Tania the Guerrilla: Haydée Tamara Bunke Bider

Haydée Tamara Bunke Bider, also known as Tania or Tania the Guerrilla, was born in Argentina and grew up in Germany. Inspired by the Cuban Revolution, Tania went to Cuba to build a new life there. She fought during the Bolivian Insurgency and lost her life.

News Center- Haydée Tamara Bunke Bider, also known as Tania or Tania the Guerrilla, was born in 1937, in Argentina. Her family returned to Germany after the defeat of the Nazis. She studied political science at Humboldt University in East Berlin. She joined the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany's youth organization and the World Federation of Democratic Youth. After meeting with Che Guevara in East Germany, she joined the Cuban revolutionaries and took the name “Tania” as her nom de guerre. This name was also the nom de guerre of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, who was a Soviet partisan, hanged in 1941.

She completed her tasks

Tania participated in work brigades, the militia, and the Cuban Literacy Campaign. She also worked in the Ministry of Education, the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, and the Federation of Cuban Women. Her efficiency, discipline, and good-natured sense allowed her to work in many areas. She was known as Tamara Bunke in Cuba, as Haydée Bidel Gonzales in Europe, as Marta Iriarte in Berlin, and as Laura Gutiérrez Bauer in Bolivia.

Her activities in Bolivia

In October 1964, Bunke traveled to Bolivia under the name Laura Gutiérrez Bauer, as a secret agent for Guevara's last campaign. Her first mission was to gather intelligence on Bolivia's political elite and the strength of its armed forces. She used radio equipment hidden in a compartment behind the wall in her apartment to send coded messages to the Cuban revolutionaries.

On August 31, 1967, she and her comrades were ambushed while crossing the Río Grande at Vado del Yeso. She was killed along with eight of her comrades. Seven days later, her body was found.

Tania wrote in one of her poems that “Will my name one day be forgotten and nothing of me remain on the Earth?”

Tomorrow: One of the pioneers of the Cuban Revolution: Vilma Espín