bolivian-history

Tamara Bunke was the only woman to fight alongside __he_ during his Bolivian campaign. She was an East German national, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on November 19, 1937, of Communist activist parents. As a child, her home was frequently used for meetings, hiding weapons and conducting other Communist activities. After World War II, in 1952 she returned to Germany where she attended Humboldt University in Berlin. Tamara met __he_ Guevara when she was an attractive 23-year-old woman in Leipzig, and he was with a Cuban Trade Delegation. The two instantly hit it off as she cozied up to him and, having learned how to fight and use weapons in Pinar del Rio in western Cuba, she joined his expedition to Bolivia.Becoming a spy for the ELN, she adopted the name __ania_ and posed as a right-wing authority of South-American music and folklore. In disguise, she managed to warm up to and entice Bolivian President René Barrientos. She even went on an intimate vacation to Peru with him.

On a number of occasions, Tamara joined __he_ on his sorties into the Bolivian highlands, without incident. However, on March 24, 1967, a guerrilla fighter who had been captured by the Bolivian army betrayed her by giving away Tamara__ location. Although she escaped, the Bolivian soldiers found an address book in her Jeep and came after her in hot pursuit. With no other place to hide, she made her way back to __he_ Guevara__ forces. It was considered an open secret that Tamara had been intimate with __he_ but now the troops could not help but notice what was going on. The way they looked into each other__ eyes, and whispered sweet nothings, left no doubt in anyone__ mind, but that she was his lover_.The Bolivian highlands are notorious for the infestation of the Chigoe flea parasite, which infected Tamara. Having a leg injury and running a high fever, she and 16 other ailing fighters were ordered out of the region by Guevara. On August 31, 1967, up to her waist in the Rio Grande of Bolivia, and holding her M 1 rifle above her head, she and eight men were shot and killed in a hail of gunfire by Bolivian soldiers. Leaving their bodies in the water, it was several days before they were recovered downstream. Piranhas had attacked the bodies and their decomposing carcasses were polluting the water. Since the water was being used for drinking purposes by the people in a nearby village, the soldiers were ordered to clear the bodies out of the river. As they were preparing to bury Tamara__ remains in an unmarked grave, a local woman protested what was happening, and demanded that a woman should receive a Christian burial.When he received the news of what had happened, Guevara was stunned and refused to accept it, thinking it was just a propaganda stunt to demoralize him. In Havana Fidel Castro declared her a __eroine of the Revolution.__here is always the possibility that Tamara was a double agent, whose mission it was to play up to __he_ when they met in Leipzig and then report back to the DDR (Democratic German Republic), who would in turn inform the USSR of __he___ activities. The spy game is a little like peeling an onion. Peel off one layer and what you find is yet another layer.

General Gary Prado Salmón, retired, had been the commander of the unit that had captured Guevara. He confirmed General Vargas_ statement and added that the guerrilla fighters had been burned, before dumping their bodies into a mass grave, dug by a bulldozer, at the end of the Vallegrande airstrip. He explained that the body of __he_ Guevara had been buried in a separate gravesite under the runway. The morning after the burials, __he_ Guevara__ younger brother, Juan Martin Guevara, arrived in Vallegrande, hoping to see his brother__ remains. Upon asking, he was told by the police that it was too late. Talking to some of the army officers, he was told lies or perhaps just differing accounts of the burial, confusing matters even more. The few peasants that were involved and knew what had happened were mysteriously unavailable. Having reached a dead end, he left for Buenos Aires not knowing much more than when he arrived.