Death of Che

REDACTED: Declassified Mysteries with Luke Lamana

Wondery | Ballen Studios

True Crime, History

4.3 • 668 Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1967, the CIA and Bolivian army joined forces to hunt down revolutionary leader Che Guevara through the Andes mountains. After leaving Cuba, Guevara and a small guerrilla force secretly entered Bolivia, aiming to spark a communist revolution across South America. But as his health failed and local support crumbled, Guevara's final mission — and death — would transform him into a legend.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Love unsettling stories.
0:02.4	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to redacted, declassified mysteries, early and ad-free,
0:07.8	as well as another twisted tale from Ballin Studios and Wondry called Wartime Stories,
0:12.8	also hosted by me, Early and Ad-Free on Wondry Plus.
0:16.7	Start your free trial today.
0:18.7	This episode contains depictions of violence and is not suitable for everyone.
0:23.6	Please be advised.
0:28.6	In late September,
0:33.6	the famous revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara crouched behind a tree on a rugged hillside, high in the mountains of Bolivia.
0:43.5	His comrades were nearby, cowering behind other trees and watching him anxiously.
0:49.2	From his hiding spot, Guevara could see a Bolivian soldier halfway down the hill.
0:56.1	One wrong move, and their lives would be over. And so with their revolution. A decade earlier, Guevara helped lead
1:02.8	the Cuban revolution that carried Fidel Castro to power. Guevara had come to Bolivia
1:08.0	ten months ago to start a communist uprising there, too.
1:12.3	But the mission hadn't gone as he'd hoped.
1:15.3	And now he'd heard on the radio that the Bolivian army had 1800 soldiers searching for him and his few remaining men.
1:23.7	Down the hill, the soldier spoke to a peasant woman, and as they were talking, he seemed
1:28.6	to point at the very tree where Gavar was hiding. Gavar's chest tightened, and his lungs
1:34.6	fought for air. It wasn't just anxiety. A month ago, the Bolivian army had found his cash
1:40.7	of asthma medication and confiscated it. Gavara struggled without his inhaler,
1:46.1	and his breathing only got worse as he and his men climbed to higher and higher altitudes. At times,
1:52.1	he could barely walk, so they were forced to travel by mule. The soldier stared right at Gavara's
	...

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