Friday, November 9, 2007

PART – 7

Throughout this period Castro continued to importune him to return to Cuba, but Guevara only agreed to do so when it was understood that he would be there on a strictly temporary basis for the few months needed to prepare a new revolutionary effort somewhere in South America.

Throughout 1966 and into 1967. Representatives of the Mozambican independence movement FRELIMO reported meeting with Guevara in late 1966 or early 1967 in Dar es Salaam, at which point they rejected his offer of aid in their revolutionary project.

In a speech at the 1967 May Day rally in Havana, the Acting Minister of the armed forces, Major Juan Almeida, announced that Guevara was "serving the revolution somewhere in Latin America".

The numerous photographs taken by and of Guevara and other members of his guerrilla group that they left behind at their base camp after the initial clash with the Bolivian army in March 1967 provided the Bolivian President René Barrientos with the first proof of his presence in Bolivia.

President Barrientos allegedly stated that he wanted Guevara's head displayed on a pike in downtown La Paz. He thereupon ordered the Bolivian Army to hunt Guevara and his followers down. Guevara's guerrilla force, numbering about 50 and operating as the ELN "Ejército de Liberación Nacional de Bolivia" ("National Liberation Army of Bolivia"), was well equipped and scored a number of early successes against Bolivian Army in the difficult terrain of the mountainous Camiri region, but in September 1967 the Army managed to eliminate two guerrilla groups, killing one of the leaders.

.................continued on http://thecheschase8.blogspot.com/

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