The Bolivian Diary Read online

  The

  Bolivian Diary

  AUTHORIZED EDITION

  Che Guevara Publishing Project

  These books form part of a series published by Ocean Press and the Che Guevara Studies Center, Havana, with the objective of disseminating the works and ideas of Che Guevara. By presenting Che in his own words, the series hopes to contribute to a better understanding of Che’s thought, allowing the reader to delve into his cultural depth, his irony, his passion, and his astute observations, that is to say, the living Che.

  Self-Portrait

  A Photographic and Literary Memoir

  The Motorcycle Diaries

  Notes on a Latin American Journey

  Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War

  Authorized Edition

  The Bolivian Diary

  Authorized Edition

  Che Guevara Reader

  Writings on Politics and Revolution

  Latin America

  Awakening of a Continent

  Global Justice

  Liberation and Socialism

  Guerrilla Warfare

  Authorized Edition

  Our America and Theirs

  Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress

  Marx & Engels

  A Biographical Introduction

  Critical Notes on Political Economy

  A Critical Analysis of the Soviet Economic Model

  Socialism and Humanity in Cuba

  A Classic Edition

  ERNESTO CHE GUEVARA

  The

  Bolivian Diary

  AUTHORIZED EDITION

  INTRODUCTION BY

  FIDEL CASTRO

  PREFACE BY

  CAMILO GUEVARA

  Ocean Press

  www.oceanbooks.com.au

  Cover design: Rachel Kirby

  Copyright © 2006 Ocean Press

  Copyright © 2006 Che Guevara Studies Center

  Copyright © 2006 Aleida March

  All photographs copyright © Aleida March and the Che Guevara Studies Center

  Preface © 2006 Camilo Guevara

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

  ISBN 978-1-921700-80-4

  Library of Congress Catalog Card No: 2005931646

  PUBLISHED BY OCEAN PRESS

  E-mail: [email protected] • www.oceanbooks.com.au

  www.oceanbooks.com.au

  [email protected]

  CONTENTS

  Editor’s Note

  Ernesto Che Guevara

  Chronology

  Maps

  Preface

  by Camilo Guevara

  A Necessary Introduction

  by Fidel Castro

  THE BOLIVIAN DIARY

  APPENDICES

  Instructions to Urban Cadres

  Communiqué No. 1 to the Bolivian People

  Communiqué No. 2 to the Bolivian People

  Communiqué No. 3 to the Bolivian People

  Communiqué No. 4 to the Bolivian People

  Communiqué No. 5 to the Bolivian Miners

  GLOSSARY

  EDITOR’S NOTE

  This edition of Che Guevara’s The Bolivian Diary has been prepared by the Che Guevara Studies Center, Havana. It is based on the first authorized edition published in Spanish in 1968 by the Cuban Book Institute. Certain pages that did not appear in that first edition have now been incorporated. Those diary entries, originally withheld by the Bolivian government for “security” reasons, are dated: January 4, 5, 8, and 9; February 8 and 9; March 14; April 4 and 5; June 9 and 10; and July 4 and 5.

  The text of the first edition has also been thoroughly checked and revised against facsimiles of the diary itself in order to clarify terms or words that were illegible. In the few remaining instances where this has not been possible, the text is marked “illegible in the original.”

  Che used a variety of noms de guerre or nicknames throughout the diary and sometimes the same person was referred to by several different names. For this reason, a glossary has been prepared to aid the reader.

  Che’s spelling of place names in the area of Bolivia in which the guerrilla force operated also varied, and this is reflected in the diary. Some of these names have been standardized to assist the reader, for example, in the case of the Ñacahuazú River. Generally, however, the integrity of the original diary has been maintained.

  Several key documents related to the Bolivian revolutionary movement at the time have been included as appendices. Throughout the diary, however, Che makes references to other documents that have not been reproduced here.

  Ocean Press

  ERNESTO CHE GUEVARA

  One of Time magazine’s “icons of the century,” Ernesto Guevara de la Serna was born in Rosario, Argentina, on June 14, 1928. He made several trips around Latin America during and immediately after his studies at medical school in Buenos Aires, including his 1952 journey with Alberto Granado, on the unreliable Norton motorbike described in his travel journal The Motorcycle Diaries.

  He was already becoming involved in political activity and living in Guatemala when, in 1954, the elected government of Jacobo Árbenz was overthrown in a CIA-organized military operation. Ernesto escaped to Mexico, profoundly radicalized.

  Following up on a contact made in Guatemala, Guevara sought out the group of exiled Cuban revolutionaries in Mexico City. In July 1955, he met Fidel Castro and immediately enlisted in the guerrilla expedition to overthrow Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. The Cubans nicknamed him “Che,” a popular form of address in Argentina.

  On November 25, 1956, Guevara set sail for Cuba aboard the yacht Granma as the doctor to the guerrilla group that began the revolutionary armed struggle in Cuba’s Sierra Maestra mountains. Within several months, he was named by Fidel Castro as the first Rebel Army commander, though he continued ministering medically to wounded guerrilla fighters and captured soldiers from Batista’s army.

  In September 1958, Guevara played a decisive role in the military defeat of Batista after he and Camilo Cienfuegos led separate guerrilla columns westward from the Sierra Maestra (later described in his book Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War).

  After Batista fled on January 1, 1959, Guevara became a key leader of the new revolutionary government, first as head of the Department of Industry of the National Institute of Agrarian Reform; then as president of the National Bank. In February 1961 he became minister of industry. He was also a central leader of the political organization that in 1965 became the Communist Party of Cuba.

  Apart from these responsibilities, Guevara often represented the Cuban revolutionary government around the world, heading numerous delegations and speaking at the United Nations and other international forums in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the socialist bloc countries. He earned a reputation as a passionate and articulate spokesperson for Third World peoples, most famously at the 1961 conference at Punta del Este in Uruguay, where he denounced US President Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress.

  As had been his intention since joining the Cuban revolutionary movement, Guevara left Cuba in April 1965, initially to lead a Cuban-organized guerrilla mission to support the revolutionary struggle in the Congo, Africa. He returned to Cuba secretly in December 1965, to prepare another Cuban-organized guerrilla force for Bolivia. Arriving in Bolivia in November 1966, Guevara’s plan was to challenge that country’s military dictatorship and eventually to instigate a revolutionary movement that would extend throughout the continent of Latin America. He was wounded and captured by US-trained and run Bolivian counterinsurgency troop
s on October 8, 1967. The following day he was murdered and his body hidden. The diary he wrote during this period is published in this book.

  Che Guevara’s remains were finally discovered in 1997 and returned to Cuba. A memorial was built at Santa Clara in central Cuba, where he had won a major military battle during the revolutionary war.

  CHRONOLOGY

  June 14, 1928 Ernesto Guevara is born in Rosario, Argentina, of parents Ernesto Guevara Lynch and Celia de la Serna; he will be the eldest of five children.

  January–July 1952 Ernesto Guevara travels around Latin America with his friend Alberto Granado.

  March 10, 1952 General Fulgencio Batista carries out a coup d’état in Cuba.

  July 6, 1953 After graduating as a doctor in March, Ernesto Guevara sets off again to travel through Latin America. He visits Bolivia, observing the aftermath of the 1952 revolution.

  July 26, 1953 Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful armed attack on the Moncada army garrison in Santiago de Cuba, launching the revolutionary struggle to overthrow the Batista regime.

  December 1953 Ernesto Guevara meets a group of Cuban survivors of the Moncada attack in San José, Costa Rica.

  December 24, 1953 Ernesto Guevara arrives in Guatemala, then under the popularly elected government of Jacobo Árbenz.

  January–June 1954 While in Guatemala, he studies Marxism and becomes involved in political activities, meeting exiled Cuban revolutionaries.

  August 1954 Mercenary troops backed by the CIA enter Guatemala City and begin massacring Árbenz supporters.

  September 21, 1954 Ernesto Guevara arrives in Mexico City after fleeing Guatemala. He gets a job at the Central Hospital.

  July 1955 Ernesto Guevara meets Fidel Castro soon after the latter arrives in exile in Mexico City after his release from prison in Cuba. Che immediately agrees to join the planned guerrilla expedition to Cuba. The Cubans nickname him “Che,” an Argentine term of greeting.

  June 24, 1956 Che is arrested as part of a roundup by Mexican police of exiled Cuban revolutionaries.

  November 25, 1956 Eighty-two combatants, including Che Guevara as troop doctor, sail for Cuba from Tuxpan, Mexico, aboard the small cabin cruiser Granma.

  December 2, 1956 The Granma reaches Cuba at Las Coloradas beach in Oriente province but are surprised by Batista’s troops at Alegría de Pío and dispersed.

  December 21, 1956 Che’s group (led by Juan Almeida) reunites with Fidel Castro and his group, and they move deeper into the Sierra Maestra mountains.

  January 17, 1957 The Rebel Army with some new peasant recruits successfully takes an army outpost in the battle of La Plata.

  January 22, 1957 A significant victory over Batista’s forces is scored at Arroyo del Infierno.

  February 17, 1957 New York Times journalist Herbert Matthews interviews Fidel Castro in the Sierra Maestra. The same day, the first meeting is held between the urban underground and the guerrillas of the July 26 Movement since the start of the revolutionary war.

  March 13, 1957 A group of students from the Revolutionary Directorate attack the Presidential Palace and seize a major Havana radio station. Student leader José Antonio Echeverría is killed in this attack.

  May 27–28, 1957 The battle of El Uvero takes place, in which Che Guevara stands out among the combatants.

  July 12, 1957 The rebels issue the Manifesto of the Sierra Maestra calling for a broad political front against General Batista and support for the Rebel Army.

  July 21, 1957 Che Guevara is selected to lead the newly established second column (Column 4) of the Rebel Army and is promoted to the rank of commander.

  July 30, 1957 Frank País, the young leader of the urban underground in Santiago de Cuba, is killed.

  August 20, 1957 Fidel leads Column 1 (José Martí) in defeating Batista’s forces in the battle of Palma Mocha.

  September 17, 1957 Che’s forces ambush army troops at Pino del Agua.

  October, 1957 The rebels establish a permanent supply base at El Hombrito in the Sierra Maestra.

  October 12, 1957 Batista launches a brutal campaign to destroy the Rebel Army in the Sierra Maestra.

  November–December, 1957 The rebels respond with a “winter offensive” against Batista’s army.

  February 16-17, 1958 The Rebel Army wins a significant victory against Batista in the second battle of Pino del Agua.

  March 1, 1958 Raúl Castro and Juan Almeida lead columns that open up second and third fronts in Oriente province.

  April 9, 1958 A national general strike is defeated.

  May 25, 1958 Batista launches a military offensive against the Rebel Army, but this fails after two and a half months of intensive fighting.

  July 11–21, 1958 A decisive defeat is inflicted on Batista’s army in the battle of El Jigüe, significantly expanding the rebels’ operational zone in the Sierra Maestra.

  August 31, 1958 Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos lead invasion columns west from the Sierra Maestra toward central Cuba, opening new battle fronts in Las Villas province.

  November 15, 1958 Fidel leaves the Sierra Maestra to direct the Rebel Army’s final offensive in Santiago de Cuba. By the end of the month, Batista’s elite troops are defeated at the battle of Guisa.

  December 28, 1958 Che Guevara’s Column 8 initiates the battle of Santa Clara and succeeds in taking control of the city within a few days.

  January 1, 1959 Batista flees Cuba. Fidel enters Santiago de Cuba as the military regime collapses. Santa Clara falls to the Rebel Army.

  January 2, 1959 Fidel Castro calls for a general strike and the country is paralyzed. The Rebel Army columns led by Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos reach Havana.

  January 8, 1959 Fidel Castro arrives in Havana.

  February 9, 1959 Che Guevara is declared a Cuban citizen.

  June 12–September 8, 1959 Che Guevara travels through Europe, Africa, and Asia; he signs various commercial, technical, and cultural agreements on behalf of the revolutionary government.

  October 7, 1959 Che Guevara is designated head of the Department of Industry of the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INRA).

  November 25, 1959 Che Guevara is appointed president of the National Bank of Cuba.

  March 5, 1960 At the funeral for the victims of a terrorist bombing on board the French ship La Coubre, Cuban photographer Alberto Korda snaps his famous photograph of Che Guevara.

  March 17, 1960 President Eisenhower approves a CIA plan to overthrow the revolutionary government and to train a Cuban exile army to invade Cuba.

  October 21, 1960 Che Guevara leaves on an extended visit to the Soviet Union, the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia, China, and North Korea.

  January 3, 1961 Washington breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba.

  February 23, 1961 The revolutionary government establishes the Ministry of Industry, headed by Che Guevara.

  April 15, 1961 As a prelude to the planned invasion by US-organized forces, planes attack Santiago de Cuba and Havana.

  April 16, 1961 At a mass rally Fidel Castro proclaims the socialist character of the Cuban revolution.

  April 17–19, 1961 One thousand five hundred Cuban-born mercenaries, organized and backed by the United States, invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs but are defeated within 72 hours. Che Guevara is sent to command troops in Pinar del Río province.

  August 8, 1961 Che Guevara condemns US President Kennedy’s “Alliance for Progress” in a fiery speech to Organization of American States (OAS) Economic and Social Conference in Punta del Este, Uruguay, as head of Cuba’s delegation. Cuba is subsequently expelled from the OAS.

  February 3, 1962 President Kennedy orders a total trade embargo against Cuba.

  August 27–September 7, 1962 Che Guevara makes his second visit to the Soviet Union.

  October 1962 An international crisis breaks out after US spy planes discover Soviet missile installations in Cuba. Cuba responds by mobilizing its population for defense. Che Guevara is assigned to lead forces in Pinar del R�
�o province in preparation for an imminent US invasion.

  July 3–17, 1963 Che Guevara visits Algeria, recently independent under the government of Ahmed Ben Bella.

  March 1964 Che Guevara meets with Tamara Bunke (Tania) to discuss her mission to move to Bolivia in anticipation of a future guerrilla expedition.

  March 25, 1964 Che Guevara addresses the UN Conference on Trade and Development in Geneva, Switzerland.

  November 4–9, 1964 Che Guevara visits the Soviet Union.

  December 11, 1964 Che Guevara addresses the UN General Assembly meeting in New York, condemning the US war in Vietnam and supporting independence movements from Puerto Rico to the Congo.

  December 17, 1964 Che Guevara leaves New York for Africa, where he visits Algeria, Mali, Congo (Brazzaville), Guinea, Ghana, Tanzania, and Egypt.

  February 24, 1965 Che Guevara addresses the Second Economic Seminar of the Organization of Afro-Asian Solidarity in Algiers, controversially urging the socialist countries to do more to support Third World struggles for independence.

  March 14, 1965 Che Guevara returns to Cuba and shortly afterwards drops from public view.

  April 1, 1965 Che Guevara delivers a farewell letter to Fidel Castro. He subsequently leaves Cuba on a Cuban-sponsored internationalist mission in the Congo, Africa, entering through Tanzania.

  April 18, 1965 In answer to questions about Che Guevara’s whereabouts, Fidel Castro tells foreign reporters that Che “will always be where he is most useful to the revolution.”

  June 16, 1965 Fidel Castro announces Che Guevara’s location will be revealed “when Commander Guevara wants it known.”

  October 3, 1965 Fidel Castro publicly reads Che Guevara’s letter of farewell at a meeting to announce the central committee of the newly formed Communist Party of Cuba.

  November 21, 1965 Che Guevara leaves the Congo, and begins writing up his account of the African mission, which he describes as a “failure.”

  December 1965 Fidel Castro arranges for Che Guevara to return to Cuba in secret. Che Guevara prepares for a Cuban-sponsored guerrilla expedition to Bolivia.