Tamara Bunke "Tania" & Her Unknown Relationship to Che Guevara

Oddly, my initial recollection of a woman freedom fighter named "Tania" came upon me in my youth as a 10 year old boy forced to endure the national so-called "busing" program to racially integrate schools throughout the U.S.  In 1974, I was bused to A.P. Giannini "Junior" High school in San Francisco, California, U.S., for the seventh grade.  One day, on the bus headed to my neighborhood clear across town, we were held up for about two hours.  We were prohibited by police from exiting the bus.  We were forced to just sit there for the entire time.  All that we were told was that the then Crocker Bank on the next block was being robbed.  There was a large police barrier and police, literally, everywhere.  Later, after I had arrived where I lived and I able to watch local television news with my parents, I learned that the bank robbery was carried out by armed people who the news were calling the Sybionese Liberation Army (SLA).  Central to that organization with the strange sounding name was a woman identified as "Tania."  This person was actually Patricia "Patty" Hearst, a member of the Hearst family e.g. the Hearst Castle, owners of the San Francisco Examiner newspaper, etc.  Even at 10 years old, I knew that the Hearst family was one of the bourgeoisie elite families in the Bay Area.  There is a famous picture of Hearst, armed with an AK-47, and wearing a tam.  This was a picture taken during that robbery of that Crocker Bank in 1974 in San Francisco.

In those days I struggled to understand the SLA, Patty Hearst, or why they kept calling her "Tania."  As I got older and immersed within the African liberation movement, I learned through study that "Tania" wasn't Patty Hearst, but the real tam wearing revolutionary was actually a woman named Haydee Tamara Bunke.  Ms. Bunke was a Spanish translator for the East German government.  During the late 50s, East Germany of course was a part of the so-called Warsaw Pact, or Soviet Block.  The countries of Eastern Europe who followed the Soviet Union in advancing a state capitalist model of economy that was generally seen in those days as the developing socialist movement.  I would argue that the reason that the question of socialism in Europe still rages almost 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Warsaw Pact, and the Soviet Union is despite the contradictions of state apparatus in the Eastern Block, there were many people, and there still are many people, in that region of the world who are dedicated socialists.  One of them back in those days was Haydee Tarmara Bunke.  

By all reports, Ms. Bunke excelled in Spanish and she became her government's logical choice to serve as a lead language interpreter in Cuba once the Cuban revolution was victorious in 1959.  Ms. Bunke became an ambassador to Cuba for East Germany, stationed in Havana, Cuba.  It was at some time during her service that she became introduced to National Cabinet Minister and Military Comandante Ernesto "Che" Guevara.  Its not clear to what extent their relationship evolved, but what we do know is that as early as 1962, Guevara began thinking about ways he could best serve his revolutionary vision for all of Central and South America.  In the early 60s, Cuba - like lots of the newly developed revolutionary/socialist countries - was balancing its relationship with the Soviet Union and China who were engaged in their own battle of sorts over which country would lead the worldwide socialist movement.  At that time, at least rhetorically, China had more of an assertive position, pushing for more confrontation with the imperialist world which was then and is still led by the U.S.  The Cuban government working through their early economic development plans, decided then to move in the direction of strengthening relationships with the Soviets over China.  Che was smart enough to recognize that by the time these developments took shape, he was the face of China's relationship to Cuba.  He knew this because the Soviets during this time were pressuring the Cuban's relentlessly about Guevara's relationship to decision making in Cuba.  What's untrue is that Fidel Castro or anyone inside of Cuba's leadership placed any pressure on Guevara during this period.  There is absolutely no evidence of this besides the claims of reactionaries and anti-Cuban revolution haters who wish to convince you that Fidel somehow laid Che Guevara out to dry.  This didn't happen.  Instead, Che was astute enough politically to recognize that his continued presence in Cuba was going to create difficulties for the young country which at that time depended upon its favorable trade relationship with the Soviets for much of its access to necessary resources.  Plus, Guevara always had his vision of Pan-American revolutionary struggle.  In fact, much of what is happening in Central and South America today e.g. imperialist coups in Honduras, Bolivia, and mass repression in Chile, and imperialist sabotage in Venezuela, was all exactly what Che wanted to overcome.  Many people forget that although Che is historically inseparable from the Cuban revolution, he was actually born in Argentina.  Since imperialism never intends to ensure you are properly educated, most people may know something about Che's early motorcycle adventures through the Americas (these have been glorified in motion pictures and books), but most people probably don't know that Guevara's political awakening occurred while he was hanging out in Guatemala and witnessed U.S. imperialism destabilize the legitimately elected government of Abenz to ensure the economic interests of the United Fruit Corporation were not compromised by Abenz's left leaning social programmatic thrust in government (1954).  Guevara's street involvement in protesting the overthrow of Abenz's government caused him to be placed in jail, eventually in Mexico, where he was placed in the same cell as the Cubans, led by Fidel, who had been arrested after their failed attack on the Moncada Garrison in Santiago de Cuba in 1953.  

Guevara saw the need to widen his visible separation from the Cuban leadership as the best opportunity protect Cuba while fulfilling his vision of revolutionary struggles taking place all over South America.  Fidel Castro agreed with Che's vision, but he felt a more political approach beyond guerrilla warfare was also necessary.  In the meantime, the role of U.S. and Belgium imperialism in destabilizing the political situation in the Congo, Central Africa, through the assassination of Patrice Lumumba and the liquidation of Lumumba's National Congolese Movement led Cuba to respond immediately in an effort to provide concrete support to the Congolese/African people.  Che volunteered to lead a contingent of 100 African Cubans to the Congo to fight against the imperialist backed European mercenaries and neo-colonial armies fighting to maintain imperialism in Africa.  Once the Congo mission was unsuccessful, Che, having resigned all his positions and citizenship to Cuba in a letter to the Cuban people read publicly by Castro in 1965, returned to Cuba undercover to begin planning his next revolutionary work in the Western Hemisphere.  

After pulling together a team to develop an analysis, Che decided on Bolivia for his next course of action.  He shared his plan with his friend and comrade Fidel Castro.  Che, as he articulated in his writings on guerrilla warfare, had begun to pronounce a theory he called the "Foco" theory where he believed an armed insurrection could be fomented in a country like Bolivia and from that effort, a mass revolutionary armed struggle, including the necessary political components, could and would arise.  Castro expressed his reservations about this theory to his friend, instead suggesting that a successful action in Bolivia had to be in solidarity with the Bolivian Communist Party led then by a man named Mario Monje.  Che reluctantly accepted Castro's recommendations and arrangements were made for Che to travel undercover to Bolivia to meet with Monje to determine how a revolutionary political effort could be further developed in Bolivia.

Unfortunately for the forces for forward progress, that meeting did not go well.  Monje was opposed to Cubans coming into Bolivia to lead any insurrection and Guevara would not relent on Monje's demand that he, not Guevara, despite Monje's lack of military experience, lead any military effort taking place in his home country.  

Its difficult not to think about what could have been had Guevara and Monje been able to agree.  The entire history of South America over the last 50 years could have turned out quite different, but it was not to be.  Instead, Guevara left Bolivia determined to carry out his Foco theory without the support of the Bolivian Communist Party.  Contrary to the lies of opportunists who continue to advance the story that Castro pushed Guevara into his death in Bolivia, Castro tried repeatedly to dissuade his friend from continuing the mission in Bolivia.  Its easy to understand that with the political situation in Cuba, Guevara more than likely didn't feel as if returning there was a political option for him.  As a result, he pushed forward for action in Bolivia and eventually, Castro relented while offering Guevara all the logistical support Cuba could provide this covert operation designed to elevate guerrilla war in Bolivia.  

This support from Cuba came with many things, including supplying personnel to carry out the mission.  Several dozen people, including Harry "Pombo" Villagas, Che's personal body guard since the Cuban revolutionary war was initiated in the Sierra Maestra mountains of Santiago de Cuba were assigned to Che's mission (Pombo was also with Che in the Congo and was one of only three combatants to escape Bolivia alive after Che was assassinated on the orders of the Central Intelligence Agency after being captured on October 8, 1967).  The fact that people like Pombo wrote their own books on the Bolivian mission provides clear proof dismissing the silly rumors that Castro betrayed Che Guevara.  Many of those Cubans were killed in Bolivia.  Unless you are gullible enough to believe a leader of a country would permit ranking personnel from their military to engage in an unauthorized military mission in another country when that leader's objective (according to these reactionaries) was to make it look as if Guevara's actions in Bolivia were rouge.  

Another resource Cuba provided to Guevara's mission in Bolivia was the services of Ms. Haydee Tamara Bunke who enthusiastically volunteered to help the guerrilla operation.  Code named "Tania" Ms. Bunke's role was to arrive in La Paz, Bolivia, as an elitist socialite.  Her mission was to gain favor and access to the Bolivian elite surrounding Bolivian President Barrientos.  From her vantage point, Ms. Bunke was to find out as much as she could about what the Bolivian leadership was saying and planning about the emerging guerrilla movement and report that information back to the guerrilla movement e.g. Guevara.  

For several months, Tania achieved much success despite the obvious and serious danger of her role.  When the power elites in Bolivia first became aware of the presence of guerrillas fighting in Bolivia, she was able to communicate this information to Guevara.  Her continued intelligence reports were vital in those early days in helping Guevara guide the guerrillas away from government military contingents.  In the initial stages of any guerrilla movement this is essential because the chief recruiting mechanism in a guerrilla movement is the local people encountered.  Until that process has time and space to germinate, the guerrilla forces are generally extremely vulnerable.  

The painful truth is Guevara's political isolation from the revolutionary forces within Bolivia came back to haunt his Bolivian mission in immeasurable ways.  Besides the talented and valuable participation of Bolivians Inti and and his younger brother Osvaldo Peredo, and a few other Bolivians, the majority of the participants in this guerrilla effort were Cubans like Pombo.  This  created challenges as the guerrillas had a difficult time building relationships with the peasantry in the countryside and a large percentage of the Bolivians who did agree to join the guerrillas along the way, defected with lots of intell on the guerrilla movement going with them into the hands of government forces.  Guevara spoke to the political education difficulties in his diary which was later retrieved by the Cuban government and published into a book (as was the case with all of Che's military missions).  He discussed how he tried his best to give talks to the guerrillas about the necessity to stay focused and determined, but as defectors continued to reveal information on the whereabouts of the guerrillas to the military, and basics like food and water became nonexistent, it became increasingly difficult to uphold guerrilla morale, especially the Bolivians, as well being able to stay away from military patrols.  This reality, coupled with the peasantry being intimidated and bribed by the military, made it almost impossible eventually for the guerrillas to find food and refuge anywhere.  

This lack of discipline as it relates to defections served to be the final blow against these courageous people as some of these defectors apparently found information about Haydee Tamara Bunke's identity and role and the urgency in which this was communicated to the imperialists required her to instantly abandon her post in La Paz and being unable to leave the country as she was hastily instructed, she was forced to scramble to find her way to the guerrillas.  By this time, with the assistance of local peasants, journalists and Ms. Bunke were able to locate the guerrillas in the countryside without much difficulty, but those peasants were just as easily willing to reveal guerrilla contingent locations to the government forces.  Once Ms. Bunke reached the guerrillas and explained her circumstances, she was assigned a weapon and sent out with one of the two guerrilla columns that had been created due to their isolation and inability to travel in larger groups.  Their plan was they would meet up at a certain point, but that meet up never, ever happened.  The story of how Guevara, Pombo, Inti Peredo, and another combantant, were cornered in a canyon where Guevara's weapon was rendered ineffective which allowed for him to be captured is well known.  The fact that Pombo, Peredo, and the other combatant debated about whether to try and liberate Guevara, which would have surely led to their deaths, is also well known.  And, the fact the three of them made their way to the Chilean border where then socialist President Allende escorted them into Chile, and then to Cuba is also well documented.  

What's probably not common knowledge is that Inti Peredo, his brother killed in action in Bolivia, made his way back into Bolivia to continue to plan for guerrilla warfare there.  He was cornered in a La Paz apartment in 1969 and shot to death by Bolivian imperialist forces.  Also, that the other guerrilla column that was led by the Cuban Joaquin, had its whereabouts snitched to the military by a Bolivian peasant named Honorato Rojas who accepted money from the guerrillas for food from his farm just to turn around and accept money from the Bolivian military to reveal to them the whereabouts of the guerrilla column.  Joaquin, Haydee Tamara Bunke, and about 10 others, were surrounded, bush-wacked and mercilessly and relentlessly machine gunned to death by Bolivian military forces in a lonely ravine in rural Bolivia on August 31, 1967.  

Forklore has always surrounded the mysterious woman code named "Tania."  Some people claim she was a love interest for Che.  We don't know, nor do we care.  What we do know for sure is that she was a woman, operating in conditions that were overwhelming dangerous and unusual for women during those times.  We know she carried out her work with courage, dignity, and dedication right down to her final moments.  We also know that she accepted her role without needing or wanting recognition or validation.  As a result of her selfless contribution, which included her life, to the people of the world, we grant her the respect of a European accomplice afforded to people like her, Marilyn Buck, David Gilbert, etc.  Study her example and let's create thousands of Haydee Tamara Bunkes while we wish her an eternal rest in power!