Mario Terán
Mario Terán Salazar (9 April 1942 – 10 March 2022) was a Bolivian Army warrant officer who executed Che Guevara as a young sergeant in 1967. Guevara, a Marxist revolutionary from Argentina, had played a major role in the Cuban Revolution, in which the 26th of July Movement, led by Fidel Castro, ousted U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista and replaced his government with a revolutionary socialist state. Early life Terán was born to Vicente Terán and Candelaria Salazar on 9 April 1942 in Cochabamba, Bolivia. His father, a merchant, was 46 years old when he was born; his mother was 45. Little beyond this is known about Terán's early life. Military career and execution of Guevara Terán joined the military sometime in 1959, at which time he was a sergeant in Company A of Bolivia's Manchego Regiment. Two years prior, Cuban President Fidel Castro had sent Che Guevara overseas to foment left-wing revolutions in other countries. At this time he dropped off the radar and his whereabouts remained unknown until early 1967. At that time, Bolivian communist youth organizer Loyola Guzmán received a tip locating him in a remote small town near the Paraguay border. Guevara reportedly told Guzmán that he