The Revolutionary

Tamara Bunke a.k.a. Tania La Guerrillera was the only woman in Che Guevara’s final guerrilla force in the highlands of Bolivia.

Her memory is preserved in many places around the world: In Argentina, where she was born and raised, in the former German Democratic Republic, where she spend the formative years of her youth, in Cuba, where she arrived in 1961 to help create a Socialist society, und last but not least in the mountain region in the North of Bolivia where she fought - and died.

During 1967, when the soldiers of the Bolivian army discovered that a woman was among their adversaries, she quickly developed a reputation as invincible warrior that vastly overstated her actual abilities. Thus, the legend of “Tania La Guerrillera” was born. Even today, many girls in Bolivia are named Tania in memory of a short dream of freedom that never came true.

In 1998, Tamara’s remains where found in Bolivia near the place where she was killed. They were transferred to Cuba where she is now buried alongside Che Guevara in Santa Clara. Many schools in Cuba are named after her, she still enjoys the revered status of revolutionary hero.

In the GDR, too, she became an official hero of the working class after her death. Many people who heard about her then still think highly of her – she remains one of the few cult icons of the East that still has appeal even after the end of Socialism.

Tania and her times

In 1959, Fidel Castro, Ernesto Che Guevera and the fighters of the Cuban Revolution take Havanna – the dream of a liberated Latin America begins. In 1961, the government of the German Democratic Republic orders the building of the Berlin Wall. During the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, the world comes to the brink of nuclear destruction. One year later John F. Kennedy, symbol of a better America, is assassinated in Dallas, Texas. In 1964, The Beatles record their album “A Hard Days Night”, triggering world-wide Beatlemania. In 1965, the US Airforce starts it’s massive attacks on North Vietnam. In 1966, Arthur Penn directs “Bonny and Clyde”, leading the way in the aesthetic revolution of Hollywood cinema. And in Bolivia in 1967, Ernesto Che Guevera resumes his struggle for a continuing revolution. At his side: Tamara Bunke alias Tania la Guerillera….