Bolivian general Gary Prado has died at the age of 84 in the city of Anta Cruz (Bolivia). He was famous for capturing guerrilla leader Ernesto “Che” Guevara in 1967 while he was fighting in southern Bolivia.
In that same year, the Bolivian Congress named him a national hero for his defense of the national territory against what was deemed a “subversive foreign invasion” at the time of the military government of General René Barrientos.
Distancing from the military right
Prado distanced himself from the positions of the military right and, in the 1970s, when he already had the rank of major, opposed the dictatorship of General Hugo Banzer (1971-1978), which resulted in his expulsion from his military career and his exile in Paraguay. After Banzer’s fall, he resumed his post in the Bolivian army and was appointed minister of planning in the cabinet of military successor David Pereda. Since then he has been considered an “institutionalist” soldier, that is, one of the group of officers who sought to restore political power to civilians.
