On this day, the Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, guerrilla leader, diplomat, politician and military theorist, Ernesto “Che” Guevara, was captured in Bolivia. Guevara arrived in Bolivia on 3 November 1966 and in almost a year of underground activity, his small guerrilla force scored a number of early successes against Bolivian army regulars. However, the intervention of the US Army Special Forces together with Guevara’s lack of success in obtaining the collaboration of the local populace, eventually led to his betrayal and capture following a short battle in the Yuro ravine where he was encamped. The following day, Guevara was executed on the orders of the Bolivian President René Barrientos. Hailed as a hero by many and portrayed as a callous executioner by some, Che Guevara’s stylized visage has become a countercultural symbol of rebellion and global insignia in popular culture.
