Guerrilla Warfare by Ernesto Che Guevara

Guerrilla Warfare Reviews

• 
  sologdin

  Similar to Mao's treatise on guerrilla warfare, this one provides more pragmatic considerations than something like Sun Tzu (but, then again, there's nothing quite like Master Sun).
  
  This text includes a somewhat sympathetic introductory essay by a guy who advances a lukewarm critique of Guevara's foco theory of warfare, which is discredited by the mere fact of Guevara's death while enacting same in Bolivia. Fair enough.
  
  The text itself of the *Guerrilla Warfare* is likewise accompanied by two essays, not of doctrinal, but of historical value, "Guerrilla Warfare: A Method" and "Message to the Tricontinental."
  
  The main essay extracts three basic propositions from the Cuban Revolution and seeks to generalize them: guerrillas can defeat regular militaries; the guerrillas can create marxism's objective revolutionary conditions; and rural areas are the principal theatre of armed operations, all enunciated on page one, and developed thereafter with some rigor.
  
  The text carries out polemics, mostly sub rosa to the non-leftist, with various schools of leftwing thought, including both ultraleftists and proto-reformist liberal types.
  
  Douchebags like to accuse Guevara of being a murderer. Maybe so--but not on the basis of this text, which intones: "Where a government has come into power through some form of popular vote, fraudulent or not, and maintains at least an appearance of constitutional legality, the guerrilla outbreak cannot be promoted, since the possibilities of peaceful struggle have not yet been exhausted." My own position is that fraudulent elections authorize a violent response by the electorate against the state (or the authors of the fraud, anyway, if distinct from the state), but I suppose Mr. Guevara is a pacifist in comparison to reckless losers like me.
  
  There is little concern with Clauswitzian analysis here--no center of gravity; rather, the guerrilla objective is to completely destroy the state's military power. The end goal is always the assumption of political power on behalf of the working peoples (here, the rural proletariat and the peasants, who are the principal audience of Guevara's ideas).
  
  For topical interest only, there's a nice set of distinctions regarding sabotage & terrorism; the former is unequivocally valuable when the target is correct ("ridiculous to carry out sabotage against a soft drink factory"--which, incidentally, some maoists actually did a few years back in Nepal--WTF? YOU DIDNT NOT REDES GAVARA!!!), whereas the latter is valueless in its indiscriminate forms, and possesses value only to the extent that "it is used to put to death some noted leader of the oppressing forces well known for his cruelty, his efficiency in repression, or some other quality." I one-up Mr. Guevara by noting that his sole example of approved "terrorism" is actually assassination, which is quite a bit diffierent.
  
  There's a more conceptually, plus much detailed discussion of being part of a guerrilla group. I liked the "suburban warfare" section, and it's nice to see his cutesy diagrams of how to make a molotov cocktain gun.
  
  Recommended highly for leftists, peasants, and college students suffering from ennui.
• 
  Ignacio

  Este manual para guerrilleros es al mismo tiempo el gran aporte del Che Guevara a la teoría revolucionaria marxista; la exposición más acabada de la doctrina que Régis Debray haría conocer como foquismo. Al comienzo del libro, el Che formula las que son, a su juicio, las tres principales enseñanzas que la Revolución Cubana ha dejado a los revolucionarios latinoamericanos. Son tres enunciados de apariencia sencilla, que sin embargo han tenido repercusiones enormes, y en general catastróficas, en la historia de nuestra región, y son los siguientes:
  
  

  “(1) Las fuerzas populares pueden ganar una guerra contra el ejército.
  (2) No siempre hay que esperar a que se den todas las condiciones para la revolución; el foco insurreccional puede crearlas.
  (3) En la América subdesarrollada el terreno de la lucha armada debe ser fundamentalmente el campo.”

  
  
  Ahondando apenas un poco en la historia de la Revolución Cubana, se podría poner en duda cada uno de estos axiomas. Para terminar de desmentirlos, basta con observar el resto de las experiencias revolucionarias que tuvieron lugar en el tercer mundo de 1959 en adelante. Los sonados fracasos del propio Che en el Congo y en Bolivia son una muestra de su obstinación en el obviamente equivocado punto (2). Pese a todos los tropiezos, el solo triunfo de la revolución en Cuba siguió avalando los axiomas de La guerra de guerrillas, e inspirando más revoluciones que, sin excepción, terminaron en tragedia.
  
  Podría decirse que esto hubiese ocurrido sin la ayuda del Che. Él mismo presenta estos axiomas no como conclusiones propias, sino más bien como verdades autoevidentes, a las que cualquier aspirante a revolucionario podría llegar solo observando lo ocurrido en Cuba. Es así, aunque no deberíamos menospreciar el rol del Che como propagandista de estas ideas, mediante una prédica constante que incluyó la escritura de este libro, y también mediante las acciones concretas que ya conocemos. Su muerte, que también fue una consecuencia de los errores teóricos plasmados en La guerra de guerrillas, fue, contradictoriamente, la publicidad definitiva.
  
  Sus admiradores, y también muchos de sus detractores, reconocen que el Che estaba verdaderamente convencido de sus ideales, hasta el punto de arriesgar su propia vida en nombre de ellos (no sacrificarla, exactamente, ya que en el momento decisivo prefirió entregarse con vida, antes que luchar hasta el final). A mí, esta presunta virtud me parece en realidad su peor defecto. El Che tenía una opinión tan elevada de sí mismo como para considerarse infalible, para elevar sus meras opiniones a la categoría de verdades universales. Un upgrade no motivado por ninguna evidencia en particular, sino por jugueteos retóricos y por su propio convencimiento.
  
  En un texto anterior a La guerra de guerrillas, un artículo titulado “Cuba: ¿excepción histórica o vanguardia en la lucha contra el imperialismo?”, el Che ya había mostrado, muy claramente, esta manera de conducirse. La tesis central del artículo era que la Revolución Cubana había sido la primera de muchas; un hecho destinado a repetirse por acción de las leyes de la historia, y no una mera coincidencia. De ese primer error brotaron todos los que terminó vertiendo en este libro, y llevando a la práctica.
  
  El artículo tampoco ofrece muchos argumentos a favor de la postura que defiende. Recuerda más bien al pasaje de Corintios: “si Cristo no resucitó de entre los muertos, nuestra fe es vana”, cuya presuposición implícita es que esa fe tan intensa no puede ser vana.
  
  Una vez en esa lógica, ya no se puede escapar al acelerado círculo vicioso. El convencimiento sostiene la doctrina, la doctrina endurece el convencimiento. El Che opera movido por este mecanismo, y también lo alienta en sus lectores. Para dar un ejemplo, en uno de los anexos terroríficos que incluyó al final de La guerra de guerrillas, y que se titula “Defensa del poder conquistado”, nos dice:
  
  

  “El primer acontecimiento con que nos encontraremos es que la opinión pública mundial, «la prensa seria», las «veraces» agencias de noticias de los Estados Unidos y de otras patrias del monopolio, comenzarán un ataque contra el país liberado, que será tan agresivo y sistemático como agresivas y sistemáticas sean sus leyes de reivindicación popular.”

  
  Otra vez me acuerdo de la Biblia, ahora del libro de los Salmos: “Dice el necio en su corazón: no hay Dios”. El verso predice que alguna gente negará a Dios; por lo tanto, cada vez que alguien niegue a Dios estará confirmando, en realidad, estas predicciones. Lo que no se dice es que también habrá negadores en el caso de que Dios, efectivamente, no exista.
  
  Pasa lo mismo con este fragmento del Che: puede ser cierto que EEUU y sus secuaces criticarán a todos los “países liberados” por las fuerzas populares; pero quizás también critiquen, al menos en algún caso, a países efectivamente capturada por la dictadura y la violencia. Por sí solas, estas críticas no confirmarían la justicia de una revolución. En síntesis: esta cosmovisión revolucionaria es proclive a la vieja y tantas veces desapercibida falacia de afirmación del consecuente.
  
  La guerra de guerrillas, como todo texto marxista, aspira a ser una especie de documento científico; yo creo que tendríamos que leerlo, ante todo, como el testimonio de una forma equivocada de pensar. Y quizás también como una forma equivocada de sentir. Se dice que la política no es nada sin sentimientos, y sin emoción, y todo eso suena muy lindo hasta que empiezan los tiros. El componente emocional del guevarismo explica, entre otras cosas, por qué la muerte del Che, que debería haber invalidado sus ideas para siempre, en cambio motivó a cientos de personas a seguir su ejemplo hasta el abismo.
  
  Se equivoca el personaje de Chaplin, en el discurso final de El gran dictador, cuando acusa a los soldados de pensar demasiado y sentir demasiado poco. Es la fórmula opuesta la que suele conducir al desastre.
• 
  Olethros

  -Tanto el contenido como la propia obra son productos de su tiempo, pero se siguen revisando.-
  
  Género. Ensayo.
  
  Lo que nos cuenta. Manual sobre guerra de guerrillas que analiza el fenómeno desde las perspectivas de su tiempo, tanto a nivel estratégico como táctico, el despliegue en territorios amistosos u hostiles, su organización y un análisis de la situación en la Cuba del tiempo del autor y su visión sobre posible evolución del entorno.
  
  ¿Quiere saber más del libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
  
  
  http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
• 
  Tasfia Hossain

  Well I kinda skim read it... BUT the parts that I did read were actually quite interesting.
  I didn't know there were so many ways to plan surprise attacks, but now that I do... y'all better watch your back :P
• 
  Lucy

  the original self-help book (be good to peasants, shoes are the most crucial possession, bring a book to share with your homies while camping in the dense jungle, steal your weapons from the enemy)
• 
  Peter

  No sé exactamente como este libro llego a mi lista de "To-Read", pero allí estaba.
  Me ha sorprendido gratamente, al principio parecía que iba a ser una sencilla guía sobre como montaron la guerrilla en Cuba y a partir de ella crear las bases para futuras revoluciones, pero aparte de eso el Che muestra una gran conocimiento sobre el cuerpo humano y la mente (se me había olvidado por un momento que se graduó en Medicina en Argentina) que incluso son más sencillos y correctos que los que tiene la gente de ese campo en nuestros tiempos.
  
  Dudo que alguien pueda sacar la utilidad para que este libro fue escrito, pero en este se puede ver las ideas que movieron al Che junto con los hermanos Castro ha encabezar la revolución cubana.
  
  ¿Qué sería del Che si estuviera vivo? ¿Renegaría de sus ideales al ver las consecuencias reales para la gente o seguiría convencido en ellas?
• 
  Shortsman

  Contains very useful lessons for anyone, not just leftists. In fact, I found it to contain very little specifically leftist rhetoric, which was refreshing.
• 
  Shaima Faisal

  تعريف حرب الغوار/حرب العصابات: هي حرب غير تقليدية، بين مجموعات قتالية صغيرة مدعمة بتسليح أقل عدداً ونوعية وتتبع أسلوب المباغتة في القتال في معارك صغيرة ذات أهداف استراتيجية يحددون هم مكانها وزمانها بحيث يكون تأثيرها موجع للخصم. الهدف منها استبدال النظام القديم بشيء جديد. والاسم الأجنبي أصله إسباني ويعني الحرب الصغيرة.
  .
  يستعرض غيفارا في هذا الكتاب الصادر عام 1961 الدوافع، التكتيكات، والأهداف لحرب الغوار في أميركا اللاتينية مقدماً دراسة وتحليل للتجربة الكوبية (1959) وما ترتب عليها من نتائج إيجابية وسلبية.
  .
  هذا الكتاب وما يقدمه من دراسة ساهم في تعريف الجيش النظامي في بوليفيا على هذا النوع من الحروب، فقد درسوها وتدربوا خصيصاً لمواجهة غيفارا وفريقه والقضاء عليهم (1967).
• 
  Andy Carrington

  My mate's Commie Mam borrowed it some 6 years ago. I'm still waiting for her to return it :/
• 
  Montgomery

  Enjoyable read, hopefully I can put these tactics to good use in Starcraft 2.
• 
  Chronics

  This is a great complimentary book to Che Guevara Reminiscences of a Cuban War and for anyone who truly wants to understand Guevara's ideology and phycology. It discusses and tactics and strategies of Guerrila warfare in great detail, from the high level objectives to the practical day to day activities and nuisances. To the average reader it may seem slightly obscure if you are not engaged in a guerrilla war and many of the practical guides may seem slightly out of date (for example communication with presumably be easier in most parts of the world with mobile phones) but for the reader who is interested it is a fairly simple task to translate the conditions Guevara raises into a modern urban guerrila war. Here I do not refer to the type of wars we are seeing in Aleppo, which I do not presume to be able to put into context with this book, but more to type of underground war being waged in many western countries against an exploitative capitalist system. Concepts such as the raising of the political education of the local population could be applied to boroughs or regions in cities today or the need for flexible and continuously evolving tactics.
  
  Overall, regardless of your own personal ideology, for any student of Guevara I would consider this a "must read", its a fairly short book, and at times it may struggle to hold the readers interest, but to truly understand the authors convictions and mentality (which to the reader will need to be able to extract and deduce for themselves) there is much to be gained from this book and I would highly recommend it, but it should kept in mind that this is intended as a literal guide to guerilla warfare.
• 
  Nick Black

  Read during my early teenage revolutionary days, and largely what put an end to them -- it became clear that revolution was a dirty, cold business most unlike a video game, largely the interest of people I'd likely despise and be despised by. I couldn't agree more with another reviewer -- this book is more of a historical relic than any relevant manual. I'd add, though, that it's important insight into the tumult of revolutionary Central and South America from the 50's through the 70's, and perhaps even useful to understand some modern leaders (although assuming overmuch insight would be more dangerous than anything).
• 
  Tom Polek

  As much as the actual Guerrilla warfare tactics may be outdated, Che really spotlights a Marxist-Leninist approach to revolution. There does not need to be a “ perfect time” under the most perfect of circumstances in order for revolution to start. I think the most important point is that without the support of peasants ( today’s working class ) there is no hope for a vanguard army to succeed. The epilogue and later essays on imperialism being the latest stage of capitalism still ring true to this day.
  
  This is fun to read as a military history book with anti colonialism as the base, but doesn’t go much more in depth. At the time, it didn’t have to.
• 
  Brad

  Interesting as a historical document but kind of dry. It's mostly an instruction manual so it really doesn't make for good reading.
• 
  Bernardas Gailius

  Nieko netikėta, bet turbūt ir negalėjo nustebinti. Per daug jau žinomas kūrinys. Che Guevaros partizanų karo koncepcija akivaizdžiai maoistinė, bet tai taip pat gerai žinomas faktas. Įdomu, kad jis atviresnis už Mao, todėl gana aiškiai nurodo, kad vadinamasis gyventojų palaikymas, kurį abu su Mao laiko būtina sėkmingo karo sąlyga, įgijamas ne vien gražiu elgesiu, bet ir grubia jėga (Che Guevara tai vadina "griežtai bausti"). Apskritai čia daug kas be užuolankų parašyta: ir kaip reikia žemės reforma manipuliuoti, ir kokios strategijos laikytis tarptautinėje kovoje su imperialistais, ir kaip Che Guevara mato tos kovos mechaniką. Visa tai ne mažiau įdomu nei visokios egzotiškos ir neabejotinai asmenine patirtimi pagrįstos detalės apie smirdančius nesipraususių partizanų būrius ir kaip svarbu partizanui turėti "ko nors saldaus". Žodžiu, tai vadovėlis pradedančiam komunistui teroristui. Toks sumanytas, toks ir parašytas.
• 
  Owen Hatherley

  Finally read this, picked up in the charity shop many moons ago. Very dated and often malign in its influence (plenty of 'if we create more violence people will see the system is violent and then rebel', both not borne out by events and a ghastly way of approaching political action) but full of interesting observations on organising, tactics and rural/urban political divides; also (in the edition I read) includes the extraordinary 'Tricontinental' speech.
• 
  Zarina

  In addition to talking about the tactics of guerrilla warfare, some of which are no longer relevant, it also talks about its goals, the necessity of violence in the seizure of power, and the conditions necessary for revolution. I would've liked that the book focus on the latter, but it's understandable given Che's role in Cuba's revolution that he writes what he knows best.
• 
  Sasha

  Although outdated and primarily written as a guerilla warfare manual primarily for the Jungle geography of Cuba, it is an interesting recollection of Che's experiences during the Cuban revolution as well as a collection of general guidelines on how to strive against an overwhelmingly superior enemy by using the scarce resources, a small number of fighters as well as the lack of infrastructure, geography and the local disenfranchised populace to overthrow a government which has lost the trust of its people.
• 
  Dalton Erickson

  Good tactical and strategic military theory book but dated due to technological developments in some aspects.
• 
  Scipio Africanus

  Not political. Purely practical guide to guerilla warfare. Short but super interesting!
• 
  Ida

  Informative
• 
  Roisin

  This book is a series of documents the first written in 1960, the last a pamphlet published in English a few months before Che Guevara was killed, a South American revolutionary and hero.
  
  The book looks at guerrilla warfare in particular fighting in places of a similar landscape to South America and elsewhere. He talks about tactics and how to survive as a fighter which clearly comes from experience. He extols the rights of ordinary people to rule themselves and not to be lead by colonialists, with poor attitudes (in particular America) towards native, indigenous people and those who may be very or slightly left of centre in thought. He envisioned socialist revolution not only happening throughout South America, but also in Africa.
  
  With America's current policy to continue to fund organisations and dictators that attack socialist, democratically elected governments, or left-wing groups in countries across the world, (e.g.Venezuela, Morocco, Nicaragua, Ethiopia, Egypt, the list over the last 40-50 years is endless), these essays would feel fresh and still relevant, if it wasn't for the change in technology and how warfare is fought now. Some parts feel dated because of this.
  
  Che could never anticipate the importance of aircraft technology, which he is dismissive about, or the use of drones in our digital age. He writes with passion, sometimes dry and is idealistic, but sometimes realism enters advocating rules and certain behaviour. Like law-breaking soldiers in 'Goodbye To All That' by Robert Graves, guerrilla fighters too must be disciplined when necessary, with a chilling example. Che advocates female fighters and the benefits of this among ways to live, ways to fight and how to survive in difficult terrains. Here we can learn what it takes to be a fighter and how one thinks.
  
  When Che went to Bolivia he wasn't expecting a well equipped US, CIA trained army. He was killed by such fighters in 1967. His last words were supposed to be, "I know you've come to kill me. Shoot coward, you are only going to kill a man." Whatever the truth, the man is dead, yet the legend lives on in the hearts and minds of would be revolutionaries throughout the world. A chilling and fascinating read.
  
  
  
• 
  Joe Goldberg

  Read this in 8th grade while exploring the whole communism socialism thing and found it really interesting. Che is known around the world as one of the face’s of the Cuban Revolution that led to the multiple decade long of Fidel but he’s a lot more than that. Despite being opposed to their whole style of thinking and ideology, I’ll commend Che on one thing. After overthrowing the Government of Batista, he didn’t remain in Cuba and enjoy the fruits of his labor for too long. Immediately he launched continental revolutions in both Africa and South America and lived in the bush with them directing their battles. He truly believed in the worldwide revolution and this eventually led to his capture and execution in Bolivia.
  
  When launching a revolution, the ruling part usually, if not always, has the upper hand in regards to both money and arms. Due to this, the only way one stands a chance in overthrowing the leadership is by fighting guerrilla warfare. In this book, Che details the basics of it and how to successfully fight a war from the bush. He explains in detail how he overthrew the government of Batista and was able to successfully rule over Cuba with no problems. In order to fight a war, not only do you have to achieve victory militarily, but you also have to win the minds and hearts of the people. This was a great short read and I’d recommend it to anybody who wants to know more about the inner workings of the Cuban Revolution.
• 
  Matthew Lloyd

  I'm not really sure how effective a review I can write of this book - I am neither an expert on Cuba nor Communism, and my expertise on warfare is so far detached from Che Guevara's that it is impossible to judge on that basis either. I can say that, personally, I got more out of this book in 2015 than I did out of
  Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary when I read it in 2009. I think I should re-read Che's diaries at some point, too.
  
  I was struck by the apparent usefulness of the book as a manual for fighting in a guerrilla war; while it is informed by Che's experiences in the Cuban war of liberation, the actual events of that war are not emphasised (until the final appendix). Che repeatedly acknowledges the fact throughout that personal experience and criticism must be applied to make the tactics work. I doubt that they would still work, in the 21st century, but fifty years ago I could see this book being of actual, practical use to the guerrilla revolutionary.
  
  The other argument which particularly struck me was that that the guerrilla is a political soldier, inextricably linked to a particular form of revolution, political organization, and popular movement. A guerrilla is not, as I had previously understood it, a small army fighting against those with greater numbers, but an army with popular support but without the resources of the state - the military organization, preparation, and supplies accorded to those in positions of power, especially those supported by outside forces. The constant worry is never numbers, but equipping those numbers with weapons, medical resources, et cetera.
• 
  Tom Darrow

  I appreciate both the history and timeliness of this book. Che was an influential player in the Cuban Revolution as well as other conflicts of the Cold War. Additionally, his tactics seem to be increasingly used by terrorist organizations today. There is definitely something to be learned here by both historians and the current community.
  
  Major flaws. First is in editing. There are lots of flaws here. A few minor translation issues, some formatting issues (ex. random numbers appearing in the middle of words). That alone costs this book a star.
  
  The rest of the flaws are with Che's writing. First, he says VERY obvious things like "don't attack a better equipped enemy". He's trying to come off sounding like the Sun Tzu of guerrilla warfare, but ends up sounding pretentious instead. Second, he repeats himself a lot. He could have used a good editor. We get it, steal ammo off your enemy. Third, even though the book is somewhat structured, he still bounces around a lot. Forth, many of his "insightful" offerings are very vague. For example he says that indoctrinating the masses is important, but never explains how to do it.
  
  Am I glad I read this? I suppose. Could it have been more insightful, shorter and less repetitive? Absolutely.
• 
  Sunny

  Super interesting book about Che Guevara and some of the guerilla tactics and warfare that he's managed to simplify and put into a modern Penguin classic. The book describes in detail some of the tactical and strategic moves which Che Guevara used as a part of his campaigns in South America. What comes across really clearly which reminded me a lot of the biography of Nelson Mandela is the very simple language that Che Guevara uses and how easy the book is to understand. He's very self deprecating and makes everything sound so easy and simple and yet you know the stand that he took with very small bands of guerrilla fighters against huge numbers of armies was incredible. I'd read his motorcycle Diaries not too long ago so it was really interesting to read how he transitioned from a fun young loving young medical student who toured South America on a motorbike with his friend and was so deeply deeply affected by all the poverty that he saw and then how he transitioned from that and how that poverty really galvanized a reaction in him which resulted in him becoming one of the most iconic faces in history. So much so that I typically ask my family random general knowledge questions and luckily this time when I shared his photo, his iconic photo, to my family group luckily all praise be to God they actually did recognize who he was. Honestly I wasn't holding my breath but I was glad at least that my family members and cousins especially are a little bit cultured and recognized him :) enough from me here are the best bits from the book:
  
  Che guevara's 7 golden rules on a tactical level: do not engage in a fight that cannot be won. Move continuously hit and run. Use the enemy as the main supplier of weapons. Hide your movements. Make use of the element of surprise in military actions. Form new columns once power has been won. There are three key phases: strategic defense, balance between the possibilities of enemy action and guerrilla action, and finally the total annihilation of the adversary.
  
  I don't know if camilo knew dantons maxim for revolutionary movements: audacity audacity and more audacity.
  
  It's important to emphasize that guerrilla warfare is a war of the masses, a war of the people. The guerilla band is an armed nucleus as the combative vanguard of the people.
  
  The blows should be continuous. The enemy soldier in a zone of operation should not be allowed to sleep: his outposts should be attacked and destroyed systematically. At every moment the impression should be created that he is completely surrounded. In wooded areas and rough ground this effort should be maintained day and night: in open spaces that are more easily penetrated by enemy patrols only at night. For this the absolute cooperation of the people and a perfect knowledge of the terrain is necessary. It's important to spread the incontrovertible truth that the enemy's victory over the people is ultimately impossible. Whoever does not feel this indisputable truth cannot be a guerrilla fighter.
  
  The essential elements of guerrilla tactics must always be kept in mind. These are: perfect knowledge of the area, surveillance and foresight as to the lines of escape, vigilance over all the secondary roads that might bring in reinforcements to the point of attack, intimacy with people in the zone so as to ensure their help in regards to supplies transport and temporary or permanent hiding places if it becomes necessary to leave wounded companions behind, numerical superiority at the chosen point of action, total mobility, and the possibility of counting on reserves.
  
  To be able to survive in the midst of these conditions of struggle and enemy action guerrilla fighters must have a degree of adaptability that allows them to identify themselves with the environment in which they live, to become a part of it, and to take advantage of it as an ally to the greatest possible extent. During the recent war on entering the town of El Uvero after a 16 column March battle that lasted 2 hours and 45 minutes in the hot sun after several days spent in very adverse conditions along the sea with high temperatures and a boiling son, our bodies gave off a peculiar and offensive odor that repelled anyone who came near. Our noses were completely accustomed to this lifestyle: guerrilla fighters hammocks are known for their characteristic individual odor.
  
  It is worthwhile also to bring a book which can be exchanged for others among members of the relevant. These books can be good biographies of past heroes, histories or economic geographies, preferably of the country and the works of the general character that can raise the cultural level of the soldiers and discourage the tendency towards gambling or other undesirable pastimes that are there in the periods of boredom and the life of the guerrilla fighter. Sunny: nowadays some of these undesirable pastimes would be iPhones and various social media apps that the mandem usually have on their bloody phones.
  
  Reading should be encouraged at all times with and efforts to promote books that are worthwhile and that develop the recruits ability to encounter the world of letters and greater national questions. The desire for further reading will follow: their circumstances will awaken a new aspiration for understanding in the soldiers: little by little the recruits will observe In their routine tasks the enormous advantages of those who have passed through the schools over the rest of the troop, their capacity for analyzing problems and their superior discipline which is another of the fundamental things that the school must teach. sunny: totally totally agree with this. Che … what a feckin legend ….
• 
  Ankur

  What is most striking about this work at this time is how brutal it seems for the very real talk of killing people. Rather than read this as one might Roman history, or Book of Five Rings, Guerrilla Warfare is relatively contemporary, and you know the author has actually participated and developed the tactics described herein. Brutal reading. Makes the Anarchist Cookbook look like a Betty Crocker recipe collection.