Pombo, A Man of Che's Guerrilla: With Che Guevara in Bolivia, 1966-68

by Harry Villegas, Mary-Alice Waters (Editor), Pombo (Joint Author)

Overview

A firsthand account of the 1966–68 revolutionary campaign in Bolivia led by Ernesto Che Guevara.

This is the story of Pombo—the nom de guerre of Harry Villegas, a young fighter still in his 20s, who was a member of Guevara’s general staff. Villegas led the small group of combatants who survived the Bolivian army’s encirclement and lived to recount this epic chapter in the history of the Americas.

“Years after Che's death, this is an interesting addition to the story of the Cuban-led insurrection in Bolivia.”
—Library Journal

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780873488334
Publisher:	Pathfinder Press GA
Publication date:	07/28/1997
Series:	The Cuban Revolution in World Politics
Pages:	356
Product dimensions:	5.27(w) x 8.26(h) x 0.92(d)

About the Author

Harry Villegas “Pombo” (1940–2019) – Brigadier general, known around the world as “Pombo,” the nom de guerre given him by Ernesto Che Guevara, at whose side he worked and fought in Cuba, the Congo, and Bolivia. A founding member of the Communist Party of Cuba in 1965. Served on Central Committee from 1997 to 2011; deputy to the National Assembly of People’s Power; executive vice president of the Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revolution; Hero of the Republic of Cuba, the highest honor given by Cuba’s Council of State. Villegas joined the Rebel Army in 1957. In 1965 he served on the general staff of a column of Cuban volunteers, led by Guevara, fighting alongside anti-imperialist forces in the Congo. There he received the nom de guerre he used the rest of his life: Pombo.

In 1966–67 he fought alongside Guevara in Bolivia, where he also served on the general staff. He commanded the surviving guerrillas who eluded encirclement by Bolivian army and US intelligence forces and returned to Havana. His account of this campaign is published in Pombo: A Man of Che’s guerrilla (1997).

In 1977–79 Villegas helped lead Cuba’s volunteer military mission in Angola. In 1981 he was assigned as liaison between the Cuban command in Angola and the Revolutionary Armed Forces command post in Havana, headed by Fidel Castro. His account of the war is published in Cuba and Angola: The War for Freedom (2017).

Villegas is also a contributor to Making History: Interviews with Four Generals of Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces (1999) and the author of At the Side of Che Guevara (1997).