document

Inti Peredo

Guerrilla warfare in Bolivia is not dead:

it has just begun.
The Bolivian guerrillas are now fully on their way, and we will unflaggingly
carry the struggle through to the brilliant victory of the revolutionary forces
that will bring socialism to Latin America.
Our country has lived throughin principlea revolutionary experience of
undreamed-of, continental proportions. The beginning of our struggle was
accompanied by tragic adversity. The irreparable physical death of our friend
and comrade, our Major Ernesto Che Guevara, as well as of many other fighters,
has been a rude blow to us. They, who were the purest and noblest of our continents generations, did not hesitate to offer up the only thing they could
their liveson the altar of human redemption.
78

But these painful events, far from frightening us, strengthen our
revolutionary awareness; increase our determination to fight for a just
cause; make it stauncher; and forge, in the purifying and bloody
crucible of war, new fighters and leaders, who will honour and pay
homage to those who have already fallen.
We know what we are fighting for. We are not waging war for the sake
of war. We are not wishful thinkers. We are not fighting for the sake of
personal or party ambition. We have confidence in man as a human
being.
Our single and final goal is the liberation of Latin America, which is
more than our continent; it is rather our homeland, temporarily torn
into 20 republics.
We are convinced that the dream of Bolvar and Chethat of uniting
Latin America both politically and geographicallywill be attained
through armed struggle, which is the only dignified, honest, glorious,
and irreversible method which will motivate the people. No other form
of struggle is purer. Guerrilla warfare is the most effective and correct
method of armed struggle.
For this reason, as long as there is a single honest man in Latin America,
guerrilla warfare will not die. Armed struggle will surge ahead vigorously until all of the people awake and rise up in arms against the common enemy, US imperialism.
Guerrilla warfare in Bolivia is not dead; it has just begun!
Anti-Critique

Both enemies and friends of the revolution have analysed, more or less
profoundly and from a great variety of viewpoints, the complex
phenomenon of the guerrilla activity which went on in our country.
Guided by petty reasons, they all reach the narrow and biased conclusion that guerrilla warfare is not the correct method for the seizing of
power in Bolivia.
Dishonest documents have been put out; accounts have been given
which are most biased and slanted; and thus world public opinion has
been, to a certain extent, misled in connection with the events. But one
thing has not been accomplished: the dulling of the faith and determination of our countrys revolutionary forces. The clearest and most unconditional proof of this is the fact that our National Liberation Army
(ELN) has remained and still remains staunchly faithful and firm in the
struggle, despite the temporary setbacks we have experienced.
Due to circumstances, the duty has fallen to me to explain to the
revolutionaries of this country and to those of the whole continent the
reasons why, even though we have recently lost a battle, we insist on
our position in support of guerrilla warfare as the most effective and
surest method for the seizing of power.
79

Any one of the comrades who have participated and fallen as heroes in
this struggle would likewise have done his duty in this regard.
I do this without in the least considering myself the immediate successor of Che Guevara. Being Ches successor would be an undeservedly
high honour for me. I am rather acting in my capacity as an accidental
heir to the last and most valuable teachings of the greatest revolutionary genius of Latin America.
I harbour the hope that this document will be a contribution to the
rich storehouse of revolutionary experiences of our peoples in their
struggle for national liberation, and at no time do I seek to justify
our mistakes.
Nor are these the lamentations or complaints of an isolated survivor of
the guerrilla struggle. On the contrary, it is the full expression of the
forces making up the National Liberation Army (ELN), representing
our people and having at present the real, staunch, and objective conviction that within the armed struggle guerrilla warfare is the specific
method offering the best prospects for achieving our ideals of liberty
and social justice.
Specious arguments are being put forth in an effort to prove that the
opposite is true. It is adduced that The guerrilla forces were crushed
in a relatively short time.
For us, guerrilla warfare is a form of struggle utilized by the people to
seize power, it being understood that one essential characteristic of
this form of struggle is its more or less protracted nature.
The first phase of any guerrilla struggle consists in the guerrillas being
able to survive until they have taken deep roots among the people,
mainly among the peasants. The guerrilla nucleus will thus be in a
position to renew its forces indefinitely until a stage of development is
reached that will render it invincible. From that moment on, the
guerrilla forces deal the regular army repeated blows, causing it to
become demoralized and progressively weaker until it is finally overcome and destroyed completely, along with the regime it supports.
In our own case, the newly established guerrillas were not able to surmount the first phase, but other guerrilla groups will appear and will
attain full development and eventually crush the enemy.
Based on this circumstance, our critics have come to the conclusion
that our method is the wrong one. They fail to mention and avoid
analyzing the causes of our partial and temporary defeat. The reason
they do not do so is that, in so doing, they would have to judge themselves.
They observed our struggle from afar. What is more, they isolated,
refused to co-operate with, and carried on anti-guerrilla propaganda
against our struggle within the ranks of their own organizations.
Later, in order to keep up their anti-imperialist pretence, each one of
80

their organizations issued a declaration of solidarity with the guerrilla

struggle. But, in fact, that solidarity was mere lip service in the
guise of moral support which they could not avoid giving to a small
group of romantic dreamers.
Dreamers! Yes. But those dreamers constituted and still constitute the
only force in Bolivia that has set itself the task of the seizing of power
by and for the people.
The Bolivian CP leadership speaks of the Partys preparations for
seizing power by all methods. All of the people should and must take
part in the seizing of power. For this reason, the people should be
prepared to do so, and it is wrong to talk to the people about all
methods at a time when preparations for using one of the methods
are being made. When a party or a group sets itself the task of seizing
power, that party or group must choose a specific method; not to do
so is tantamount to not seriously thinking of seizing power.
In an amusing manner, they want the guerrilla method to be scrapped
after the first attempt results in failure, and they insist on the feasibility
of the democratic or reformist approach in spite of the permanent
failure of the latter method.
Let us rule out elections! No serious revolutionary can consider this
the road for the taking of power in Bolivia or in any other Latin American country.
How many peaceful demonstrations have been held in which thousands upon thousands of workers and ordinary people have been
violently suppressedwith casualties running into the hundredsby
the Governments repressive apparatus? Still fresh in our minds are the
events of May and September 1965 during which factory workers and
miners were brutally murdered, almost without offering any resistance.
We could never forget the bloody 24th of June 1967, when humble and
defenceless miners were murdered in cold blood even as our guerrilla
force, made up of scarcely 40 men, dealt the murderous army hard
blows, inflicting considerable casualties and demoralizing it internally.
We are not against the peoples struggles for the sake of obtaining
reforms and other gains. But we feel sure these struggles will be much
more fruitful and effective when they are waged against a government
frightened and weakened by the actions of a guerrilla centre.
It is this guerrilla centre that will prove to the peoplewith factsthat
it is possible to face the power of imperialism and its puppets, and that
it is not only possible to face that power, but also that it is possible to
win victory over it.
The peopleand especially the peasantswill not support something
they do not consider as being real. To expect the peasants support for
the armed struggle when this struggle has not yet come into being is to
play at insurrection in the same way some theorists of armed struggle
do who demand the prior widespread support of the peasantry. The
81

peasants will only give concrete support to a guerrilla centre when the
latter can show that it is strong.
That is why, in the first phase, the aim is for the guerrilla force to grow
in strength, to survive on the field of operations. During this phase it is
essential for the guerrilla force to be given aid from the cities. Our
guerrilla centre was denied this aid by political forces that knew of the
existence of our movement.
The political parties which seek to play the vanguard role in our peoples
anti-imperialist struggle are duty bound to be honest and to give the
people an accounting of their actions. These parties are also duty bound
to admit their mistakes when they feel they have erred and to explain
the actions if they believe these actions to be correct.
How can these parties pay homage to fallen guerrillas when they attacked them as the guerrillas were preparing to fight?
How can the fact be explained that Monje sounded the warning among
the ranks of his party against a factionist group deviating from the
Party line and that Zamora had Comrade Moiss Guevarawho led a
group of followers to join the guerrillasexpelled, for the same reason,
from the pro-Chinese CPC.
The people demand and are awaiting an explanation for this doubledealing.
We do not intend to blame the CP for our temporary failure. We do not
blame anybody for the outcome of this first phase. Our object is to
establish the historic responsibility of the parties which in our country
claim to be anti-imperialist fighters.
The Vanguard and the People

Some people think that we are a force in the process of dispersal.

They are wrong. We are at the point of reorganizing our armed command cadres, and we will again take up the struggle in the mountains
because we firmly believe that this is the only road that will lead us to
the liberation of our people and of Latin America from the clutches of
Yankee imperialism.
We are not seeking the formation of a political party.
We shall succeed in the structuring of an armed force capable of facing
and defeating the army, the main prop of the present rgime in our
country.
But we are not going to be the fighting arm of any political party.
We are fully convinced that the guerrilla force is not an auxiliary instrument of some other higher form of struggle. On the contrary, we
82

believeand international experience so proves itthat this form of

struggle will lead to the liberation of our peoples.
In the heat of the struggle the different forces that have set themselves
the goal of liberating their country will unite, and our National Liberation Army (FLN) will be joined by militants from the various parties.
Then the true alliance of anti-imperialist forces will be a reality.
The forces of the Left will progressively support and join the guerrilla
centre. Our short experience has already proved this fact.
All the leaders of the political parties representing the people whose
militancy demands a clear-cut anti-imperialist policy had to support the
guerrilla movement. We know that this support is simply formal, but
once the guerrilla force passes beyond its first stage the masses will
force the leaders to convert this formal support to de facto support, lest
they be completely isolated from the masses, without anyone to lead.
Only then will the political instrument that the people need for the
functioning of their future government emerge.
The liberation of our people can never be the work of one single group
or one single political party. In that we agree with the parties of the
Left. We need a broad anti-imperialist front. The question is how to
achieve this.
Our short experience has shown us that much more was accomplished
in a few months of armed struggle than in many years of sitting around
tables. Actually, all the parties that expressed their sympathy
were uniting around the guerrilla centre, whether or not they want to
admit it.
We would have to ask ourselves how these parties would have acted
had the guerrilla struggle continued and become stronger. Positions
would have been clearly defined, since in an atmosphere of armed
struggle, which demands a clear-cut attitude, there isnt much room for
demagogy and deceit.
The title of vanguard of the people or of the working class is not selfbestowed. It is won by leading the people or the class which should
become the vanguard in the struggle for their objectivein this
particular case, toward national liberationby joining the antiimperialist struggle everywhere.
The issuing of mere expressions of solidarity with a given form of antiimperialist struggleanti-imperialist in essence and in deedcan
only place us in a rear-guard position as regards the leadership of any
revolutionary movement. That is why it is not enough to sympathize
with the guerrilla force. One must participate in it and attain its
leadership by proving that one is the truest exponent of this form of
struggle.
To have pretentions of leading the movement before starting it or to
83

make ones participation in an anti-imperialist movement conditional

on who is leading it is a demonstration of sectarianism which is in contradiction with the call to anti-imperialist unity.
It will be the people, and only the people who will bestow the title
of vanguard upon those who lead them to their liberation.
More Vietnams

The sectarianism of the so-called vanguard is also made evident in its

demands for subordinating the guerrilla leadership to the political
leadership. This would lead to the question; to whose political leadership?
Is it, perhaps, a case of dividing the struggle into armed struggle and
peaceful struggle by subordinating armed struggle to peaceful struggle?
Or is this an attempt to use armed struggle as a mere instrument of
pressure for the political struggle in the cities?
Why not think, instead, of a sole politico-military leadership, considering that, in a state of warand guerrilla warfare creates a state of war
the most skilled and able revolutionary cadres are to take care of the
war?
The struggle waged in the cities must constitute a support for guerrilla
action; therefore, the cities cannot lead the guerrillas. It is the guerrillas,
as the armed vanguard group of the liberation movement, who should
lead the movement. This comes about naturally. To try to do the
opposite would be tantamount to rendering the guerrillas inoperative,
bogging them down. In short, it would lead them to defeat.
The struggle itself will bring forth its leaders. The true leaders of the
people will be forged in the struggle, and no one who considers himself a true revolutionary should insist on leading or fear that his position will be taken from him.
The prolonged nature of the struggle is conducive to a clear awareness
of ones goal. The opposing forces become defined, and the principal
enemy, Yankee imperialism, shows its true nature. The people are
able to see clearly how the imperialists demand that their puppets toe
the line more assiduously and that they make clear their intentions.
The imperialists are not about to abandon their markets, to surrender
their colonies. That is why the peoples must get ready for a long, hard
struggle. To think that we are going to seize power without making
sacrifices is to daydream and to create a feeling of apathy among the
people.
The struggle will be a cruel and bloody one, and it will be waged
throughout the countryeven in the most humble huts and isolated
regions.
84

In the face of the constant violence of the Yankee imperialists, weand

the people with ushave chosen the way of revolutionary violence, a
violence that punishes the oppressors and that, once it has crushed them,
gives way to socialist humanism.
In short, we do not preach violence for its own sake, but rather advocate the peoples organized retaliation against organized oppression, in
order to achieve full freedom.
Therefore, it will be the entire people, each and every one of the inhabitants of this country, who will contribute by direct action in the
cities and in the countryside to bringing about the insecurity, fear, panic,
and final defeat of our enemies.
The national liberation movements all over the world are dealing hard
blows to the common enemy imperialism. The criminal war in Vietnam, despite the fact that it balances the US economy by converting it
into a war economy and thus staving off a crisis, is creating serious
problems for the imperialists. All the military power of the Yankees
has already been proved ineffective in holding back that glorious people
in arms.
The struggle of our Vietnamese brothers is the struggle of all the
revolutionaries of the world. They are fighting for us, and we must
fight for them. Their war is our war.
The Yankee imperialists cannot withstand another Vietnam. It is
up to us and our people to create this second Vietnam, faithful to the
legacy left to us by our heroic Major Ernesto Che Guevara.
The idea of creating several Vietnams is no mere whim or the figment of
a warmonger mentality, as our enemies and the pseudo-revolutionaries
would have others believe; it is an idea in keeping with reality. The
Yankee imperialists will not surrender their positions willingly, and on
our continentthrough its Ministry of Colonies, the OASthey will
order their lackeys in the various countries to join forces to crush any
people that may rise up in arms.
Continental Revolution

The time for a continental revolution has come.

We must respond to the united front of the militarists of the continent
against the revolution, with the unity of all the national liberation
movements of the continent.
The frantic squealing of the reactionaries and some pseudo-revolutionaries who oppose the participation of patriots from other countries
in our peoples liberation struggle is nothing but a reflection of their
vain attempts to isolate our movement and collaborate with the enemy
by creating feelings of chauvinism among the people.
Our guerrillas were attacked by soldiers of the Bolivian Army advised
85

by Yankee instructors (veterans of the war in Vietnam) and equipped

with weapons and rations supplied by the armies of Argentina and
Brazil.
We are sure that, once the guerrillas become a force to be reckoned
with in our country and the regular army feels powerless to destroy
them, it will receive immediate aid from the armies of several neighbouring countries, in the form of not only war matriel but also soldiers.
But then the revolutionary war will extend to those countries, bringing
about the same feeling of insecurity and powerlessness among their
respective armies. At this point the Pentagon will be forced to change
its policy of advising to one of direct, ever-growing participation by
its troops, as is happening in Vietnam.
Some pseudo-revolutionaries tremble at such a prospect. They wish to
spare the people this tragedy. They do not realize that, by acting as
they do, they are not avoiding anything. On the contrary, their attitude
only serves to keep the people under the scourge of poverty, hunger,
and death, sacrificing them on the sacrosanct altar of conformism.
This is no tragedy, weighed against what the people would have to
suffer if they were kept under their present yoke forever, their only
prospect being that it would weigh heavier and heavier upon them.
This is no tragedy, weighed against the miserable lives that our people
are forced to lead.
Mining towns are nothing but concentration camps, where the inhabitants dont have any rightsnot even the right to amuse themselves, and even less, of course, the right to protest.
The massacres that have been systematically perpetrated are the
tyrannys answer to the just demands of those who bear on their
shoulders the weight of the economy of the country and the luxury of the
military castes.
No movement of protest or peoples demand is tolerated by the military tyranny, the pillar of the democratic rgime in power. Such
movements are violently repressed to set an example and maintain the
principle of authority. Anyone who rebels against such principles will
be made to feel the full weight and brutality of the military rgime.
Faced with this brutal reality, should we be held back by the prospect of
the sacrifices involved in a just war? Our struggle will not demand any
more sacrifices than those made by our people under this tyranny.
That is why the creation of a new Vietnam does not constitute a
tragedy. It is an honour and a duty we will never refuse.
Victory or Death!

We have lost a battle, a battle in which the maximum leader of the

oppressed people, Major Ernesto Che Guevara, gave his life.
86

But our war continues, and we will never stop, because we who fought
at Ches side do not recognize the word surrender. His blood and
that of other fighters, spilled on the soil of Bolivia, will give life to the
seed of liberation and will turn our continent into a volcano spewing
forth fire and destruction on imperialism.
We will be the triumphant Vietnam that Che, the romantic and heroic
visionary, dreamed of and loved.
We are determined to win or die for these ideals.
Cuban comrades died for these ideals.
Peruvian comrades died for these ideals.
Argentine comrades died for these ideals.
Bolivian comrades died for these ideals.
Honour and glory for Tania, Joaqun, Juan Pablo Chang, Moiss
Guevara, Jorge Vzquez, Aniceto Reynaga, Antonio Jimnez, and
Coco Peredo; honour and glory for each and every one of those who
died with weapons in hand, because they understood that, as Che said:
Wherever death may surprise us, it will be welcome, provided that
this, our battle cry, reach some receptive ear, that another hand be
extended to take up our weapons, and that other men come forward to
intone our funeral dirge with the staccato of machine guns and new
cries of battle and victory.
Our banners bear crepe, but will never be lowered.
The ELN considers itself the heir to the teachings and example of Che,
the new Bolvar of Latin America.
Those who cravenly murdered him will never kill his thought and his
example.
Let the imperialists and their lackeys withhold their songs of victory,
because the war has not ended; it has just begun.
We will return to the mountains
Bolivia will again resound to our cry of
VICTORY OR DEATH!
Inti Peredo
Bolivia, July 1968
Acknowledgement

We are indebted for the selection of documents on Art after October

to the Italian journal Rassegna Sovietica, whose issues over the last few
years have been an invaluble source of material on Russian culture in
the period following the Revolution.

87