2016-01-25

Bolivia

In November 1966, Che travelled to Bolivia. In the southeast Bolivian jungle,

In November 1966, Che travelled to Bolivia. In the southeast Bolivian jungle, the area of the Ñancahuazu river, the guerrilla group that would give rise to the National Liberation Army (ELN) was established. In December, Che breaks up with the Bolivian communist leader Mario Monje and this fact would be directly related to the political and logistical isolation the revolutionary force would be subject to from then on. 
In March 1967, the first combats between the guerrilla and the Bolivian army began. In August, the rearguard is defeated in Vado del Yeso, and the column led by Che walked into an ambush close to the city of La Higuera. The survivals moved to Grande river and in the Quebrada del Yuro, the Commander Che Guevara received a bullet wound in the leg and was taken prisoner. On October 9, he was murdered in La Higuera.

“Our every action is a battle cry against imperialism, and a battle hymn for the people’s unity against the great enemy of mankind: the United States of America. Wherever death may surprise us, let it be welcome, provided that this, our battle cry, may have reached some receptive ear and another hand may be extended to wield our weapons, and other men be ready to intone the funeral dirge with the staccato of the machine-guns and new battle cries of war and victory”.Ernesto Che Guevara 
“Message to the peoples of the world through Tricontinental” 
April 16, 1967
“This is a time when big decisions have to be taken; this kind of fights gives us the chance to become revolutionaries, the highest step of humankind”.Ernesto Che Guevara 
1967. “Che’s Diary in Bolivia”.

Scenes of the guerrilla warfare in Bolivian territory, 1966/67.

 

Scenes of the guerrilla warfare in Bolivian territory, 1966/67.

 

Scenes of the guerrilla warfare in Bolivian territory, 1966/67.

 

Self-portrait of "Adolfo Mena", false identity used to enter Bolivia.