Ruta del Ché

Quebrada del Churo, In the mountains of Bolivia

My stomach rumbles with hunger like the sound of stampeding horses. I’m over heating and feel faint, out of water and desperate to quench my dry, cotton mouth and shriveled tongue. My thighs and calves feel like nails are being driven into them, and I still have an hour climb straight uphill before I get relief. I’ve hiked down to a ravine with a small stream flowing through it -- Quebrada del Churo - where Ernesto “Ché” Guevara, the Argentine/Cuban revolutionary, was wounded and captured by the Bolivian army special forces in October 1967. I’m searching the path of the final footsteps of Ché. He spearheaded the route through this remote part of Bolivia in his quest to stimulate a campesino (poor farm worker peasant) revolution of liberation from exploitation and oppression from rich land owning overlords.

Over the first mountain ridge & down to the ravine (Quebrada)

where Ché fought his last battle & was captured

Dusty narrow footpath leading along the mountain;

path traveled by Ché & his band when escaping Bolivian army

The "Quebrada" is the location of Che's last place as a free man

Rosie, indigenous woman campesina guide, leaving distressed Manny de
behind, unwilling to slow down as we climb out of the ravine

Ché had not eaten for three days before his capture. He suffered from an acute, violent asthma attack. He was thirsty, hot with fever, feet swollen from an unknown affliction, and desperate to escape. He was in a constant gun battle with US trained, supplied, and advised Bolivian soldiers. His two bands of guerilla fighters numbered around fifty, fighting a non stop battle against a force of close to five hundred. Ché had badly overestimated the support he would receive from local campesinos. The local, mostly indigenous people did not know who Ché was or that his intentions and ideals where to lift them out of their poverty and unfair treatment. All they saw was an unkept (Ché was notorious for only bathing once a week, less often in the bush), long hair (down passed his shoulders), bearded man, heavily armed, who “stole” their meager crops. Ché and his band of compañeros (brotherly comrades) paid for this raid of crops. But, with US dollars, a currency unknown to local people and therefore worthless to them. They only knew the money of Bolivia -- bolivianos. 

Rugged countryside where Bolivian special forces hunted

Ché in a non stop running gun battle; there was no escape

Photo of Ché "in front of the school as a prisoner and still alive"

Rosie wearing the trademark hat of the indigenous campesinos,

irregardless of my attempts at humor, Rosie never cracked a smile

Rosie, her mother, and Santos (my guide & Rosie's brother), 

a typical campesino family

The campesinos where uneducated, illiterate, and lived sheltered lives in the remote mountains. The government disseminated propaganda through the radio, only form of information in these rural areas at the time, that the foreigners where drug dealers with harmful designs toward the poor farmers. In addition, it was broadcasted that if anyone assisted or failed to notify authorities (police or army) of the movement of Che’s band, they would be punished, beaten and jailed. Their crops and meager shelters would be burned. Ché received little local support. Some campesinos fearing dire consequences informed the police whenever they spotted the compañeros. 

After a fierce gun battle at the Quebrada del Churo, where a number of Che’s band where killed, Ché and two remaining revolutionaries were captured. He was out of ammunition for his 22 caliber short barrel handgun. His rifle had jammed and was worthless, even though he still had bullets for it. He was bleeding red hot blood from leg wounds. He buried his hand gun, perhaps with the expectation that he might retrieve it later. Ché threw up his arms, limbed out from behind the boulder that gave him cover, and announced that he was claiming prisoner of war status, that he was Ché Guevara and “am worth more to Bolivia alive than died.”

Boulder from where Ché made his last stand 

& buried his pistol

Florentino, Santos' father, showing me the spot where 

one of Che's compañeros was killed, note the

bullet holes in the lower left corner

After Che’s capture, he was taken to the small isolated mountain peasant community of La Higuera. A place that today can only be reached after an arduous three hour journey over a dusty, dirt rode that twists through narrow passages clinging to the mountain side. He was strapped to a student’s chair in a rustic school house until Bolivian authorities decide with to do with him. 

La Higuera has less than 100 people, the white building

on the right is a museum and replica of the original school house, 

that has since deteriorated 

Old house similar in size and construction as the 

original school house 

Student chair where Ché was tied for 24 hours until his execution

Tributes erected to honor Ché at La Higuera

There are competing reports of what happened next. Some suggest that maybe the president of the US was consulted. The coded words coming back were: we don’t want Ché to leave Bolivia. The president of Bolivia radioed back to La Higuera to execute Ché, but make it look like he was killed in a gun battle. He was shot nine times in the torse, neck, arms and legs, by a soldier who volunteered to perform the “coup de grace”. Ché was told 30 minutes before his execution that he was to be killed. When the executioner entered the school house, Ché stood up, looked the man in the eyes with his piercing stare. The soldier hesitated, sweat beads formed on his forehead, and started shaking his aim. He felt intimidated that Ché was unrepentant, brave, and challenged him by saying: go ahead and shoot you coward, you’re only killing a man. The soldier fired four times wounding Ché in the lower body. Not crying out as he withered in pain on the floor, the soldier fired five more times, hitting the heart and neck. Ché was died . . . .

Che's dead body being displayed at the 

hospital laundry room at Villegrande

Close up of Che's face with his eyes opened, some people

from Villegrande who came to see the body claimed

his eyes followed you as you passed by

The current state of the laundry room is a sad, desperate place

The wash basin where Ché was displayed to the 

world in order to document his passing

Manny de smoking a cigar in an attempt to lift his spirits

and exercise negative energy from this gloomy, painful place

I had the fortune of having Santos Aguilar as my guide (cell number in Bolivia: 73665987, highly recommend using him as your guide). His father owns, and Santos lives at the Quebrada del Churo. He escorted me through the mountainous region and provided his younger sister (Santos claimed it was too much of a trek for him) to lead me to the place where Ché was taken prisoner. Santos’ father, Florentino, over thirty years ago was preparing the land to plant potatoes after the rains had started, when he discovered something shinny sticking out of the ground in the area where Ché had hid during the final gun battle. It was the long buried hand gun of Ché! Also found were the hoister, with large caliber rifle bullets. Florentino hid the gun for many years, fearing reprisal from the Bolivian government. Only recently, now that the current administration is sympathetic to the plight of poor campesinos, has Florentino started showing the gun to a selected few, trusted individuals. Santos and I had become friends during our romp through the mountains and he asked his father to show me the gun.

 Santos, exceptional guide, who saw Ché alive as he was

being taken prisoner; Santos believes that a little 

of Che's spirit is in him

Che's pistol, holster, and rifle cartridge 

Closer view of the handgun

Note the markings: CAL 22 CORTO (short), 

ARGENTINA (Ché entered Bolivia from Argentina)

Reverse side of the pistol, holster with rifle cartridges

Close up view of reverse side of the weapon

Manny de handling the inoperable pistol, wait!

Is that Che's phantasm seeping out of the barrel?

The pistol is very small & compact, easy to carry when

hiking long distances in mountain terrain 

Looking down the barrel of Che's gun

I handled and touched the last handgun of Ché and felt honored, excited, and humbled. It was last fired by Ché in defense of his life. How many men have been killed by it? It’s weathered, doesn’t work, but was a special, extraordinary moment in my journey. While Ché was feared when he was alive and stocked these mountains, today he is revered by local campesinos, almost to the point that some see him as a “saint”. When Santos, who is a practicing evangelical Catholic, and I began our drive on the dangerous, windy mountain rode, he crossed himself and said, “In the name of God and Ché, we trust you to protect us in our travels.” When we returned to Vallegrande after our expedition, I was overwhelmed with gratitude and gave Santos a modest tip for all his efforts. He did not expect it, was surprised and overjoyed with appreciation and again invoked this “santo” (saint), “Thank you, may God and Ché bless you for your kindness”. He made the sign of the cross, gave me a robust, warm, sweaty hug, and shook my hand.

Santos tells me at night he hears voices and gunfire coming from the Quebrada del Churo. He hears Che’s voice yelling, “This way boys! Over here! Up there are the soldiers. We need to go to higher ground.” Then the darkness is punctured by the sound of rapid gunfire, like machine guns, and returned shoots like from rifles and pistols. At other times, Santos hears, “Take your positions! No one fire until I give the order.” Then he hears the sounds of an exchange of gunfire, followed by screams and yells of people shot, crying out in pain, and laments and longings for dear mothers.

Quebrada where at night Santos claims to hear lingering sounds

of gun battles, men dying and crying out for their mothers

I’ve given some thought to whether I was being tricked into thinking that I was handling the actual handgun of Ché. Also, I’ve done some preliminary research on what happened to Che’s pistol. While many personal articles of Ché have been found, for example, his rifle, diary, pipe and tobacco, personal letters, no one has ever claimed they’ve discovered his pistol. It remains a mystery. The campesinos of the mountains are unsophisticated, simple, honest, poor people, who don’t have the knowledge to fabricate the story or means to access or acquire a handgun -- Bolivia has strong handgun control, with severe penalties if you’re caught with one.

Study the photos, do your research, make your own decision. I believe it is Che’s weapon.

Campesino market in Villegrande

Inside the market

Campesinos shopping for breakfast; they have bread, 

coffee, and vitamin infused juice as their morning meal

I needed protein; there are no restaurants open for breakfast

in Villegrande; an indigenous woman vendor at the market saved me

and graciously was willing to cook me these eggs to start my day.

It's time to leave Bolivia. Are you folks ready to explore Argentina? . . . So am I.