Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 66
The East German was a beautiful woman and Guevara’s lover, but she was also a
Soviet spy, spying not only on her lover but also on all “the unpredictable Cubans,” as
documented by the East German secret police (for whom she worked on assignment to
the KGB for this mission). She arrived in Bolivia months ahead of Guevara and was
able to infiltrate the highest levels of Barrientos’ government before she joined the
guerilla. Guevara was the communists’ most acclaimed master guerrilla fighter. Terrorist
organizations throughout the world used his book on guerrilla warfare as a bible, but
now he had disappeared. Skillfully manipulated by Soviet misinformation tactics, the
world press added to the mystery by spreading rumors that he was dead.
On March 23, 1967, he let the world know that he was alive and well. The first sign of
his presence was when his band ambushed and killed seven Bolivian army officers and
soldiers and wounded six in cold blood. Their military detachment was assigned to
peacefully build roads for farmers of the area. Immediately following this attack, the
Bolivian Army began to mobilize and put the whole area under military control.
Sometimes the revolutionaries would enter a small town and buy every supply they
could, overpay the merchants and in general try to leave a good impression. Other
times, if they thought they had been betrayed, they would abuse and intimidate the
population to the point of terror. In Guevara’s own words, the locals were the sacrificial
lambs needed to accomplish his plan. In fact, all of Bolivia was his sacrificial lamb. His
dream of leading a continental revolution called for innocent victims.
The general area of his operations included the town of Valle Grande. It happened that
at that time my engineering company had been engaged to study the feasibility of
building a small water supply dam for this town. The normal drive time by jeep from the
split of the main highway to Valle Grande town was two hours. The dirt road was
narrow, curvy and bordered by precipices. After these bandits went public, the fear of
being caught by them inspired me to make the trip in just over one hour. Everyone,
including me, was terrorized by their cold-blooded determination.
Another project in which my engineering company was engaged was a preliminary
reconnoitering of possible sites for hydroelectric dam development for the Bolivian
Power Agency (ENDE). This work entailed the need of helicopter transportation in and
out of inaccessible canyons in the general area of Guevara’s operations. The only entity
from which we could rent helicopters was the Bolivian Army, which eventually let us
have one. On one occasion, while in flight at a good altitude, we could see plumes of
smoke from guns aimed in our direction and hear the sonic boom of the bullets as they
sped past us. Apparently the guerrillas were shooting at our helicopter. Prudently, our
pilot climbed higher and left the area as quickly as he could.
Fortunately, I never came in contact with these foreign guerrillas; for as much as I
despised them, no doubt I would have been one of their sacrificial lambs. It was a saga
of unbridled arrogance, international subversion, large media propaganda and
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