Travel Guide Vallegrande

The full name of the village is Jesús y Montes Claros de los Caballeros del Vallegrande. This beautiful colonial village was the headquarters of the Rangers, the battalion of the Bolivian armed forces that confronted Ernesto Che Guevarra's guerrilla, with the logistical support of the American CIA. It is here, in the small school of the village, that the corpse of the dead guerrilla was exposed, whose famous photo of the Bolivian photographer, Freddy Alborta made the tour of the world. It was also here that Che's remains were discovered in 1997 (they were transferred to Cuba).Vallegrande did not like to be associated with the death of Che. Today, however, the village seems to have reconciled with its past and sincerely receives nostalgic visitors... Here, Che is considered a saint by many inhabitants who affectionately call him "San Ernesto de La Higuera". Some even see him as a miracle worker. In fact, many of the soldiers involved in his arrest died in a violent and unexplained manner. The president at the time, General Barrientos, died of an accident shortly after Che's execution. In a country as superstitious as Bolivia, it did not take much to transform the atheist man into a saint, even if he was a layman.