Pombo: A Man of Che’s guerrilla: With Che Guevara in Bolivia, 1966–68

by Harry Villegas, Mary-Alice Waters (Editor)

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. This book is part of a series, The Cuban Revolution in World Politics . Preface by Mary-Alice Waters, chronology, glossary, index.
List of Combatants.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Bolivia

401 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1996

About the author

Antonio Villegas Tamayo Harry "Pombo" (born in 1940 in Yara, Sierra Maestra, Cuba) is a military Cuban who fought under the command of Che Guevara in the Cuban Revolution, the Congo and Bolivia, where he was one of three Cubans survivors.

He reached the rank of brigadier general of the Cuban army and was decorated as "Hero of the Revolution." In 1996 he wrote the book "Pombo: A Man of Che's Guerrillas"

Reviews

[Gillian Eastwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not exceptionally well written, nor very informative about his relationship with Che, but a good record of their trials in Bolivia and of the small group of survivors getting back to Cuba.

[Marc Lichtman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book starts with Pombo's Diary from Bolivia (Che Guevara's is available too--The Bolivian Diary of Ernesto Che Guevara by Ernesto Guevara). Pombo (Harry Villegas) talks about what he learned from Che Guevara, and from the Cuban role in Congo. Unlike Guevara, Harry Villegas doesn't think their intervention in Congo was a "disaster," because he lived long enough to see the international respect that the Cuban Revolution gained from that intervention.
The Cubans aided independence struggles in Angola, Namibia, and aided the anti-apartheid movement of the majority in South Africa by the Cuban victory at Cuito Cuanavale, which Nelson Mandela and many others saw as an essential part of ending apartheid, see How Far We Slaves Have Come!: South Africa and Cuba in Today's World. Pombo's book about his role in Angola is Cuba and Angola: The War For Freedom.

There's also a pamphlet with two interviews with Villegas--At the Side of Che Guevara: Interviews With Harry Villegas (Pombo). And another interview in Making History: Interviews with Four Generals of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces.