Che's Last Soldier: Chato Peredo's Legacy Comes to the United States
JANUARY 21, 2022
BY DIEGO VON VACANO
“A revolutionary is nowhere a foreigner and is a patriot everywhere.” This is what Osvaldo “Chato” Peredo, one of the great figures of Bolivian history taught us. One year after the death of this idealistic leader, known as Che’s Last Soldier, on January 12, 2021, we remember his legacy with events at Texas A&M University in the United States.
We live in very difficult times for democracy. In the United States, hordes animated by former President Donald Trump attacked the Capitol exactly one year ago. The Republican Party is in the hands of anti-democratic groups that are almost personal instruments of Trump, a right-wing populist caudillo.
In Bolivia, since 2019 there have been very difficult times for democracy, which only now with the advances of President Luis Arce, stabilizes little by little. Democracy is fragile, and sometimes it is on the verge of collapse because violence is always a threat. This violence can come with coups d’état or with mercenaries, as it happened between June and November 2020.
Under these circumstances, where democracy is always in danger, we must remember figures like Chato Peredo, who, like Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz, Domitila Chungara, and Luis Espinal gave everything for popular sovereignty in Bolivia. They sacrificed their lives without any personal interest or for profit. More than ever, Bolivia and the world need to remember this kind of heroism, very different from the populist caudillos of the right or the left who cling to power. Just as when night falls and the sun becomes just another star, in his death Peredo did not disappear but became permanently tied to the firmament.
More:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/21/ches-last-soldier-chato-peredos-legacy-comes-to-the-united-states/
Osvaldo “Chato” Peredo