by Mitch Weiss
Truman, Harry S., 44, 53
26th of July Movement, 30, 74
2506 Brigade. See Brigade 2506
United Nations (UN), 75
United States (U.S.). See also CIA; Vietnam War
AID, 96, 120
Alamo, Texas, 157
Alliance for Progress, 40
Army School of the Americas, 77
Bradford, Pennsylvania, 121
Che and, 30, 37, 49, 107–8, 139–40, 149–50, 255
Cuban boycott by, 236
Defense Intelligence Agency, 229
embassies of, 229, 268
financial aid from, 90
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, 52
Foreign Service, 52
Fort Benning, Georgia, 77, 134
Fort Bragg, California, 66
Green Bay, Wisconsin, 122
Homestead, Florida, 73
intelligence in Bolivia, 54–55
JROTC, 265
media of, 142, 143, 192, 252–53
Miami, Florida, 74, 75, 132, 148–49
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 121–22
Milwaukee Braves, 122
Officer Candidate School, 43
Operation Wilderness, 265
Outward Bound, 265
Phoenix, Arizona, 125, 266–67
presidents of, 43, 44, 53, 75, 107, 146, 148, 149, 192, 207, 268
San Antonio, Texas, 122
secretary of state, xii, 90, 91
SOUTHCOM, 35–36, 53, 114, 255
State Department, 30, 52–53, 254, 256
UN ambassador of, 75
weapons from, 49
Weston, Massachusetts, 52
World Series, 122
Urrutia Lléo, Manuel, 134
Uruguay, 149
U.S. See United States
Vacaflor, Juan, xiv, 109, 110–12
Vado del Oro, Bolivia, 190
Vado del Yeso, Bolivia, xiii, xiv, 161–64, 170, 265
Valderomas, Dioniso, xiv, 126–27, 182–83
Chapa and, 158–59, 160
at Kiosko Hugo, 71, 98
memories of, 267
school and, 71–72, 99
sugar mill and, 70–71
on wedding, 266
Vallegrande, Bolivia, 165, 180, 204, 210
Che Guevara Museum in, 260
guerrillas in, 188–91
La Higuera and, 226
Vallegrande, Bolivia (cont.)
media in, 244, 245
Ovando Candía in, 253
Second Ranger Battalion in, 187–91
Zenteno Anaya in, 209, 211–12
Vargas, Epifano, xiv, 12, 13, 14, 162–64
Vargas Salinas, Mario, xiii, 161–62, 270–71
Vehicles, 90
Venchugas (insects), 105
Venezuela, 122, 133–34, 149
Verezain, José, 111
Vergara, Alejandro, 133–34
Vicente, 173, 174
Viet Cong, 54
Vietnam War
deaths in, 35
Phoenix Program in, 268
Rodríguez, F., on, 148
tactics in, 34, 90, 119
weapons in, 54
Villegas, Harry. See Pombo
Villoldo, Gustavo, xi
Barrientos Ortuno and, 131, 132–33, 134–35, 136–37, 230
Che and, 137, 212, 245, 246, 249–50
CIA and, 77, 79, 129–31, 132–33, 212, 268, 269
family of, 136–37
rations and, 195
Shelton, R., and, 140–41
Zenteno and, 194–95, 245
Wallender, Harvey, ix, 97
Wars. See also specific revolutions
Chaco War, 20, 26, 89
Cold War, 34, 43
Korean War, 42
Vietnam War, 34–35, 54, 90, 119, 148, 268
World War II, 31
Weapons
ammunition for, 94–95, 124, 208
from Argentina, 51
capture of, 16–17, 48, 112
M-1919A6 machine gun, 123
mortars, 124
for Second Ranger Battalion, 123–24
from U.S., 49
in Vietnam War, 54
Weston, Massachusetts, 52
Willy (Simon Cuba), xi, 233
body of, 249
in captivity, 202, 203, 206, 207, 215
Women, 152–53
World War II, 31
Yellow fever, 104
Zenteno Anaya, Joaquin, xiii, 41–42
Che and, 208, 211–13, 222, 226–27, 228, 238–39, 252
Rodríguez, F., and, 181–82, 211, 212–13, 226–27, 228, 231–32
Second Ranger Battalion and, 179, 188–89
Villoldo and, 194–95, 245
UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF GARY PRADO’S COLLECTION.
Bolivian vice president Adolfo Siles hands a diploma to one of the Green Berets who helped train the Bolivians. Each team member received a certificate to honor their service. The ceremony took place in Santa Cruz, Bolivia in 1967. JERALD PETERSON
Major Ralph “Pappy” Shelton’s men stand in formation at a ceremony in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, in 1967. The men were being honored by Bolivian officials for training the Bolivian ranger companies. JERALD PETERSON
Felix Rodriguez stands to the right of Che outside the La Higuera schoolhouse where the revolutionary was being held prisoner. FELIX RODRIGUEZ
Shelton’s men sit in chairs during the same ceremony in Santa Cruz in September 1967. JERALD PETERSON
The patch created and worn by members of the Second Ranger Battalion who were trained by American Green Berets led by Major Ralph “Pappy” Shelton. JERALD PETERSON
The body of Ernesto “Che” Guevara after he had been killed. After his death, Che’s body was cleaned and displayed in a laundry room at a Vallegrande hospital. JERALD PETERSON
Major Ralph “Pappy” Shelton as he appeared in 1967. He was the leader of the Green Beret team that trained the Second Ranger Battalion in La Esperanza.
U.S. ARMY SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS PHOTO ARCHIVES
Captain Gary Prado in the Bolivian Mountains in 1967.
A copy of the passport photo Che used to enter Bolivia. In the passport, Che identified himself as a Uruguayan businessman Adolfo Mena Gonzalez.
Sitting in a La Paz hotel room in November 1966, Che snaps a self-portrait of himself before he heads to his base camp in the Bolivian jungle.
The tin-roof house; this was Che’s first guerrilla base camp.
The remnants of the guerrilla band crossing the Rio Grande in mid-September 1967.
A photo of Tamara Bunke Bide, who was called Tania. She helped Che set up an urban support network in Bolivia.
Regis Debray, a French Marxist intellectual, who joined Che in Bolivia and was arrested trying to leave the guerrilla camp.
Ciro Roberto Bustos, an Argentinian painter and salesman, was with Che and arrested with Debray.
President Rene Barrientos Ortuno visiting troops in the field.
Members of the Bolivian Rangers’ B Company in La Higuera.
A group of Green Berets in La Esperanza, Bolivia in 1967.
Bolivian soldiers transport three dead guerrillas on mules into the village of Pucara on September 26, 1967.
Captain Gary Prado’s men capture Camba, one of Che’s guerrillas.
A Bolivian ranger guards the schoolhouse in La Higuera where Che was held and later executed.
A photo of Che after his capture in La Higu
era.
Che’s body on display in the laundry room in Vallegrande.
President Barrientos visits the Rangers troops after Che’s capture.
General Alfredo Ovando Candia visits Vallegrande after Che’s death.