10 ada unit.
They were all to th Lieutenant Carlos Coello and Captain Jose Maria Martinez Tamayo, who had made the preliminary arrangements several months before to start a guerrilla closely allied with Che Guevara and had fought under his command in Cuba. Before long, at least 15 Cuban officers had arrived to form the vanguard of what was to be a large revo lutionary army operating in the heart of South America.
According to recounts of the history of this period, Guevara goal was to use Bolivia only as a platform to move to Peru, where he hoped to join established guerrilla forces in that country. However, the demise of the Peruvian guerrillas in 1965 and 1966, forced a change in plans and Bolivia became Guevara arrived in November the prime target for revolution.
of 1966 via Madrid, Sao Paula and Montevidea, using false paSeveral Peruvian and Bolivian Communist revolutionarles joined Guevara and his Cuban followers.
By February of 1967. 15 Cubans and 48 Bolivians formed the backbone of the small guerrilla army.
Th MO: ti pl PE se: pers.
su 11 Be fc ba со or The peasants Natives in ke fi The Cubans soan faund out that the environment in Bolivia was not like what they had found in the Sierra Maestra Mountains in Cuba during the revolution against Batista.
were natives who spoke Guarani, and not Spanish.
ather parts of Balavia spoke Quechua and Aymara. Communication was difficult and the local population was not friendly.
In Cuba they had not faced the dangerous animals present in the South American Jungles (snakes, for example. Although the vegetation was lush. they did not find oranges, mangoes, and other tropical fruits like in Cuba. They could not find animals to hunt for food and there were no friendly VE that were pr IN la go th ki 10 ΓΙ 0: ti el. According to the account of Regis Debray in his book La Guerrilla del Che, the following Cubans were part of the guerrilla army in Bolivia: Maj. Vilo Acuña Núñez (Jaaquin) killed 31 Aug. 1967 Maj. Sanchez Diaz (Marcos) Maj. Gustavo Machin (Alejandra) Capt. Jose Maria Martinez Tamayo (Papi, Ricardo) Capt. Daniel Alarcón (Benigno) escaped to Chile Capt. Alberto Fernández (Pacho killed Oct. 1967 Capt. Manuel Hernández Capt. Orlando Pantoja (Antonio) Capt. Eliseo Reyes Rodriguez (Rolando) killed 25 April 67 10. Capt. Suárez Gayal (El Rubio. had been Vice Minister of Industry in Cuba) killed 10 April 1967 11. Capt. Harry Villegas (Pombo) escaped to Chile 12. Lt. Octavio de la Concepcion (El Maro Cuban military MD)
Killed in combat August 1967 13. Lt. Carlos Coello (Tuma. 14. Lt. larael Rayo. Braulio) killed 31 August 1967 15. Lt. Rene Martines (sic) Tamayo (Arturo)
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