Bolivia: Vallegrande & La Higuera. The last days of Che in Bolivia, my last days in Bolivia.

Santa Cruz is not the city with the most appeal in Bolivia but it is the biggest one, the one that has the international airport and the closest to the area where Che Guevara had his last days before being captured and executed by the Bolivian army with the help of CIA agents. These were the main reasons that took me there before taking off for Buenos Aires. But no need to spend much time describing a city that is basically made out of a pretty square and several rings and suburbs around with no special interest. Let´s stick to the Che Guevara trail.

It is no secret I have always been fascinated by the stories of guerrilla fighting against dictatorial regimes and, as a lover of history and interested in socialist movements, the last days of Che in Bolivia are part of a chapter that attracted me to visit this part of Bolivia. Surprisingly, the Che Guevara trail is not a popular tourist route and the Government and Tour Operators of Bolivia don´t do much to take advantage of it. Actually, I was unable to find an operator that could provide some information from Santa Cruz or, let alone, take me to these areas. So I decided to travel to Vallegrande on my own and arrange something with some local people.

The first stop on the "inverted" route I took is Vallegrande. This is the place where Che´s body was taken to after his execution at La Higuera. The most known place here is the laundry where Che´s body was shown to the international press by the Bolivian army to prove that the "dangerous guerrillero" and "threaten to the local people" Ernesto Guevara had been "killed in combat" in an area close by. The truth is that he was captured near by and executed at La Higuera, then flewn by helicopter to Villagrande. The truth is also that most peasants from the area had no clue who he was and, if they had heard of him, they thought he was a "narcotraficante". There is still an old lady living in the small town who was the nurse that received the orders to wash Che´s body to be prepared to be shown publicly. I didn´t get to speak to her, but the guide explained that she usually tells who she was given the order to wash the body of this person she didn´t know by some serious general that wouldn´t allow any affection be shown. She said he had his eyes wide open and she felt like he was looking at her all the time. Truth or fantasy, the woman was clearly shocked by the order and wouldn´t feel too comfortable carrying it out.

The area around the laundry is still, to this day, a hospital where several Cuban doctors work side by side with some Bolivian ones, as a sign of cooperation between the two countries.

A mausoleum can also be found in the area where the bodies of Che and some other guerrilleros where found in 1997, buried secretly by the Bolivian authorities between the airfield (military at the time) and the cemetery. The mausoleum holds a small museum like with several pictures of Che´s life and the pit where the bodies where found. Che´s body was taken shortly after to Cuba where it still lies nowadays.

The next stop of my visit was the area where Che was captured, Quebrada del Churo. This privately owned
place saw the battle where Che was ambushed and captured together with Willy and Chino. It is not an easy place to reach and by spending just two hours in this valley one can just imagine how the guerrilla might have suffered not only by the army haunting but also by the attacks of bugs. My legs still keep some bites and wounds as a souvenir. The local farmer explained how a local neighbour widely known as La Enana (and now deceased) used to cooperate with Che and provide food and information as support to their cause. This person is mentioned in Ernesto Guevara´s diaries.

To complete my route, I paid a visit to La Higuera, a really small village only 70km away from Vallegrande but a long 3 hour drive through a really bad unpaved road. Here one can find the school where Che was shot dead, now transformed into a small museum, and several pictures and paintings on the walls paying tribute to the man whose memory still keeps this village alive.

Overall, it was a truly inspiring experience, especially after having read the Che diaries and some other books about his struggles in South America. I could really imagine how hard it might have been to live and fight in those lost areas while trying to keep hidden from the Bolivian army and attempting to convince some suspicious local peasants that they were fighting to end up the priviledges of the ruling elites in the country. Today, Che´s figure has been completely overruled by marketing and by a misleading image that feeds widely from the myth, but there is no denial that he was clearly a man of ideals who fought and gave his life while trying to solve some class issues that still survive to these days. After all, he must have been an important man, as he is still either loved or hated.