The last entry in Che Guevara's diary was recorded exactly eleven months since the inauguration of the guerrilla movement in Bolivia that he (and Fidel Castro) had hoped would spark a continent-wide Communist revolution. For nearly two weeks Che and his dwindling band of 22 insurgents have been pursued by the Bolivian Army's 2nd Ranger Battalion, which had been trained by a 16-man team from the 8th U.S. Special Forces Group under the command of Major Ralph "Pappy" Shelton.
On October 7, the guerrillas ran into an old woman herding goats. They asked her if there were soldiers in the area but were unable to get any reliable information. Scared that she will report them, they paid her 50 pesos to keep quiet. In Che's diary he noted that he had "little hope" that she will do so.
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| Major Ralph "Pappy" Shelton, the leader of the Green Beret team that trained the Bolivian Rangers pursuing Che Guevara. |
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