("Che in Bolivia: documents and testimonies")
Compilation and notes by Carlos Soria Galvarro T.
Second edition
Edited by newspaper "La Razón"
La Paz (Bolivia), September/october 2005
© Carlos Soria Galvarro
Legal Registration Number: 4-1-1552-05
Volume 1
SU DIARIO DE CAMPAÑA
("His campaign diary")
223 pages, with 66 photographs
First edition: March 1996
This is an annotated critical edition of Che´s famous "Bolivian Diary", the first to be published here with these characteristics. The notes and commentaries aim to clarify situations and personalities for today´s general reader in Bolivia.
The text of the diary is preceded by an essay entitled "The odyssey of Che´s Bolivian Diary", which recounts the turbulent fortunes that befell the celebrated document both before it was published and after, when the originals were sold to an auction house in London. Included as appendices are an analysis of the people who made up the guerrilla forces, biographical notes about a hundred of the people mentioned in the guerrillas´ own documentation and cronology of Che's the diary in Bolivia.
Volume 2
LOS OTROS DIARIOS
("The other diaries")
253 pages, 240 illustrations and photographs
First edition: March, 1996 ("The other diaries and papers")
This volume collects together the diaries of the Cuban combatants: Pombo, Morogoro., Braulio and Pacho. The diary of Rolando wich was translated fron the english version published abroad by Sten and Day. The text of each diary is introduced by a short explanation about the personality of its author, its content and the circumstances that surrounded its publication.
The volume also includes the five communiqués put out by the guerrillas (of which only the first was made public); the "Instructions for the cadres assigned to urban work" written by Che in Ñacahuasu in February 1967; and a selection of messages received and sent by the guerrillas.
The book´s introduction is a study of the sources available for researching the subject of Che´s presence in Bolivia.
Volume 3
SU ULTIMA BATALLA
("His last battle")
246 pages, 62 illustrations and photographs
First edition: August 1993 (reprinted in may1995)
This volume collects together a systematically ordered set of texts referring to Che´s capture and later execution, on 8 and 9 October 1967.
It reproduces the versions of these events that were printed in El Diario and Presencia, the two most important newspapers at the time; the versions provided on the spot by official sources, including members of government and military officers; the versions presented in military communiqués; versions drawn up subsequently by personalities and researchers; the versions set down in the published memoirs of military officers in post at the time; and versions provided by guerrilla survivors. Also included are the hitherto unpublished recollections of former soldiers, and a dispute between a CIA agent and the Bolivian officer who captured Che. As an epilogue, the book includes a piece of journalism about the tragic fate that befell many of those who captured and executed Che.
Finally, there is an annotated appendix which reproduces photos of the guerrilla commander´s captured alive and photos of the searching of his bones almost thirty years from his dead
Volume 4
¿TRAICION DEL PCB?
("PCB's betrayed?")
229 pages, 65 illustrations and photographs
First edition: October 1992 ("The PCB before, during and after")
Reprinted in: February 1994 y junio 1996
This volume is a rigorous and faithful collection of everything important said by the Communist Party of Bolivia (PCB) before, during and after the events of 1967 involving the guerrillas. The first three chapters contain declarations and resolutions, statements made to the press by party leaders, press articles and other official PCB documents relating to the guerrillas. Many of these have not been published before because of the difficulty of locating them.
Chapter IV reproduces extracts from various documents that criticise the PCB´s actions from the outside. These range from references to the PCB in Che´s diary to statements by Fidel Castro, and include the opinions of guerrilla protagonists and other political leaders, among them an ex-leader of the PCB who preferred to remain anonymous.
Each item of documentation is preceded by an explanatory note that puts it into context, a feature that runs throughout the series.
The author´s introduction covers 6 pages.
Appendix: Cronology of Che in Bolivia (1963-1968) and Bolivia's cronology (1967-1968).
Volume 5
PENSAMIENTO BOLIVIANO
("Bolivian thinking")
262 pages, 89 illustrations and photographs
First edition: April 1994 ("Analysis and reflections")
This volume aims to give an overview of the thinking about Che in Bolivia.
Based on a selection of representative texts, the book attempts to find answers to questions like: What place does the guerrilla experience of 1967 occupy in Bolivian history? How did intellectuals perceive these events? How did the protagonists live the experience, whether members of the armed forces, guerrilla fighters, or those working within the state apparatus? What is the relationship between the guerrillas and the Bolivian left? How did poets and writers feel about Che´s presence? How can the guerrilla experiment be evaluated 26 years later?
The introduction to the book states that "its purpose is to provide the general reader with a sort of sample of the thinking generated in Bolivia by the events of 1967, and at the same time offer ideas for further research to those who wish to look more closely into this subject."
The final chapter reprints the answers written by six Bolivian personalities in response to a questionnaire sent out by the author.
A Bolivian bibliography of Che is included as an appendix.
Synopsis of the Supplement published by the newspaper "La Razón" of La Paz,
in agreement with CEDOIN:
"On the trail of Che in Bolivia"
Published 9 October 1996
32 pages, tabloid format
The supplement contains:
1. Che´s three-monthly notes evaluating his men, published for the first time. The notes were transcribed from the original document which is stored in the vaults of the Bolivian Central Bank, together with the originals of Che´s and Pombo´s diaries. The introduction to this publication of the notes, entitled "Che evaluates his men", and the biographical summaries, are by Carlos Soria Galvarro.
2. The diary of Harry Villegas Tamayo, or Pombo. This is an exact transcription of the original document, in contrast with all the versions previously published, including Pombo´s own, which differ markedly from the original. The introductory article, "Pombo´s true diary for the first time", is by Carlos Soria Galvarro.
3. "The diaries of Che and Pombo: part of Bolivia´s historic documentary heritage", an explanation by the Head of Diplomatic Information at the Ministry of Foreign Relations, authorising CEDOIN and La Razón to gain access to the documents in question and publish them.
4. "Five journalists touch a piece of history", an article by Gustavo Guzmán, head of the La Razon editorial staff, recounting the "operation" carried out in the Central Bank.
5. 96 photographs, some from the archives and others from the documents stored in the Central Bank, including shots of all the guerrilla fighters mentioned in Che´s hitherto unpublished notes.
Synopsis of the "Che's Campaign in Bolivia"
Documental selection and notes of Carlos Soria Galvarro
First Edition: October 1997
178 pages, 89 photographs, (most of them are part of the guerrilla's documentation that are published for the first time) and an illustration of Che's route from 23th of march to 8th of october 1967)
It contains:
The study of "The Odisey of Che's Diary in Bolivia"; The transcription of Che´s notes evaluating his men; biographical summaries of all the guerrilla fighters and other protagonists chronologies of events in the guerrilla and Bolivia during 1967 and 1968 besides the transcription of the original manuscript of Pombo´s diary.
Notes on the Author
Carlos Soria Galvarro Terán, born in Parotani, Cochabamba, in 1944, is a journalist.
He has worked in radio, press television and digital papers, including the following posts:
Writer-reporter at the "21 December" radio station in Catavi; head of journalism at the "Miner´s Voice" radio in Siglo XX and "Continental" radio in La Paz; news director and head of production and programming at Channel 7 Bolivian Television; correspondent for "O Diario" of Portugal; head of editorial staff and director of the weekly magazine "Unidad"; head of editorial staff at the weekly publication "Aquí"; director of Channel 13 University Television and executive director of CEDOIN, PADEM an Enlared.
He obtained a mention in the José Martí Latin American Journalism Competition of 1986 for his interview with the Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie, which was published in Cochabamba´s "Opinión" newspaper under the title "Report from the prison gates".
The Journalist Association from La Paz, gave him in 1998 the "Franz Tamayo" medal as award to "Professional merit and intellectual creation".
He gives lectures and writes for magazines and newspapers.
He has published several books:
- "Con la revolución en las venas: los mineros de Siglo XX en la resistencia antifascista", (Revolution in the veins: the miners of Siglo XX in the antifascist resistance, published in 1980)
- "¡Vista al mar!" (View of the sea!, testimonies of the military coup of 17 July 1980; first edition 1982, second edition 1993)
- "Barbie-Altmann de la Gestapo a la CIA" (Barbie-Altmann: from the Gestapo to the CIA, first edition January 1986, second edition April 1986)
- "El Che en Bolivia: documentos y testimonios" (The "Che in Bolivia" series, published since 1992-1996, and 2005
- "Coati 1972: relatos de una fuga" (Coati 1972: escape an narration, published in april 1997)
- "Campaña del Che en Bolivia" (Che's Campaign in Bolivia, published in October 1997).
- "Re cuentos" and "Con textos" 2002
- "1967: San Juan a sangre y fuego" (en coautoría con José Pimentel y Eduardo García). 2007. ("1967: San Juan in blood and fire)
He taught in the Social Communication degree course at San Andrés University (UMSA) since 1988 to 2002.
Carlos Soria Galvarro T.
La Paz - Bolivia
Teléfono 591 2 2227472 - 2749083
Móvil 591 72003022
e-mail: