Page 320 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

revolutions, communist 1621

The Death of Che Guevara

The U.S. government considered Che Guevara a major Two medical doctors, Dr. Moises Abraham Baptista
threat because of his revolutionary beliefs and activi- and Dr. Jose Maria Cazo, director and intern respec-
ties, so government officials had a vested interest in tively of the Knights of Malta hospital, certified the
making sure that Guevara was indeed dead. Below is death (Annex No.1) and recorded the autopsy ordered
the now declassified text of the official confirmation of by the military authorities of Vallegrande (Annex No.2).
Guevara’s death sent to the U.S. State Department by With regard to the identification of the deceased
the U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia, Douglas Henderson. and the authentication of the diary that belonged to
him, the government requested the cooperation of
On October 16, 1967, the High Command of the
Argentine technical organizations, which sent three
Bolivian Armed Forces released the following com-
experts, one handwriting specialist and two finger-
muniqué, together with three annexes, on the death
print specialists, who verified the identity of the re-
of Che Guevara:
mains and certified that the handwriting of the
“1. In accordance with information provided for
campaign diary, captured by our troops, coincides
national and international opinion, based on docu-
with that of Ernesto Guevara (Annex No. 3).
ments released by the Military High Command on
The campaign diary and the book of doctrine (libro
October 9 and subsequently, concerning the combat
de conceptuaciones) are documents that contain an
that took place at La Higuera between unite of the
account of activities, from the date of his entry (into
Armed Forces and the red group commanded by
the guerrilla area) until October 7, and (justify) the
Ernesto“Che” Guevara, as a result of which he, among
judgments that this chief of subversion, the members
others, lost his life, the following is established:
of the guerrilla bands, and the people, both in this
Ernesto Guevara fell into the hands of our troops
country and abroad, who collaborated with them,
gravely wounded and in full use of his mental facul-
deserved. As a consequence, they are documents
ties.After the combat ended, he was transferred to the
exclusively for the use of the military.
town of La Higuera, more or less at 8 p.m. on Sun-
2. By this means the Military High Command
day, October 8, where he died as a result of his
considers complete all information relating to the
wounds. His body was transferred to the city of Valle-
death of Che Guevara. La Paz, October 16, 1967.”
grande at 4 P.M. on Monday, October 9, in a heli-
Source: The death of Che Guevara: Declassified. National Security Archive. Retrieved Sep-
copter of the Bolivian Air Force. tember 30, 2003, from http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB5/
che10_1.htm
claimed to act on behalf of society’s lower classes— Party elites or by single leaders such as Stalin, Mao
exploited urban workers and impoverished rural peas- Zedong, or Castro.
ants. The propertied middle classes, who were the chief
beneficiaries of the French Revolution, numbered among Comparing the Russian and
the many victims of the Russian and Chinese revolutions. Chinese Revolutions
Communist revolutions, unlike the French and American Despite a common Marxist ideology and a disciplined
revolutions, also made special efforts on behalf of party determined to achieve power, the Russian and
women, granting them legal and political equality, spon- Chinese revolutions differed in many ways. In Russia the
soring family reform, and actively mobilizing women for Communists (Bolsheviks) came to power less than a year
the workforce. Whereas the French and American revo- after the Romanov czarist regime collapsed in 1917,
lutions spurred political democracy—although gradually whereas the Chinese Communist Party had to struggle
—all of the Communist revolutions generated highly for decades after the demise of imperial China (1912)
repressive authoritarian governments that sought almost before seizing power. Thus, Russia’s civil war occurred
total control over their societies, exercised by Communist after the Communists took control (1918–1921),