Acevedo, Rogelio. Served as a member of the Commission to Perpetuate the Memory of Commander Ernesto Guevara. Currently a member of the Central Committee.
Acuña, Juan Vitalio (Joaquín) (1925–67). Veteran of the Cuban revolutionary war. Member of the Central Committee. A leading member of Guevara’s detachment in Bolivia; after April 17, 1967, he led the column separated from the main unit. Killed in an ambush on August 31, 1967.
Almeida, Juan (1927– ). Participant in the 1953 Moncada attack and subsequently imprisoned. A Granma expeditionary and commander in the Rebel Army. Currently a member of the Central Committee and Political Bureau of the Cuban Communist Party. Headed the Commission to Perpetuate the Memory of Commander Ernesto Guevara.
Árbenz, Jacobo (1914–71). Democratically elected president of Guatemala, 1951–54. Overthrown by a CIA-backed coup in 1954.
Barrientos, René (1919–69). A Bolivian general and leader of the November 1964 military coup. President from July 1966 until his death in a helicopter crash. Known for his authoritarian tendencies, his special relations with the rural sector through what was known as the Military Peasant Pact, and his pro-US positions.
Batista, Fulgencio (1901–73). An army sergeant who seized control of the Cuban government in 1934. Left office in 1944, and on March 10, 1952, led a military coup which overthrew the government of Carlos Prío Socarrás. Ruled as dictator until January 1, 1959, when he fled Cuba.
Bay of Pigs. See Playa Girón.
Bolívar, Simón (1783–1830). Led an armed rebellion that helped win independence from Spain for much of Latin America; known as the Liberator.
Bunke Bíder, Haydée Tamara (Tania) (1937–67). Born in Argentina and raised in the German Democratic Republic. Traveled to Cuba as a translator in 1961. Went to Bolivia as an underground combatant to infiltrate the higher echelons of the Bolivian government. Forced to join the guerrilla force after she was identified. Assigned to the rear guard, she was killed in an ambush on August 31, 1967.
Caamaño, Francisco (1932–73). A colonel in the Dominican Republic armed forces. A central figure in the April 1965 constitutional revolution, leading the resistance to invading US troops. Subsequently went into exile in Cuba. Led a guerrilla expedition to the Dominican Republic in 1973, but was captured shortly after and murdered by government troops.
Castro, Fidel (1926– ). See pages xi-xii.
Castro, Raúl (1931– ). A participant in the 1953 Moncada attack and subsequently imprisoned. A Granma expeditionary and commander of the Rebel Army’s Second Eastern Front. Minister of the Cuban armed forces from 1959 until the present, and vice-premier 1959–76. Second secretary of the Cuban Communist Party since 1965. First vice-president of the Council of State and Council of Ministers from 1976 to February 2008 when he replaced Fidel Castro as president.
Central Planning Board. Founded in March 1960 as the state institution responsible for coordinating the Cuban economy.
Cienfuegos, Camilo (1932–59). A member of the Granma expedition. Commander of the “Antonio Maceo” Column No. 2. Became a commander of the Rebel Army in January 1959. Killed in a plane accident on October 28, 1959.
Debray, Régis. French left-wing intellectual who participated in preparations for guerrilla warfare in Bolivia. Met with Che Guevara in March 1967, who entrusted him with several overseas missions. Captured in Bolivia on April 20, 1967, and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Pardoned in 1970, he later became a prominent figure in the French Socialist Party.
Granma. The cabin cruiser used by revolutionaries to travel from Mexico to Cuba, November–December 1956. Taken as the name of the daily newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party in 1965.
Guevara, Ernesto Che (1928–67). See pages vii-ix.
Guevara, Moisés (1939–67). A Bolivian miners’ leader. Left the Bolivian Communist Party and joined the rival party led by Oscar Zamora. Left that group and joined Guevara’s guerrilla column. Killed in an ambush on August 31, 1967.
Hernández, Melba (1922– ). A lawyer who participated in the 1953 Moncada attack and was subsequently imprisoned. A member of the national leadership of the July 26 Movement and a leader of the underground movement. Subsequently joined the Rebel Army in the Sierra Maestra. Founder and president of Committee in Solidarity with Vietnam and the Peoples of Indochina. A member of Central Committee of Communist Party of Cuba.
INRA. See National Institute of Agrarian Reform.
July 26 Movement. Founded in 1955 by Fidel Castro and other revolutionaries, and the leading organization in the Cuban Revolution. Fused with two other groups in 1961 to form what would eventually become the Cuban Communist Party.
Kolle, Jorge. Leader of Bolivian Communist Party. Replaced Monje as general secretary in December 1967.
Lumumba, Patrice (1925–61). Founder and president of the Congolese National Movement. First prime minister of the Congo after independence from Belgium in June 1960. Overthrown and imprisoned three months later in a US-backed coup. Murdered by his captors in February 1961.
Maceo, Antonio (1845–96). Prominent military leader and strategist in the three Cuban independence wars. Opposed the 1878 treaty that ended the first war. Led a march from the east to the west of the island in 1895–96. Killed in battle.
March, Aleida (1934– ). Member of July 26 Movement underground. Subsequently joined Guevara’s Rebel Army column. Married Che Guevara in 1959.
Martí, José (1853–95). Cuban national hero. Noted poet, writer, speaker, and journalist. Founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party in 1892 to fight Spanish rule and oppose US plans. Launched the 1895 independence war. Killed in battle.
Masetti, Jorge Ricardo (1929–64). The first Latin American journalist to interview Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in the Sierra Maestra. Founder and first director of the Prensa Latina news agency. Killed in combat on April 21, 1964, in Argentina.
Matos, Huber (1919– ). Commander in the Rebel Army. Attempted to organize a counterrevolutionary rebellion in Camagüey province in October 1959. Arrested and imprisoned until 1979.
Mella, Julio Antonio (1903–29). A leader of the university reform movement in 1923. A founding leader of first Cuban Communist Party in 1925. Assassinated in Mexico by agents of Cuba’s Machado dictatorship.
Moncada garrison. A former army garrison in Santiago de Cuba. Attacked by Fidel Castro and over 100 revolutionaries on July 26, 1953. Dozens of revolutionaries captured in the attack were subsequently assassinated. Castro was captured and imprisoned. The attack has come to mark the beginning of revolutionary struggle against Batista.
Monje, Mario. General secretary of the Bolivian Communist Party until December 1967; subsequently a leading member of its Central Committee. Met with Che Guevara in Bolivia on December 31, 1966, and told him that the political leadership of the struggle belonged to the leader of the Bolivian Communist Party as long as the revolution took place on Bolivian soil, an argument not accepted by Che. From that moment, a split occurred between the PCB and the guerrilla force.
Montané Oropesa, Jesús (1923–99). Born in Nueva Gerona on the Isle of Pines. A leader of the 1953 attack on the Moncada garrison, after which he was arrested and tried. Exiled to Mexico, he joined the Granma expedition. Taken prisoner on December 12, 1956, he remained in prison until after the triumph of the revolution.
National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INRA). Created on May 17, 1959, to implement the agrarian reform law. Also coordinated Cuban factory production until the formation of the Ministry of Industry in 1961. Dissolved in 1976.
Ovando, Alfredo (1918–82). A Bolivian general who helped lead the November 1964 coup. Bolivian president from 1965–66 and 1969–70. As army commander he led the military campaign against Che Guevara.
Peredo, Coco (1938–67). Member of the Bolivian Communist Party who joined Guevara’s guerrilla detachment. Killed on September 26, 1967.
Peredo, Inti (1937–69). Member of the Bolivian Communist Party. A survivor of Guevara’s guerrilla detachment, he continued guerrilla activity. Assassinated in La Paz, on September 9, 1969.
Playa Girón. Beach near the Bay of Pigs where the last of 1,500 mercenary troops invading Cuba surrendered on April 19, 1961. Cubans use this name to refer to the entire battle.
Prado, Gary. Bolivian captain and head of the Ranger unit that captured Guevara. He later became a general and wrote his memoir, How I Captured Che.
Rebel Army. The armed force of the July 26 Movement in the revolutionary war against Batista. Became the Revolutionary Armed Forces in 1959.
Reyes, Simón. Leader of Bolivian Communist Party and mine workers union. Later became general secretary of the party.
Rojas, Honorato. A Bolivian peasant visited by the guerrillas. Led the army to the ambush site where Joaquín’s group was annihilated. Executed in reprisal by the guerrillas in 1969.
Sánchez, Antonio (Marcos) (1927–67). A veteran of the Cuban revolutionary war and a member of the Central Committee. A member of Guevara’s guerrilla detachment in Bolivia. Killed in ambush on June 2, 1967.
Soumialot, Gaston-Emile. Minister of defense and head of the army in the Congo People’s Republic, the rebel government set up 1964 in Stanleyville by followers of Lumumba, which was defeated by Belgian troops and foreign mercenaries. Assisted by Che Guevara and Cuban internationalist fighters.
Valdés, Ramiro (1932– ). Participated in the attack on the Moncada garrison, after which he was arrested and tried. Exiled to Mexico, he became a member of the Granma expedition. When Che Guevara went to lead Column No. 8 in Minas del Frío he became head of Column No. 4. Currently a commander of the revolution.
Zamora, Oscar. Led a split from the Bolivian Communist Party in 1965. General secretary of the rival Communist Party.
Zayas, Alfonso. Member of the Commission to Perpetuate the Memory of Commander Ernesto Guevara. A member of the Central Committee for many years.
Zenteno, Joaquín. Bolivian colonel and commander of the eighth division that fought Guevara’s detachment.