Tupac Katari Guerrilla Army
Encyclopedia
The Tupac Katari Guerrilla Army (Ejército Guerrillero Túpac Katari) is an indigenous
guerrilla
movement in Bolivia
. The organization descends directly from the original revolutionaries trained by Che Guevara
in the 1960s. Their objective is to fight for social equality in Bolivia and amongst its indigenous population. They carried out their first attack on July 5, 1991, destroying an electric power pylon in El Alto, a major city which adjoins La Paz, Bolivia's administrative capital. Most of the group's attacks have been similarly small-scale and they have confined their activities largely to Bolivia. The group suffered a major setback in a crackdown in 1992 when much of its leadership was neutralized through incarceration.
The group is named after Tupac Katari
, a colonial revolutionary. One of their former members, Álvaro García Linera
, is currently vice-president of Bolivia.
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
guerrilla
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
movement in Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
. The organization descends directly from the original revolutionaries trained by Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
in the 1960s. Their objective is to fight for social equality in Bolivia and amongst its indigenous population. They carried out their first attack on July 5, 1991, destroying an electric power pylon in El Alto, a major city which adjoins La Paz, Bolivia's administrative capital. Most of the group's attacks have been similarly small-scale and they have confined their activities largely to Bolivia. The group suffered a major setback in a crackdown in 1992 when much of its leadership was neutralized through incarceration.
The group is named after Tupac Katari
Tupac Katari
Túpac Katari or Catari , born Julián Apasa Nina, was a leader in the rebellions of indigenous people of Bolivia against the Spanish Empire in the early 1780s....
, a colonial revolutionary. One of their former members, Álvaro García Linera
Álvaro García Linera
Álvaro Marcelo García Linera is a Bolivian politician who has been Vice President of Bolivia since 2006.-Biography:He was born in Cochabamba and graduated from San Agustín High School. Then, he studied at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City and became a mathematician...
, is currently vice-president of Bolivia.
External links
- Tupac Katari bolivia guerrilla, ejercito tupac katari
- Profile on the group from the U.S. Navy Postgraduate School.
- katari.org: Bolivian activist website that has documents related to the Tupac Katari