The Bolivian Diary (16 page)

The beginning of the enemy's counteroffensive, characterized to this point by:

Evidently, we will have to hit the road before I expected and
move on, leaving a group to recover, saddled with the burden of four possible informers.

The situation is not good, but now begins a new testing phase for the guerrilla force that will be of great benefit once surpassed.

1
.
Tapera
is a Guaraní term—used to describe an abandoned or derelict house or cabin.

2
.
Boiled corn kernels, a Quechua dish eaten in some parts of Latin America.

3
.
A small deer.

4
.
Restituto José Cabrera Flores (Negro or El Médico), Peruvian doctor.

5
.
Lucio Edilberto Galván Hidalgo (Eustaquio).

6
.
Refers to two Bolivians, Vicente Rocabado Terrazas (Orlando) and Pastor Barrera Quintana (Daniel).

7
.
Jean Paul Sartre, French philosopher and writer who met Che during his first visit to Cuba in 1960.

8
.
Bertrand Russell, English philosopher and mathematician who presided over the International Tribune on US war crimes in the Vietnam War.

9
.
María Rosa Oliver, an Argentine writer.

10
.
This refers to his father.

11
.
Bolivian Army Major Hernán Plata Ríos.

12
.
Bolivian Army Captain Augusto Silva Bogado.

13
.
Che uses the word
resaca,
literally flotsam, dregs, driftwood.

14
.
Quechua and French were taught, as were political and cultural classes.

15
.
General René Barrientos Ortuño, president of Bolivia.

The vanguard set off at 7:00 after a considerable delay. Camba was still missing, not having returned from his trip with Ñato to hide the weapons in the cave at Oso Camp. At 10:00, Tuma came from the lookout to warn us that he had seen three or four soldiers in the small hunting ground. We took up positions; Wálter told me from the lookout he had seen three soldiers and a mule or donkey, and they were setting up something; he tried to show me but I could not see anything. At 16:00, I withdrew, deciding that in any case it was no longer necessary to stay if they were not going to attack us, and, apparently, it was all just Wálter's imagination.

I decided to evacuate everyone tomorrow and that Rolando will be in charge of the rear guard in Joaquín's absence. Ñato and Camba arrived at 21:00, after having stored everything away except for food for the six who will stay behind. They are Joaquín, Alejandro, Moro, Serapio, Eustaquio, and Polo. The three Cubans are staying under protest. The other mare was killed to leave some
charqui
¹
for the six men. At 11:00, Antonio showed up with a sack of corn and the news that everything had gone smoothly.

At four in the morning Rolando left, burdened with the four quitters (Chingolo, Eusebio, Paco, and Pepe). Pepe wanted to be given a weapon and to stay. Camba went with him.

At 5:00, Coco arrived with a new message that they had slaughtered a cow and were waiting for us. I told him that we would meet the day after tomorrow at noon by the creek that flowed downhill from the farm.

We have accumulated such an enormous quantity of things it took us all day to store them in their respective caves, only finishing the transfer at 17:00. Four sentries kept watch, but the day passed in a
calma chichi
; no planes flew over the area. The broadcasts on the radio speak of the “tightening encirclement” and that the guerrillas are preparing to defend the Ñacahuazú gully; they report that Don Remberto is in prison and explain how he sold the farm to Coco.

Due to the lateness of the hour, we decided not to leave today but at 3:00 in the morning, and gain time by heading straight for the Ñacahuazú, despite the fact that our meeting place is in the other direction. I talked to Moro, explaining that I had not placed him in the group of the best compañeros because he has a weakness concerning food and a tendency to exasperate others with his jokes. We discussed this for a while.

Our plan went ahead with no hitches: we set off at 3:30 and walked slowly until we passed the bend in the shortcut at 6:30 and made it to the border of the farm at 8:30. When we passed in front of the ambush site, nothing remained of the seven corpses but perfectly clean skeletons, on which the birds of
prey had done a good job. I sent two men (Urbano and Ñato) to make contact with Rolando and in the afternoon, we moved on to the Tiraboy ravine where we slept after stuffing ourselves with beef and corn.

I talked to Dantón and Carlos, giving them three alternatives: to continue with us, to leave on their own, or to wait until we could take over Gutiérrez and then leave from there, taking a chance; they chose the third option. We will try our luck tomorrow.

Almost a total disaster. At 14:30, we reached a place where there were guard tracks and even a paratrooper's beret and remains of US [Army] individual food rations. I decided to take the first house by force
[illegible in the original],
which we did at 18:30. Guaraní
²
farmhands came out and told us that the army had about 150 men who had withdrawn yesterday, and that the owner of the house had left to take his livestock away. They were charged with making a meal of pork and yucca, while our men went to occupy the second house belonging to
[illegible in the original].
Loro, Coco, Aniceto, and later Inti went to the second house accompanied by one of the peasants.

The couple was not there, but when they arrived, the young farmhand escaped in the confusion. In the end, we established that approximately one company of the Second Regiment (the Bolívar) had been there and had left this morning. They had instructions to go down through the Tiraboy ravine, but
they chose to leave by another route, so we never ran into them. There are no soldiers in Gutiérrez, but they will return tomorrow, so it is best not to hang around.

In the first house we found military gear, such as plates, canteens, even bullets and equipment; we appropriated everything. After eating well, but not excessively, the rear guard set off at 3:00 and we departed at 3:30. The vanguard should have left when they finished eating their last rations. We ourselves got lost and left farther down from the ambush site, which caused confusion until daylight.

It was a day of few events but with a certain tension. At 10:00, we were reunited, and a little later Miguel's group started out with their backpacks to occupy the approach to the ravine; their orders were to send the three men on sentry duty from the rear guard to return for their backpacks. To speed up the process, I gave Urbano, Ñato, and León the task of replacing the three men from the rear guard. At 3:30, I halted the center group to organize an ambush to block any forces that might come down the ravine, so the vanguard and the rear guard could defend both access routes at the mouth of the little creek. At 14:00, I sent Tuma to see what had happened with the three men, and he returned at 17:00 without learning anything; we moved to our previous campsite and I repeated the order. At 18:15, Rolando arrived; because the men had never shown up, they had had to carry the three backpacks between them. Braulio gave me an explanation that raises very serious doubts about Marcos's actual combat capability.

I had thought we could head downstream at dawn, but
soldiers were seen bathing about 300 meters from our position. We decided to cross the river without leaving any tracks and to walk on the other trail back to our creek.

A day of great tension. We crossed the Ñacahuazú River at 4:00 and waited until daybreak to continue; later Miguel set off to explore but had to return twice because of errors that brought us very close to the soldiers. Rolando informed us at 8:00 that a dozen soldiers were at the entrance to the ravine that we had just left. We went slowly, and by 11:00 we were out of danger, on a ridge. Rolando came with the news that there were more than 100 soldiers stationed in the ravine.

At night, before we reached the creek, we heard voices of cowherds by the river. We approached and captured four of them, along with a herd of Algarañaz's cows. They had a safe-conduct pass from the army to look for 12 head of cattle; some of the cows were already gone and could not be caught. We took two cows for ourselves and took them along the river to our creek. The four civilians turned out to be a contractor and his son, a peasant from Chuquisaca and another from Camiri, who was very receptive so we gave him our communiqué [No. 1 To the Bolivian People, see
Appendices
], and he promised to disseminate it. We detained them for a while and then set them free, asking that they say nothing—which they promised.

We spent the night eating.

We waded into the creek, taking the surviving cow to be slaughtered to make
charqui.
Rolando stayed at the ambush site
by the river with orders to shoot whoever came along; there was nothing all day. Benigno and Camba followed the path that should lead to Pirirenda and they reported hearing something like a motor from a sawmill in a canyon near our creek.

I sent off Urbano and Julio with a message for Joaquín but they did not return all day.

Little happened today. Benigno went on with his work and returned without finishing it, declaring that it would not be finished tomorrow either. Miguel set out to look for a canyon that Benigno had seen from above and has not returned.

Urbano and Julio came back with Polo. The soldiers have occupied the camp and are scouting the hills; they passed the “elevator” on their way down. Joaquín reports on these and other problems in the attached document (D. XIX).

We had three cows and their calves, but one escaped, leaving four animals from which we will make
charqui
with the salt we have left.

Polo, Luis, and Willy went off with the mission to deliver a note to Joaquín and to help them locate another hiding place upstream, which Ñato and Guevara will select. According to Ñato, there are good spots just over an hour away from our current position, although they are rather close to the creek. Miguel came back, having found a canyon that leads to Pirirenda and we will need a day to get there with our backpacks; I therefore ordered Benigno to stop the work he was doing, which would take at least another day to complete.

Dawn broke and the morning passed without much happening as we prepared to leave the creek, removing all traces of our presence, and then crossing through Miguel's ravine toward Pirirenda-Gutiérrez. Negro arrived very agitated mid-morning to warn us that 15 soldiers were coming downstream. Inti had gone to notify Rolando at the ambush site. There was no other option but to wait and so that is what we did; I dispatched Tuma so he could report back to me. The first reports soon arrived, with unfortunate news. Rubio (Jesús Suárez Gayol) had been mortally wounded. His body was carried to our camp; he had been shot in the head.