Mario Terán: Who Was The Bolivian Soldier Who Executed Che Guevara?

The Bolivian soldier who fired the fatal shot that killed revolutionary rebel Ernesto “Che” Guevara has died at the age of 80. Mario Teran Salazar died while being treated at a Santa Cruz hospital for a severe condition.

The body of Argentina-born guerrilla commander Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara is displayed on a washing sink in the Bolivian village of Valle Grande in a photograph taken on 10 October 1967 by AFP journalist Marc Hutten.

Che Guevara’s legacy is being debated 50 years after his death in Bolivia.

Mario Terán “merely performed his duty as an army sergeant,” according to retired General Gary Prado, who headed the troops that seized Guevara following a months-long manhunt in 1967. He told Radio Compaera that Terán died after a long illness. Teran is survived by his wife and two kids.

He told Radio Compaera that Terán had died after a protracted illness. His wife and two children survive him.

Guevara, an Argentine physician, rose to mythic prominence as a pivotal actor in the Cuban revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power in 1959 by removing tyrant Fulgencio Batista.

After several years as a prominent figure in Cuba’s government, he headed off to try to lead other insurgencies – with far less success – in Africa and later South America.

Terán was chosen to kill him after orders to execute the already wounded Guevara, then 39, arrived from the capital.