The Bolivian Diary (29 page)
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Authors: Ernesto Che Guevara
Altitude = 640 meters. (This does not make sense, considering that yesterday it was 600.)
We set off earlier than usual, but we had to cross four fords, and one of them was rather deep, and we also had to clear the trail in some places. We finally reached the creek at 14:00, and the men were dead tired. There was no more activity. There are clouds of
niborigüises
in the area and it is still cold at night. Inti told me that Camba wants to quit; according to him, his physical condition will not let him go on, and furthermore, he sees no prospects for the struggle. Naturally, it is a typical case of cowardice and it would purge our ranks to let him go; but, as he knows the route we are taking to meet up with JoaquÃn, he cannot leave. Tomorrow I will talk to him and Chapaco.
Altitude = 680 meters.
Miguel, Coco, Inti, and Aniceto went to try to find a better way to Vargas's house, where it seems there is a military detachment, but there is nothing new and it appears we must continue on the same old path. Arturo and Chapaco went hunting and caught a
urina,
and the very same Arturo, while on guard duty with Urbano, killed a tapir, which made the whole camp nervous, because it took seven shots. The animal will provide us with meat for four days, the
urina
for one day, plus the reserve of beans and sardines means there is food for a total of six days. It seems the white horse, the next on the list, is reprieved. I spoke with Camba, making it clear that he cannot leave until we reach our next stage, which is reuniting with JoaquÃn. Chapaco insisted he is not a coward, and therefore will not leave, but that he wants some hope of leaving within six months to a year; I gave him my word, and then he talked about a range of unconnected topics. He is not well.
The news is all about Debray, but no mention of the other accused. No news of Benigno; he should have been here by now.
The
macheteros,
(Miguel and Urbano), and my “public works department,” (Willy and DarÃo), made little progress, so we decided to stay put for one more day. Coco and Inti caught nothing, but Chapaco caught a monkey and a
urina.
I ate
urina
and it gave me a severe asthma attack in the middle of the night. El Médico is apparently still suffering from lumbago, which is affecting his general health and turning him into
an invalid. There is no news from Benigno and this is now a serious concern.
The radio reports the presence of guerrillas 85 kilometers from Sucre.
Another day in the same place and another day without news of Benigno and his compañeros. Five monkeys were caught: four by Eustaquio while he was out hunting and one by Moro when it passed close to him. Moro still suffers from lumbago and was given some meperidine.
Urina
disagrees with my asthma.
We finally moved on, but before we did, the alarm was sounded because a man was spotted, apparently on the run along the riverbank; it turned out to be Urbano, lost. I gave El Médico a local anesthetic so he could travel on the mare, although it was still painful; he seems to have improved slightly; Pacho made the trip on foot. We set up camp on the right bank and only a small section of the path to Vargas's house needs to be cleared by machete before it is ready. We still have tapir meat for tomorrow and the next day, but after tomorrow we will not be able to hunt. There is no news from Benigno, making it 10 days since they separated from Coco.
Altitude = 580 meters.
The day was very strenuous as we had to go around a very rocky cliff; the white horse refused to go on and we left him
stuck in the mud, without even being able to take advantage of his bones. We found a little hunting cabin that looked like it had recently been inhabited; we set up an ambush and shortly two people fell into it. Their alibi is that they had set 10 traps and had gone to check them; according to them, the army is at Vargas's house, and in Tatarenda, Caraguatarenda, Ipitá, and Ãumao, and that a few days ago, there was a clash in Caraguatarenda in which one soldier was wounded. It could have been Benigno, driven by hunger or encirclement. The men told us that tomorrow the army would come to fish, in groups of 15 to 20 men. Tapir meat was shared, along with some fish that were caught with a cartridge bag; I ate rice, which suited me very well. El Médico is somewhat better. It was announced that Debray's trial has been postponed until September.
Altitude = 580 meters.
Reveille was sounded at 5:30 and we started out for the ravine that we thought we would follow. The vanguard led the way and had gone a few meters when three peasants appeared on the other side; Miguel was called back with his troops and everyone set up an ambush; eight soldiers arrived. The instructions were to let them cross the river by the ford in front and to shoot them when they got to the other side; but the soldiers did not cross and only went back and forth, right in front of our rifles, which we did not fire. Our civilian prisoners said that they were nothing but hunters. Miguel and Urbano, with Camba, DarÃo, and Hugo Guzmán, the hunter, were sent to follow a trail toward the west, but we do not know where it goes. We stayed in the ambush all day. At dusk the
macheteros
returned with their trapped prey: a condor and a rotten cat, all of it ending up inside us along with the last of the tapir; we have some beans left and whatever we can hunt. Camba has reached the lowest depth of moral degradation, trembling at the mere mention of soldiers. El Médico is still in pain and is giving himself Talamonal; I am fairly well, but ravenously hungry. The army issued a statement saying they had found another cave and that two soldiers were slightly wounded, with more “losses for the guerrillas.” Radio Habana broadcast news of an unconfirmed battle in Taperillas with one wounded on the army's side.
The day passed without incident. Reveille sounded at 5:00 and the
macheteros
set off early; the army (seven men) came within a few paces of our position, but did not try to cross over. It seems their gunfire is a signal to the hunters; we will attack them tomorrow if the opportunity presents itself. Insufficient progress has been made on the trail because Miguel sent Urbano to consult with us about something, but Urbano misinterpreted it, by which time it was too late to do anything.
The radio announced a battle in Monte Dorado, which seems to be in JoaquÃn's jurisdiction, as well as the presence of guerrillas three kilometers from Camiri.
Everything went wrong: seven soldiers came along, but they split up: five went downstream and two went across. Antonio, who was in charge of the ambush, fired prematurely and missed, allowing the two men to escape and seek reinforcements; the
other five raced away, with Inti and Coco in pursuit, but the soldiers found cover and held them off. While I was watching the chase, I saw that the bullets were landing nearby, coming from our side. I ran over and found Eustaquio still shooting because Antonio had not told him what was happening. I was so furious I lost control and roughed up Antonio.
We set out at a weary pace as El Médico could not make much of an effort, but meanwhile, the army recovered and advanced toward the island ahead of us with 20 to 30 men; it was not worth attacking them. They might suffer two wounded, maximum. Coco and Inti distinguished themselves with their decisiveness.
Everything went smoothly until El Médico became exhausted and began to hold up the march. We stopped at 18:30 without having caught up to Miguel, who was, nevertheless, barely a few meters away, and made contact with us. Moro stayed in a ravine, unable to climb the last stretch, and we slept split into three groups. There are no signs of the army pursuing us.
Altitude = 900 meters.
The day was spent in a desperate search for a way out, and the result is still unclear; we are close to the RÃo Grande and have already passed Ãumao, but there are no new fords, according to reports; we could get there along Miguel's cliff, but the mules would not make it. There is a possibility of crossing a small chain of mountains and then proceeding to the RÃo Grande-Masicuri, but we will not know if this is feasible until tomorrow. We have gone over 1,300 meters, which is about the maximum altitude in this region; we slept at an altitude of 1,240 meters, and it was very cold. I am quite ok, but El Médico is
doing very poorly; we have run out of water, but are saving a little for him.
The good news, or the good development, was the return of Benigno, Ãato, and Julio. Theirs was a great odyssey because there are soldiers at Vargas's house and in Ãumao and they almost clashed with them; later they followed troops down the Saladillo and came back up the Ãacahuazú, and they discovered there were three trails by the Congrà Creek made by the soldiers. They reached the cave at Oso Camp on the 18th, but found it is now an antiguerrilla camp with 150 soldiers; they were almost surprised there but managed to return without being seen. They went to the grandfather's farm, where they got
jocos,
the only thing there, because it is abandoned, and they passed near the soldiers again, heard our shooting, and slept close by to follow our tracks until they caught up to us. According to Benigno, Ãato conducted himself very well, but Julio got lost twice and was somewhat afraid of the soldiers. Benigno thinks that some of JoaquÃn's people went through the area a few days ago.
A gray and somewhat distressing day. We quenched our thirst with
caracoré,
2
which was just a way to fool our throats a little. Miguel sent Pablito by himself, with one of the hunters, to find water, moreover, with only a small revolver. He had not returned by 16:30, so I sent Coco and Aniceto to find him and they did not return all night. The rear guard stayed down below and could not hear the radio; it seems there is a new message.
We finally sacrificed the little mare, after she had been with us for two painful months; I had done everything possible to save her, but our hunger was becoming severe, so at least now we are suffering only thirst. We will probably not reach water tomorrow either.
The radio broadcast news of a wounded soldier in the Tatarenda area. The unanswered question for me is this: If they are so scrupulous in reporting their own losses, why are they lying in other reports? And if they are not lying, who is causing those casualties in places so far apart as Caraguatarenda and Taperillas? It could be that JoaquÃn's group is divided in two or there are new, independent guerrilla groups.
Altitude = 1,200 meters.
A heavy and quite distressing day. The
macheteros
made very little progress and at one point went the wrong way, thinking they were going to the Masicuri. We set up camp at 1,600 meters, in a relatively humid place where a cane plant grows whose pulp quenches thirst. Some compañeros, Chapaco, Eustaquio, and Chino, are collapsing from lack of water. Tomorrow we have to head straight to wherever we can find water. The mules are holding up quite well.
There is no major news on the radio; the most important item is Debray's trial, which is being extended from one week to the next.
The situation is becoming distressing now; the
macheteros
are fainting, Miguel and DarÃo are drinking their own urine, as
is Chino, with the disastrous result of diarrhea and cramps. Urbano, Benigno, and Julio went down into a canyon and found water. They told me that the mules would not make it, and I decided to stay with Ãato, but then Inti came up again with water and the three of us stayed here, eating the mare. The radio remained below, so there was no news.
Altitude = 1,200 meters.
In the morning, Aniceto and León left to scout the area below, coming back at 16:00 with the news that the mules could get down from the camp to where water was ahead. The hardest part to get through was the first part; I checked it out and the animals can make it through. I ordered Miguel to make a detour tomorrow at the last cliff and continue clearing the path ahead; we will bring the mules down. There is a message from Manila but we could not copy it.
Without doubt, this was the worst month we have had in this war. The loss of all the caves with the documents and medicines was a heavy blow, psychologically above all else. The loss of two men at the end of last month and the subsequent march on only horsemeat demoralized the troops and sparked the first case of desertion (Camba), which would otherwise constitute a net gain, but not under these circumstances. The lack of contact with the outside and with JoaquÃn, and the fact that the prisoners taken from his group talked, also demoralized the troops somewhat. My illness sowed uncertainty among several others and all this was reflected in our only clash, one in which
we should have inflicted several enemy casualties, but only succeeded in wounding one of them. Besides this, the difficult march through the hills without water exposed some negative traits among the troops.
The most important features are:
1)
We continue without contact of any kind and have no reasonable hope of establishing it in the near future.
2)
We continue being unable to recruit peasants, which is logical considering how few dealings we have had with them recently.
3)
There is a decline in combat morale; temporary, I hope.
4)
The army has not increased its effectiveness or its aggressiveness.
We are at a low point in our morale and in our revolutionary legend. The most urgent tasks are the same as last month, notably: to reestablish contact, to recruit combatants, and to obtain medicine and supplies.
It must be recognized that Inti and Coco are becoming more and more outstanding as revolutionary and military cadres.
