Ch6's guerrillas operated in the Red Zone between Camiri and Santa Cruz. The dark line indicates the path of the campaign. The dotted line was followed by Pombo and his group after Ch6's capture at Quebrada del Yuro. in their escape to Chile, (also see map on page CHRONOLOGY

1966 January Tricontinental Conference, Havana, Janu ary 3-15; Mario Monje Molina, First Sec retary of the Russia-oriented Communist Party of Bolivia (PCB) and Cuban Premier Fidel Castro and other Cuban leaders dis cuss establishment of base in Southern Cone for continental revolution. February Cuban agents Ricardo and Tania, already in Bolivia, make arrangements with PCB and other Communist factions for support of forthcoming guerrilla operations. March Guerrilla training in Cuba of future Bo livian guerrillas such as Inti and Benjamin. June Coco purchases farm at Nancahuazu. Other campsites (in Beni and elsewhere) also being explored. Arms, food, and other supplies stockpiled in Santa Cruz and La Paz. July General Rene Barrientos elected President of Bolivia with 62% of vote, July 6. Later in month, Pombo and Tuma arrive in Bo livia, representing Che carrying his instruc Pomho diary tions to Ricardo. Confusion over where hegiriM July 14 guerrilla base is to be located. Pombo and Tuma inform PCB that Bolivia is to be the center of the guerrilla struggle not merely a staging area for continental revolution. Monje agrees to supply 20 guerrillas. Peru vians El Chino and Sanchez told of Ha vana's decision to concentrate on Bolivia instead of Peru as they had hoped. Discus sions with Maoist labor leader Moises Gue vara requesting recruiting of miners. August El Chino opposes "giving priority" to Bo Rolando diary livia. President Rene Barrientos inaugurated. begins August 11 Training of Cuban members of Che's band \ gets under way in Cuba. Pombo, Tuma, other Cubans in La Paz feel PCB will not support guerrilla struggle. Monje threatens

71 Chronology to withdraw four guerrilla recruits he has enlisted. PCB youth recruited by Monje re fuses to go into mountains, believing Bolivia unripe for revolution. September Pacho arrives by train from Chile to inspect operations and report back to Che. He an nounces arrival of Regis Debray "to make a geopolitical study of the selected zone." The advance party awaits Havana's instruc tions on breaking off with PCB; Moises Guevara supplies ten recruits. Equipment ac cumulated now includes uniforms, canteens, radios, tents, hammocks and machetes. Monje summons Ricardo to a meeting, "brought about by the activities of the Frenchman," since Debray has been nego tiating with the PCB's archenemy M. Guevara. October Che accepts his advance party's desire not to relocate in the Beni, despite Debray's ad vice, and settles the question of the guerrilla base. It will be the farm at Nancahuazu. Pombo and Ricardo direct supplying of Nancahuazu base and routes of infiltration for incoming guerrilla force. Strong con- Braulio diary flicts develop between Monje and his PCB begins and the advance party of guerrillas over October 25 Monje's continual reneging on PCB com

m i t m e n t s t o C h e a n d C a s t r o . T h i s i s c o m pounded by the guerrillas' negotiations with M o i s e s G u e v a r a . November November 3, Che arrives in La Paz with Pacho via Havana, Prague and Sao Paulo. Chee diaries diaries November 7 Che arrives at Nancahuazu. begin Construction of defenses, storage, housing, J S ovember v e m b e r 7 7 radio facilities at the base. Patrols sent to scout the neighboring areas. Curiosity of local landowner Algaranaz forces guerrillas to camp away from the main buildings of the base. December Guerrillas continually arriving, including Chino, Alejandro, Moro, and Benigno. Training classes held for the growing camp, j Construction of defenses, facilities and re connaissance patrolling continues. December 31 Monje meets with Che and reaches a p C h r o n o l o g y 7 3

deadlock in their alliance over the issue of leadership of the guerrilla movement. Che insists upon his leadership of the military campaign, and the subordination of politi cal considerations despite Monje's offer of PCB cadre support if Che accepts his leadership.

Training and stockpiling of supplies con tinues. Many guerrillas sick. Minor disci plinary problems among the men and occasional friction between Cubans and Bolivians. On January 19 Algarahaz sends a Bolivian police detachment to inspect the guerrilla base for cocaine operations, but they find nothing. Slow recruitment of Bo livians disappointing to Che. Che begins training march on February 1 planned for 25 days which is to last 48 days over terrain in which the guerrilla force is continually becoming lost. It rains constantly and Benjamin and Carlos (dur ing the return in March) drown in cross ing swollen rivers. Che encounters major language problem as natives primarily speak Indian dialects unfamiliar even to most of his Bolivian guerrillas. Serious friction be tween various individuals under severe hard ship. Che often ill. The peasants show no interest in supporting or enlisting in the insurrection. Bolivian Government issues statement deny ing existence of guerrilla groups in the country. Border military force is ordered to state of alert. March 17, Bolivian Army searches camp at Nancahuazu, discovers Braulio's diary, Bustos' portraits of Che and other guerrillas, and other photos and docu ments. March 19, the training march finally returns to Nancahuazu. Two guerrilla des erters are captured by the Army; one of them confirms Che's presence in Bolivia earlier. Barrientos recognizes the presence of guerrillas in the areas of Camiri and Monteagudo. March 23, Che successfully ambushes Bolivian trooos at Nancahuazu in Chronology the first battle of the Bolivian campaign. A second lieutenant, six soldiers and a civilian guide are killed by the guerrillas in the fight. President Barrientos issues a call to the nation "to join in the fight against local and foreign anarchists with arms and money from Castro-communists." Dr. Gilberto Flores, the head of the Red Cross group which recovered the remains of Lt. Ruben Amezaga and five soldiers killed by the guerrillas reveals that "the guerrillas are young foreign and Bolivian men . . . They carry automatic weapons . . ." March 27, Che prepares the manifesto of his ELNB, the National Liberation Army of Bolivia. April Barrientos believes Che Guevara has been dead for some time. Army planes bomb the guerrilla zone. Military missions from Ar gentina, Brazil, and Paraguay have arrived in Bolivia to study the movement of the guerrillas in the southeast. Almost nothing known of guerrillas; they seem to have no program, no manifesto and they have no visible connection with any of Bolivia's four Communist parties. The Army announces that on April 5, the 4th Division of the Army took control of Nancahuazu after a short combat. In Havana, on April 6, Ho- ang Bich Son, Chief of Mission of the Viet namese National Liberation Front declares that the armed struggle in Bolivia constitutes "a stimulant for the South Vietnamese rev olution." Gen. Ovando announces that the Castro-communist guerrillas have been ex tinguished. The second fight between Army and guerrillas takes place on April 10 in the zone of Iripiti, 12 miles from the Nanca huazu Canyon. The Army has 19 casualties. Four provinces are declared zones of emer gency by the government. The activities of the Communist Party are suspended by the Government. "El Diario" of La Paz pub lishes fragments of a diary written by the guerrilla Braulio which indicates that Cuba sent the guerrillas to Bolivia; it is con- C h r o n o l o g y 7 5 firmed in part by photographs of camp showing many foreigners. On April 19, a new guerrilla group appears between Muy- upampa and Yacunday about 44 miles from Camiri. On April 17, the guerrillas acci dentally split into two groups under Che and Joaquin. New encounter of Army and guerrillas estimated at 50 men in the Yac unday zone. April 20, Regis Debray, George Andrew Roth and Giro Roberto Bustos cap tured by the Bolivian Army. U.S. military advisors are insisting that the Bolivians in troduce basic changes in the organization of their forces. Barrientos has personally flown reconnaissance missions over the rebel re gion in an AT-6 two-seat jet trainer. On April 21 the three foreign prisoners, Debray, Roth and Bustos are moved to Camiri. On April 22, a clash takes place in Caripote between Muyupampa and Monteagudo; the guerrillas suffer 4 dead and various wounded. April 25, other encounters in El Meson and Itia, during which Rolando is killed. The Minister of Government says that "some political parties like the PRIN and the MNR" are preparing an "insurrec tional climate to assist their political decla rations." Che has lost radio contact with Havana, evidently able to receive but not transmit for the duration of the campaign. He is unable to send communications except by courier. Estimates of the guerrillas' strength put at 30 to 50 in early April have risen within the last month to 100 or 120. Sixteen U.S. Special Forces troops have arrived in Bo livia to train a battalion of 600 to 1,000 men. There are reports of trouble brewing among Bolivia's tin miners. Now the Gov ernment has both the miners and the guerrillas to cope with. May 8, another en counter between Army and guerrillas at Pineal, 44 miles north of Camiri. Army casualties to date total 23 dead. Bolivia is attacked by international intellectual press Chronology for imprisoning Regis Debray for his activi ties as a "journalist" in Bolivia. May 13, guerrillas attacked a ranch in Pirirenda. In Havana, Ecuadorian labor leader Raul Guz man Ortega calls for the complete support of the guerrillas of Bolivia, Colombia, Ven ezuela and Guatemala. May 16, two more battles in the regions of La Manga and El Platanal, one guerrilla shot and many wounded escape. Colonel Federico Arana, Chief of the Military Intelligence of Bolivia, tells officals of 16 American countries that there are important reasons to believe that Ramon, the Cuban leader of the guerrillas, could be Che Guevara. In the battle that takes place on May 27 the Bolivian Julio Velasco Montano is killed. On May 29, Jorge Vasquez Viaha, the captured guerrilla Loro, is executed outside the hospital of Camiri. Battle on May 30 in Muchiri; re sult: one guerrilla and five soldiers dead. Another encounter takes place in El Espino Pombo w h e r e s i x s o l d i e r s a r e k i l l e d . diary Two small battles reported on June 3 and 4 concludes in the oil region of Abapo near Santa Cruz M a r 2 9 An encounter takes place in Ipita causing three casualties. Guerrillas transmit a com munique through Radio Havana announcing they will soon start popular revolutionary tribunals in Bolivia. The Army announces that to date 17 Cubans, 14 Brazilians, 4 Argentines and 3 Peruvians have been iden tified among the guerrillas. On June 7, Bar- rientos declares a state of siege and 60 radical politicians and labor leaders are arrested. Agitation in the mining area of Siglo XX and Gruro, Army troops are sent to keep order, but a clash between Army and miners causes 21 dead and 70 wounded. On June 24 the miners of Catavi and Siglo XX declare a 48-hour strike to protest the Army intervention. Another clash between Army and guerrillas takes place on June 26 causing three dead and two wounded near Florida, and another C h r o n o l o g y 7 7 encounter near the Gulf Oil property in Santa Cruz. Che begins to have increasingly frequent asthma attacks, often incapacitat ing him, from June to his death in October. In a press conference on July 1, Barrientos states that Che Guevara is in Bolivia. In a newspaper interview Regis Debray reveals the presence of Che Guevara in Nanca- huazu where he talked to him on three dif ferent occasions. Debray insists he came to Bolivia to interview Che. July 6, high- water mark for the guerrilla campaign: Che takes over Army garrison at Samaipata. Army announces beginning of "Operacion Cynthia" designating six Army units with air cover to round up guerrillas. Army cap tures another guerrilla camp. El Dorado n e a r R i o G r a n d e . A n o t h e r e n c o u n t e r w i t h guerrillas in Iquira causes the death of one guerrilla. On July 29, Barrientos proposes a joint intervention with the OAS against Cuba. On July 30, guerrilla fighting in the Rio Moroco. Work back to normal in the mining districts as the strike is called off after signing an agreement favorable to the company. July 31, Che loses the tape re corder enabling him to decode messages f r o m H a v a n a . H i s i s o l a t i o n b e c o m e s m o r e complete. A ugust August 8, led by two guerrilla deserters, Chingolo and Eusebio, the Army captures two guerrilla caches containing arms and ammunition. On August 9, there is a battle in Taperillas against the guerrillas re sulting in a number of casualties, the guer rilla group commanded by Joaquin flees toward the west. August 27, unsuccessful guerrilla assault against a military unit in Loma Mansa near Tatarenda. After track ing Joaquin's group since April when it had been cut off from Che, the Army finally destroyes the guerrilla group led by Joaqum on August 31, in Masicun Bajo (Vado del Yeso); guerrillas killed: Joaqum, Ernesto, Walter, Moises, Tania, Negro, Alejandro, Chronology Paco, Paulo and Braulio. This was the first of three fatal losses which destroyed Che's Bolivian insurrection. September Barrientos states on September 10 that Che Guevara died a long time ago. However, on September 11, he states that there is proof Che is in Bolivia and offers a reward of $4,200 dollars for his capture with leaflets air-dropped into the Red Zone. Second cru cial battle in campaign at La Higuera on September 26; three guerrillas are killed: "Coco" Roberto Peredo, "Julio" Mario Gutierrez Ardaya, and "Miguel." October Army clash with guerrillas on October 1 in Abra del Quinal in the southwest of Valle- grande province. In a final battle on Octo- - ber 8 at Quebrada del Yuro, two soldiers and six guerrillas are killed: El Chino, concludes GuevaraWilly, Aniceto, is executed Pacho, on Antonio October and 9. Arturo. The ten remaining members of the guerrilla band led by Inti and Pombo escape toward the border. On October 14, four more guer rillas, (Moro, Chapaco, Eustaquio, Pablo) are killed in a clash with Bolivian Rangers about 20 miles from La Higuera. The six surviving guerrillas are spotted south of Val- legrande in Los Gitanos. There are three Cubans: Pombo, Urbano and Benigno, and three Bolivians: Inti, Dario and Nato. October Numerous small engagements as the six 1967- guerrillas attempt to escape from Bolivia. January Nato is killed on November 15 near 1968 Mataral. February The Cubans, Pombo, Urbano and Benigno 1968 escape into Chile. Inti and Dario still re main in hiding in Bolivia. March Pombo, Urbano and Benigno arrive in Ha- 1968 vana via Prague. C H E G U E V A R A ' S D I A R Y

Written in what Fidel Castro has described as "the small and almost illegible letters of a doctor," Che Guevara's diary begins upon his arrival at Nancahuazu on November 7, 1966 and con cludes October 7, 1967, two days before his death. Ch6 left two diaries. The first was kept in a spiral notebook and concluded December 31, 1966. The second diary was an appointment book given out by a German pharmaceutical company and used until Ghe's final entry. Examples of both diaries are included in the picture section. Ch^'s style is crisp and restrained, highly literate, and evi dences an excellent, dry sense of humor. It is interesting to con trast the monthly analyses entered by Che with the cumulative effect of his diary for any given month. He often seems to ignore his daily impressions for a more hopeful summary of them.. But Che does not attempt to conceal either the course of his cam paign or his growing desperation, and the daily reports become increasingly moody until towards the end he is considering means of escape. His courage, his mistakes in judgment, his illusions, and his ideals are honestly set down. The following entries of those contained below were miss ing in the Cuban text released by Fidel Castro on July 2, 1968: January 4, 5, 8, and 9; February 8 and 9; March 1 and 4; April 4 and 5; June 9 and 10; July 4 and 5; all of 1967. There are numerous aliases and codewords used throughout Che's diaries and the other diaries following them. Because of code changes during the course of the Bolivian insurrection, many of the guer rillas have more than one alias, and some of them as many as three. These are listed with a key in the Appendix. There are a number of inconsistencies or errors in Ch6's spell ing of names and places which have been retained from his diar>'.

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