In making contact with the army, the networks should follow the following “route”: The high command will give orders to the head of the network, which will be responsible, in turn, for organizing the task in the important cities. Routes will then lead from the cities to the towns, and from there to the villages or peasant houses, which will be the point of contact with our army, the site of the physical delivery of supplies, money, or information. As our army’s zone of influence grows, the points of contact will get closer and closer to the cities, and the area of our army’s direct control will grow proportionately. This is a long process that will have its ups and downs; and, as in any war like this, its progress will be measured in years.
The central command of the network will be based in the capital; from there other cities will be organized. For the time being, the most important cities for us are: Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, Sucre and Camiri, forming a rectangle surrounding our zone of operations. Those heading up work in these four cities should, as far as possible, be experienced cadres. They will be put in charge of organizations similar to those in the capital, but simplified: supplies and transport will be headed by a single individual; finances and sympathizers by another one; a third person will coordinate urban actions; it is possible to dispense with the assignment of information, as this can be left to the head of the network. The coordination of urban actions will increasingly be linked to our army as its territory grows nearer to the city in question. At a certain point, those involved in urban actions will become semi-urban guerrillas, operating directly under the army’s general command.
At the same time, it is important not to neglect the development of networks in cities that are today outside our field of action. In these places we should seek to win support among the population and prepare ourselves for future actions. Oruro and Potosí are the most important cities in this regard.
Particular attention must be paid to areas along the borders. Villazón and Tarija are important for making contacts and receiving supplies from Argentina; Santa Cruz is important for Brazil; Huaqui [Guaqui] or some other location along the border with Peru; and some point along the frontier with Chile.
In organizing the supply network, it would be desirable to assign reliable militants who have previously earned a living in activities similar to what we are now asking them to do. For example, the owner of a grocery store could organize supplies or participate in this aspect of the network; the owner of a trucking company could organize transport, etc.
Where this is not possible, the job of developing the apparatus must be done patiently, not rushing things. By doing so we can avoid setting up a forward position that is not sufficiently protected—causing us to lose it, while at the same time putting other ones at risk.
The following shops or enterprises should be organized: grocery stores (La Paz, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, Camiri); trucking firms (La Paz–Santa Cruz; Santa Cruz–Camiri; La Paz–Sucre; Sucre–Camiri); shoemakers (La Paz, Santa Cruz, Camiri, Cochabamba); clothing shops (the same); machine shops (La Paz, Santa Cruz); and farms (Chapare–Caranavi).
The first two will enable us to store and transport supplies without attracting attention, including military equipment. The shoemaking and clothing shops could carry out the twin tasks of making purchases without attracting attention and doing our own manufacturing. The machine shop would do the same with weapons and ammunition, and the farms would serve as bases of support in the eventual relocation of our forces, and would enable those working on the farms to begin carrying out propaganda among the peasants.
It should be stressed once again that all this requires political firmness and compañeros who take from the revolutionary movement only what is strictly essential to their needs, who are ready to devote all their time—as well as their liberty or their lives, if it comes to that. Only in this way can we effectively forge the network necessary to accomplish our ambitious plan: the total liberation of Bolivia.
Facsimiles of Che Guevara’s Notebooks (Cuba and Africa) 1965-66.
1. On April 9, 1952, the Bolivian miners led a popular uprising that overthrew the military dictatorship and installed the MNR government. Inspired by this event, Che wrote a poem that is included in Part One of this anthology.
Reading Lists 1965-67
This is a previously unpublished selection of Che’s reading lists, recorded in notebooks he kept during his final years in Cuba, the Congo and Bolivia, revealing the breadth and depth of the personal study program he pursued throughout his life.
Notebook from Cuba and Africa
Page 1
3/65
Retrato del artista adolescente [A portait of the artist as a young man], James Joyce
La pequeña edad, Luis Spota
Cuestiones fundamentals del marxismo [Fundamental problems of Marxism], Plekhanov
Miel sobre hojuelas, Reynaldo Gónzalez
El robo del cochino, Abelardo Estorino
La casa vieja, Abelardo Estorino
Quien quiere comprar un pueblo? A. Lizarraga
Donde van los cefalomos? Ángel Arango
Granada, tras las huellas de García Lorca, Claude Couffon
Ensayos, Baldomero Sanín Cano
Acerca del Capital, Various authors
África, biografía del colonialism, J.A Benítez
Teatro, Ibsen
Africa, el león despierta [Africa, The Lion Awakes], Jack Woddis
Escritos económicos varios [Various economic writings], Marx and Engels
Estrategia militar [Military Strategy], M. Sokolowski
Stalingrado, H. Schröter
Page 2
7/65
El gobierno invisible [The Invisible Government], David Wise and Thomas Ross
Patrice Lumumba, campeón de la libertad [Patrice Lumumba, Champion of Freedom]
Historia de la Antigüedad [History of Antiquity], Mishulin
Geografía Económica, Puchkov
Historia de la Edad Media, Kosminsky
8/65
Obras Escogidas, Tomo IV [Selected Works, Vol. 4], Mao Tse-tung
Obras Completas, Tomo IV [Collected Works, Vol. 4], [José] Martí
Obras Completas, Tomo 33 [Collected Works, Vol. 33], Lenin
Obras Completas, Tomo 32 [Collected Works, Vol. 32], Lenin
Obras Completas, Tomo V [Collected Works, Vol. 5], [José] Martí
Obras Escogidas, Tomo II [Selected Works, Vol. 2], Lenin
Historia de los tiempos modernos [History of Modern Times], N. Efimov
9/65
Los doce césares [The Lives of the Twelve Cesars], Suetonius
Los problemas de la dialéctica en El Capital [Problems in the Dialectics in Capital], Rosental
Historia de la época contemporanea [History of the Contemporary Epoch], J. Vostov and Zukov
10/65
La Ilíada [The Iliad], Homer
La Odisea [The Odyssey], Homer
Manual de Historia Universal, Tomo II [Manual of Universal History, Vol. II], Luis Suárez Fernández:
Edad Antigua-Edad Media
11/65
La cuidad del diablo Amarillo [City of the Yellow Devil], Gorky
¿Quién ayudó a Hitler? [Who helped Hitler?], I. Maiski
Brasil, siglo XX [Twentieth Century Brazil], R. Foco
El batallón de Belvedere, Chas
Historia de la Filosofía [History of Philosophy], Hegel
486 días de lucha, Azcárate y Sandoval
Le Congo depui la colonization Belga jusqui e la independence [read in French]
México insurgente [Insurgent Mexico], John Reed
Los principios fundamentals de la dirección de la Guerra [On War], Karl von Clausewitz
Nous les negres [read in French], J. Baldwin, Malcolm X, M.L. King
El guerrillero y su trascendencia, F. Solano Costa
Desembarco en Normandía
Cualquier corsario, J. Onetti
La noche de los asesinos, J. Triana
Aurora ro
ja, Pío Baroja
Babbitt, Sinclair Lewis
8/66
Vida de Miguel Ángel, G. Papini
La isla, J. Goytisolo
El Circo, J. Goytisolo
Dante vivo, Papini
La Resaca, J. Gotytisolo
Hamlet, Shakespeare
Carlos Marx [Karl Marx], Franz Mehring
Contribución a la crítica de la economía política [Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy], Marx
La ciudad, C. Richter
Así de grande [So Big], Edna Ferber
Informe de la misión militar a la R.D.V.
Paradiso, J. Lezama Lima
Julio César, Shakespeare
Cuentos completes, O.J. Cardosa
Nuevos cuentos cubanos
Santa Juana [Saint Joan], G.B. Shaw
Los perros hambrientos, Ciro Alegría
La llamada de la tierra [The Call of the Soil], Adrien Bertrand
La ideología alemana [The German Ideology], Marx–Engels
Federico Engels, E. Stepanova
Los años duros, Jesús Díaz
Poesía de paso, Enrique Lihn
Reflejos de un ojo dorado [Reflections in a Golden Eye], Carson McCullers
Reineke el zorro [Reynard the fox], Goethe
Las ceremonias del verano, Marta Traba
9/66
Atrás de las líneas enemigas
Asesinato por anticipado, A. Correa
Correspondencia [Correspondence], Marx and Engels
El sol poniente
El libro fantástico de Oaj, Miguel Collazo
Rashomon, R. Akutagawa
Orlando, V[irginia] Wolf
10/66
Memorias de un mambí, M. Piedra
Por Marx, L. Althusser
Reading Plan for Bolivia
La historia como hazaña de la libertad, B. Croce
Los orígenes del hombre Americano, P. Rivet
Memorias de Guerra General, [Charles] de Gaulle
Memorias, Churchill
Fenomenología del Espíritu, Hegel
Le neveu de Rameu, Diderot
La revolución permanente [The Permanent Revolution: Results and Prospects], Trotsky
Nuestros banqueros en Bolivia, Margarita Alexander Marsh
El lazarillo de ciegos caminantes, Concolocorvo
Descripción de Bolivia La Paz 1946
El hombre Americano, Alcides D’Orbigny
Viaje a la América Meridional: Buenos Aires
El pensamiento vivo de Bolívar, Fombona
Aluvión de fuego, Oscar Cerruto
El dictador suicida, Augusto Céspedes
La Guerra de 1879, Alberto Gutiérrez
El Iténez salvaje, Luis Leigue Castedo
Túpac Amaru, el rebelde, Boleslao Lewin
El indoamericanismo y el problema racial en las Américas, Alejandro Lipschütz
Internacionalismo y nacionalismo, Liu Shao-chi
Sobre el proyecto de constitución de la R.P. China
Informe de la mission conjunta de las Naciones Unidas y organismos especializados para el studio de los problemas de las poblaciones indígenas andinas, ILO Geneva 1953
Monografía estadística de la población indígena de Bolivia, Jorge Pando Gutiérrez
Historia económica de Bolivia, Luis Peñaloza
Socavones de angustia, Fernando Ramírez Velarde
La cuestión nacional y el Leninismo [The National Question and Leninism], Stalin
El marxismo y el problema nacional y colonial [Marxism and the National and Colonial Problem], Stalin
Petróleo en Bolivia
Historia del colonialism, J. Arnault
Teoría general del estado, Carré de Malberg
Diccionario de sociología, Henry Pratt Fairchild
Heráclito, exposición y fragmentos, Luis Forie
El materalismo histórico en F. Engels, R. Mondolfo
Nacionalismo y socialismo en América Latina, O.Waiss
Contribución a la crítica de la filosofia del derecho de Hegel, Marx
Ludwig Feuerbach y el fin de la filosofia clásica alemana, Engels
El desarrollo del capitalism en Rusia, Lenin
Materialismo y empirocriticismo, Lenin
Acerca de algunas particularidades del desarrollo histórico del marxismo
Cuardernos filosóficos, Lenin
Cuestiones de leninismo, Stalin
La ciencia en la historia, John D. Bernal
La Lógica, Aristotle
Antología filosífica ( La filosofia griega), José Gaos
Los pre-Socraticos. Fragmentos filosophises de los preocráticos, García Bacca
De la naturaleza de las cosas, Titus Lucretius Carus
El filósofo autodidactico, Abuchafar
De la causa, principio y uno, Giordano Bruno
El príncipe. Obras políticas [The Prince. Political works], Machiavelli
11/66
El embajador [The Ambassador], Morris West
Orient Express, Graham Greene
En la ciudad [In the City], William Faulkner
La legión de los condenados, Sven Hassel
Romanceros Gitano [Gypsy Romances], García Lorca
Cantos de Vida y Esperanza [Songs of Life and Hope], Rubén Darío
La lámpara maravillosa, Del Valle Inclán
El pensamiento de los profetas, Israel Mattuck
Raza de bronce, Alcides Arguedas
Misiones secretas, Otto Skorzeny
El cuento boliviano-selección [Selected Bolivian Stories]
La Cartuja de Parma [The Charterhouse of Parma], Stendhal
La física del siglo XX, Jordan
La vida es linda, hermano [Life is Beautiful, Brother], N. Hikmet
Humillados y ofendidos [The Insulted and Humiliated], F. Dostoyevsky
El proceso de Nuremberg, J. J. Heydecker and J. Leeb
La canditatura de Rojas, Armando Chirveches
Tiempo arriba, Alfredo Gravina
Memorias, Mariscal Montgomery
La Guerra de las republiquetas, Bartolomé Mitre
Los marxistas [The Marxists], C. Wright Mills
La villa imperial de Potosí, Brocha Gorda (Julio Lucas Jaimes)
Pancho Villa, I. Lavretski
La Luftwaffe, Cajus Bekker
La organización política [Political Organization], G.D.H. Cole
De Gaulle, Edward Ashcroft
12/66
La Nueva Clase, Milovan Djilas
El joven Hegel y los problemas de la sociedad capitalista [The Young Hegel and the Problems of Capitalist Society], G. Lukacs
Juan de la Rosa, Nataniel Aguirre [sic, por Aguirre]
Dialéctica de la naturaleza [The Dialectics of Nature], Engels
Historia de la Revolución Rusa, Tomo I [History of the Russian Revolution, Vol. I], Trotsky
1/67
Categorías del materialismo dialectic, Rosental and Straks
Sobre el problema nacional y colonial de Bolivia, Jorge Ovando
Fundamentos biológicos de la cirugía, Clínicas Quirúrgicas de Norteamérica
Política y partidos en Bolivia, Mario Rolón
La compuerta No. 12 y otros cuentos, B. Lillo
2/67
La sociedad primitive [Primitive Society], Lewis H. Morgan
Historia de la Revolucion Rusa, Tomo II [ History of the Russian Revolution, Vol. II], Trotsky
La historia de la Filosofía, I Dynnik
Breve historia de la revolución Mexicana I, Jesús Silva Herzog
Breve historia de la revolución Mexicana II, Jesús Silva Herzog
Anestesia, Clínicas Quirúgicas de Norteamérica
3/67
La cultura de los Incas, Jesús Lara
Todos los fuegos el fuego, Julio Cortázar
Revolución el la Revolución [Revolution within the Revolution], Régis Debray
La insurrección de Túpac Amaru, Boleslao Lewis
Socavones de Angus
ta, Fernando Ramírez Velarde
4/67
Idioma nativo y analfabetismo, Gualberto Pedrazas J.
La economia argentína, Aldo Ferrer
En torno a la práctica, Mao Zedong
Aguafuertes porteños, Roberto Arlt
Costumbres y curiosidades de los aymaras, M. L. Valda de J. Freire
Las 60 familiares norteamericanas, Ferdinand Lundberg
5/67
Historia económica de Bolivia I, Luis Peñaloza
La psicología en las fuerzas armadas, Charles Chandessais
7/67
Historia económica de Bolivia II, Luis Peñaloza
Elogio de la locura [The Praise of Folly], Erasmus
8/67
Del acto al pensamiento, Henri Wallon
9/67
Fuerzas secretas, F. O. Nietzsche
Index
A
Acción Democrática, Venezuela 325
Acero, Rivers 480
Acuña, Juan Vitalio, Vilo, Joaquín 460, 471, 479
Africa 2, 5–717, 146, 148, 206, 212, 265, 303, 368, 369, 398, 412, 448–451, 494–495, 497, 517
Agencia Latina 169
agrarian reform 15, 18, 212, 237, 243, 263, 280, 289, 295, 306, 309, 349, 351, 359, 361, 388
Agüero, Joaquín de 260
Albizu Campos, Pedro 236, 238, 300
Alessandri, Arturo 53
Alfonso, Pedro Enrique 53
Algeria 6, 193, 265, 266, 295, 371, 408
Allende Gossens, Salvador 53
Alliance for Progress 2, 6, 18–19, 291, 298, 306, 308, 319, 325, 326, 328, 330–334, 336–340, 345, 348, 349, 350, 351, 353, 356, 357, 359–364, 372, 427
Alta Gracia 70
Althusser, Louis 500
The Awakening of Latin America Page 53