ABSTRACT
The history of the guerrilla in Bolivia is intimately related to the iconic figure of Che Guevara. Four consecutive insurgent movements between 1962 and 1988 were deeply influenced by his ideas, by Guevara’s foco approach, and three of the rebel groups were trained in Cuba. The first guerrilla was a product of Guevara’s strategic plan to pass through Bolivia on the way to Peru (Operación Matraca) and Argentina (Operación Sombra). The latter one was a guerrilla headed by Guevara’s friend and associate Masetti that ended in the death, capture and disappearance of most of its members. The second one was Guevara’s own Bolivian ELN (Ejército de Liberación Nacional) campaign with a mostly Cuban detachment that ended in his capture and murder in 1967. The third one was the Bolivian rebound EGP of Teoponte, this time comprising mostly Bolivians; some of its members had a leftist catholic background. The last insurgency wave was comprised of several smaller insurgency groups with Aymara and leftist catholic cadres. One of these groups was the EGTK of present vice-president GarcíaLinares.
