If a former State Department official and reported Central Intelligence Agency operative can be believed—the U.S. government aided in Mandela’s 1962 capture and arrest.
He spent nearly three decades in prison. Known the world over as a freedom fighter and an ambassador of social justice, today Nelson Mandela is an icon whose death in 2013 at age 95 sparked mourning around the globe.
President Barack Obama and a high-profile official delegation that included former presidents Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton attended the memorial service, televised everywhere on the planet. But—if a former State Department official and reported Central Intelligence Agency operative can be believed—the U.S. government aided in Mandela’s 1962 capture and thus bears some responsibility for the 27 years he spent in jail.
Donald Rickard, who died in March, alleges that U.S. intelligence had a direct hand in Mandela’s apprehension. In fact, the former U.S. vice-consul in Durban, who was reportedly employed by the CIA until 1978, said he was the spy who tipped South African authorities to Mandela’s whereabouts en route between Durban and Johannesburg.
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