The Fall of Che Guevara

The Fall of Che Guevara tells the story for the first time of the US Government's response to Guevara's ill-starred insurgency in Bolivia in 1967. Ryan argues that Guevara's life must be re-evaluated in light of secret documents released specifically for this book by the CIA, the State Department, the Pentagon, and the National Security Archive. The Fall of Che Guevara tells the story of Guevara's last campaign, in the backwoods of Bolivia, where he hoped to ignite a revolution that would spread throughout South America. For the first time, this book shows in detail the strategy of the USA and Bolivian governments to foil his efforts. Based on numerous interviews and on secret documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act from the CIA, the State Department, the Pentagon, and the National Security Archive, this work casts new light on the roles of a Green Beret detachment sent to train the Bolivians and of the CIA and other US agencies in bringing Guevara down. Ryan shows that Guevara was an agent of Cuban foreign policy from the time he met Fidel Castro in 1955 until his death--not a mere independent revolutionary, as many scholars have claimed. Guevara's attempted insurgency in Bolivia was in reality a Cuban attempt to achieve another badly-needed revolutionary success. This dramatic account of the last days of Che Guevara will appeal to scholars and students of United States foreign policy and Latin American history, and to all those interested in this revolutionary's remarkable life.