The Bolivian general feted as a national hero for capturing the Cuban revolutionary Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara in 1967 has died aged 84.
According to the BBC, Gary Prado Salmón led a military operation in Bolivia, backed by US secret service agents, that defeated a communist insurrection organised by Che Guevara. Bolivia had a right-wing military government at the time.
Argentina-born Guevara was executed a day after his arrest by Bolivian army officer, Mario Terán, who died last year.
After ambushing Guevara’s guerrilla group, General Salmón was made a national hero for having defended the Bolivian military regime.
He had led US-trained Bolivian Rangers in a remote jungle region where Che Guevara’s group, originally numbering about 120, had declined to just 22.
Since 1981 General Salmón had been a wheelchair user, after a bullet fired accidentally hit him in the spine. He wrote a book about his 1967 triumph, called How I Captured Che.
In the late 1960s, the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union was at its height and Washington was extremely concerned about communist influence in Latin America, including Che Guevara’s activities.
He had left Cuba after the triumph of the 1959 revolution there, to lead guerrilla movements in other countries. He was a key ally of Cuban communist leader Fidel Castro and became a hero for communists worldwide.
[Image: OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay]