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The body of Che Guevara, one day after his death (stock photo)
Photo: MARC HUTTEN / AFP
The gunman who shot Argentine guerrillas Ernesto "Che" Guevara is dead. The Bolivian ex-soldier Mario Terán died at the age of 80 in a military hospital in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the newspaper "El Deber" reported on Thursday, citing a pastor close to the family.
"He was a brave man," said retired General Gary Prado Salmón, who led the military operation against Guevara's rebel group at the time.
"He voluntarily carried out an order that came from the President."
Terán shot dead Guevara on October 9, 1967 in a school in the town of La Higuera in the Bolivian department of Santa Cruz, after the guerrilla leader had been wounded and captured in a skirmish with Bolivian forces the day before.
“It was the worst moment of my life.
At that moment, I saw Che tall, very tall, huge, and his eyes shone brightly,” Terán said in an interview a little later.
"Keep calm," he said to me, "and aim well, you'll kill a man."
So I took a step back towards the door, closed my eyes and shot.”
Along with Fidel Castro, the Argentinean Guevara was one of the most important leaders of the revolution in Cuba.
After the revolutionaries' victory, he was Minister of Industry and head of the National Bank in Cuba.
After conflicts with Castro over future political direction, Guevara tried to take the revolution out into the world and set up rebel groups in Congo, Angola and Bolivia.
kfr/dpa