affair.
Rodríguez came from a wealthy family of land owners in his native Cuba.
His uncle was the Minister of Public Works during Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship.
He attended the Perkiomen School in Pennsylvania but dropped out to join the Anti-Communist League of the Caribbean, which had been created by Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo with the intention of ending communism in Cuba.
The invasion of Cuba was a failure, and Rodríguez went back to Perkiomen.
1960
He graduated in June 1960 and went to live with his parents in Miami, where thousands of Cuban exiles had moved.
In September 1960, he joined a group of Cuban exiles in Guatemala, supported by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to receive military training.
They were called Brigade 2506.
Rodriguez participated in the Bay of Pigs invasion as a paramilitary operations officer with the CIA's Special Activities Division.
He clandestinely entered Cuba a few weeks before the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion.
Using his familiarity with the country, he was able to gather critical intelligence, which was used in the planning and preparation of the invasion.
1967
In 1967, the CIA again recruited Rodríguez to train and head a team to hunt down Che Guevara, who was attempting to overthrow the US-backed government in Bolivia and to replace it with a communist government.
The last photograph of Guevara alive includes Rodriguez standing by his side, but according to Dino Brugioni, a former senior official at the CIA's National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC), it is a photomontage.
1969
He became a US citizen in 1969.
During his career with the CIA, he also went by the nom de guerre "Max Gomez" after Máximo Gómez, the Dominican general who fought in the Cuban War of Independence.
He was awarded the Intelligence Star for Valor by the CIA and nine Crosses for Gallantry by the South Vietnamese government.
He was codenamed Lazarus after his survival of the Bay of Pigs operation.
During the Vietnam War, Rodríguez flew over 300 helicopter missions and was shot down five times.
1970
In 1970, after the Cambodian incursion, Bien Hoa CIA Spymaster Orrin DeForrest worked with Rodríguez, whom he described as "the CIA's hotshot pilot," and his PRU in rolling up the Viet Cong stronghold of An Tinh in South Vietnam.
Rodríguez flew above the village in a Loach light helicopter and marked target houses holding VC suspects with orange smoke, and the PRU then went in and emptied the houses of occupants, lined them up, and identified suspects with the assistance of a former VC leader who had been captured before he began to co-operate with the CIA; DeForrest identified him as "Ba Tung."
The operation netted 28 VC cadre who had been living openly among the South Vietnamese but were working to assist the North Vietnamese overthrow their southern neighbors.
The mass arrest and detention of Subregion One VC cadre was the largest operation of its type during the war and, for all intents and purposes, broke the VC hold on its stronghold of An Tinh.
1971
In 1971, Rodríguez trained Provincial Reconnaissance Units (PRUs).
They were CIA-sponsored units that worked for the Phoenix Program.
The Walsh Report states (Chapter 29): "During the Vietnam War, [Donald] Gregg supervised CIA officer Felix Rodriguez and they kept in contact following the war."
Rodríguez also reported to Ted Shackley during the Phoenix Program.
Shackley became Bush's top aide for operations when he directed the CIA, and Gregg later became National Security Advisor for Vice-President Bush.
Rodríguez was in frequent contact with him regarding arms for the Contras.
1983
There is extensive documentation of Rodríguez's ties to US Vice-President George H. W. Bush during the Iran–Contra affair from 1983 to 1988.
1986
In September 1986, General John K. Singlaub wrote to Oliver North expressing concern about Rodríguez's daily contact with the Bush office and warned of damage to US President Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party.
The Walsh Report (Chapter 25) stated that M. Charles Hill took notes at a meeting between George Shultz and Elliott Abrams on 16 October 1986 as follows:
"Felix Rodriguez [sic] – Bush did know him from CIA days. FR [Rodriguez] is ex-CIA. In El Salv[ador] he goes around to bars saying he is buddy of Bush. A y[ea]r ago Pdx [Poindexter] & Ollie [North] told VP staff stop protecting FR as a friend – we want to get rid of him from his involvnt [sic] w[ith] private ops. Nothing was done so he still is there shooting his mouth off. (brackets are in the original)"
Rodríguez met with Donald Gregg, now Bush's National Security advisor.
The Walsh Report (Chapter 29) stated, "Gregg introduced Rodriguez to Vice President Bush in January 1985, and Rodriguez met with the Vice President again in Washington, D.C., in May 1986. He also met Vice President Bush briefly in Miami on May 20, 1986."
Rodríguez also met and spoke with Bush's advisor Gregg and his deputy, Colonel Samuel J. Watson III.
On 5 October 1986, the Corporate Air Services C-123, carrying Eugene Hasenfus was shot down over Nicaragua, which killed two US pilots, William H. Cooper and Wallace B. Sawyer Jr., and one Latin American crewmember.
"Rodriguez unsuccessfully attempted to call Gregg to inform him of the missing plane. He reached Watson, who in turn notified the White House Situation Room. The following day, Rodriguez called Watson again and told him that the airplane was one of North's."
Hasenfus told reporters that he worked for "Max Gomez," an alias for Rodríguez, and "Ramon Medina," an alias for Luis Posada Carriles, of the CIA.
On 10 October 1986, Clair George, the head of CIA clandestine operations, testified before Congress that he did not know of any direct connection between Hasenfus and Reagan administration officials.
1992
In the fall of 1992, George was convicted on two charges of false statements and perjury before Congress but was pardoned on Christmas Eve that year by President Bush.
