The Bolivian Diary of Ernesto Che Guevara

We are patiently preparing for a deep-going social revolution that will transform the system from top to bottom. – Che Guevara, Bolivia, 1967: Message to the Miners

The Bolivian Diary of Ernesto Che Guevara tells the story of the painstaking effort organized by Guevara, an Argentine-born leader of Cuban revolution, to forge a fighting movement of workers and peasants that could win the battle for land and national sovereignty and open the socialist revolution on the South American continent. Guevara’s day-by-day chronicle of the eleven-month guerilla campaign in 1966-67 is a powerful narrative providing insight into the practical activity, leadership capacities, and political thinking of one of the outstanding communist leaders of the twentieth century.

This newly translated edition also contains letters and political statements written by Guevara in Bolivia, as well as extensive excerpts from the diaries and accounts of other combatants, including My Campaign with Che by Bolivian leader Inti Peredo. Much of this material appears here for the first time in English.

Cover photos: Members of the guerilla unit in one of their camps. Cover design: Eric Simpson