Che Guevara in Disguise: The Photographs Behind His Journey to Bolivia
Period
Cold War, 1965–1967; contextual map created in 2007
Place
Congo, Cuba and Bolivia
A balding man in glasses, a false Uruguayan passport and the return to guerrilla life. Archival photographs trace Che Guevara’s transformation before Bolivia.
The man in the glasses is Ernesto Che Guevara. In 1966, the beard and military appearance familiar from his public life gave way to an older-looking civilian traveling under false identities. One of those names was Ramón Benítez, whose signature appears on the passport shown here. Adolfo Mena González was the cover associated with the later journey into Bolivia.
This gallery brings together the passport reproduction, a press portrait, a clean-shaven photograph and images from the Congo and Bolivia. They show different moments in the transition from public figure to clandestine traveler and back to guerrilla commander. A map created in 2007 places the Bolivian campaign in its geographical setting.
The physical transformation went beyond a haircut. In an interview published in Alicia Elizundia’s Bajo la piel del Che, disguise specialist Luis García Gutiérrez, known as Fisín, recalled scalp-hair removal and dental overlays. Guevara’s own diary later recorded his hair and beard growing back. Those accounts explain details that a photograph alone cannot establish.
Dates, repositories and usage information appear with each image. Where an archive dates a press copy rather than the original exposure, the caption preserves that distinction.
Topic: Che Guevara, disguise and the Bolivian campaign
01 / 06
The false passport: Ramón Benítez
Front and profile photographs show Guevara with a receding hairline, dark-framed glasses and a suit. The signature beneath them reads Ramón Benítez. He used several identities during his clandestine travels; Adolfo Mena González was the cover associated with his arrival in Bolivia.
The U.S. Army history page reproducing this document captions it as Adolfo Mena González. The visible signature belongs to a different alias, so the two names should not be treated as interchangeable labels for this particular page.
Photo details
Date
1966
Location
Place of photograph not established
Photographer
Unknown
Archive / collection
U.S. Army Special Operations history; Wikimedia Commons
Rights / license
Public domain according to the Wikimedia Commons PD-Cuba record. This is a reproduction of a false passport; the printed ministry name does not establish who manufactured it.
False passport used by Che Guevara; reproduced by U.S. Army Special Operations history, via Wikimedia Commons.
02 / 06
The face the disguise had to conceal
A beard, long hair and military clothes made up the public image of Che Guevara. This press portrait, preserved in the Dutch National Archives, provides a useful comparison with the passport photographs.
The archive dates this copy to August 22, 1967. That catalog date does not establish when or where the original photograph was taken.
Photo details
Date
Original photograph undated; archive record dated August 22, 1967
Guevara photographed during the Congo expedition in 1965. After the mission ended, his preparations for another campaign took him through Tanzania, Czechoslovakia and Cuba before Bolivia. The disguises were developed along that journey.
The archive identifies this image with the Congo mission; it does not give an exact day or location.
Photo details
Date
1965
Location
Congo; exact location not established
Photographer
Unknown
Archive / collection
Centro de Estudios Che Guevara, Havana
Rights / license
Public domain according to the Wikimedia Commons PD-Cuba record.
Unknown photographer / Centro de Estudios Che Guevara, via Wikimedia Commons.
04 / 06
Clean-shaven, in civilian clothes
Guevara wears a collared shirt and tie, his hair combed back and a cigar between his lips. Removing the beard alone produces a striking change from the familiar press portrait.
The Commons record dates the photograph to 1966 and associates it with Adolfo Mena González. The image shows a different appearance from the balding, bespectacled passport portraits. Its exact place within the sequence of preparations is not established here.
Photo details
Date
1966
Location
Location not established
Photographer
Unknown
Archive / collection
Centro de Estudios Che Guevara, Havana
Rights / license
Public domain according to the Wikimedia Commons PD-Cuba record.
Unknown photographer / Centro de Estudios Che Guevara, via Wikimedia Commons.
05 / 06
Bolivia, 1967: back in the field
Guevara in Bolivia during the 1967 campaign. His beard and field clothing have returned. The civilian appearance in the travel documents was a temporary part of the operation.
On November 12, 1966, he had already noted in his diary that his hair and beard were growing back. This photograph belongs to the following year; the source does not establish the month or the precise camp.
Photo details
Date
1967; exact date unknown
Location
Bolivia; exact location not established
Photographer
Unknown
Archive / collection
Centro de Estudios Che Guevara, Havana
Rights / license
Public domain according to the Wikimedia Commons PD-Cuba record; the record identifies publication in 1967.
Unknown photographer / Centro de Estudios Che Guevara, via Wikimedia Commons.
06 / 06
The Bolivian campaign, mapped afterward
Pepe Robles drew this map in 2007 to show the route of Guevara’s 1967 campaign in southeastern Bolivia. The labeled places help locate the expedition beyond the passport photographs and individual portraits.
This is a modern historical reconstruction. It was not carried by Guevara or recovered from his group.
Photo details
Date
Map created in 2007; depicts the 1967 campaign
Location
Southeastern Bolivia
Photographer
Pepe Robles (cartographer)
Archive / collection
Wikimedia Commons
Rights / license
Dedicated to the public domain by the creator, Pepe Robles (PD-self).
