The Bolivian retired officer Mario Teran Salazar, who had claimed to have killed Argentine Cuban revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara in 1967, died yesterday Thursday at the age of 80 in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, in eastern Bolivia, his relatives said.
"He died, he was sick, nothing could be done," Gary Prado, the commander of the force that captured Che in a Bolivian jungle 54 years ago, told Agence France-Presse. Mr. Prado said he was informed of the death of Salazar, a student at the officers' school, yesterday morning. "I had been alerted by his family and by colleagues in the armed forces because he had been admitted to a military hospital," he explained.
The hospital refused to confirm his death and its cause, citing "medical confidentiality".
On October 8, 1967, the Bolivian army captured Che Guevara, a legendary figure of revolutionary armed action, with the support of two Cuban-American CIA agents. Che was at the head of a handful of guerrillas who survived fighting, starvation and disease in the mountains of Bolivia. Wounded in battle, he was taken to an abandoned school in the village of La Igera. There he spent his last night: he was executed the next day by Teran Salazar, with the approval of President Rene Barrientos (1964-1969), an avowed anti-communist.
It was the worst moment of my life. Che seemed big to me, very big, huge. A thousand fires burned in his eyes, Teran Salazar later recounted. 'Calm down,' he told me, 'and aim well! You will kill a man! I took a step back towards the door, closed my eyes and fired."
After his death, at the age of 39, Che became a legend. His body was displayed as a trophy in the neighboring village of Vallegrande, an image captured by French News Agency journalist Marc Etienne. After thirty years of service, Teran Salassar retired and tried to remain anonymous, avoiding the press. It has long been suggested that Guevara's assassin was not himself, but another military man with the same full name.
Source: APM
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