Women in the Revolution

[Tanía]

I would like to hear from others on women who have helped in the Latina America revolutions.

One such person is Tanía, but resources are limited.

Let's Talk

[Tanía]

Maybe I should start with talking about Tania.

Tania was born Haydee Tamara Burke Bider in Buenos Aires, Argentina on the 19th of November in 1937. Her parents left Germany to avoid Nazi persecution.

In 1952 they then went back to East Germany. At the age of 18, Tamara was accepted into the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. She also studied Political Science at Humboldt University in Germany. It was also said that she worked as a spanish and german translator.

In 1960 she met Che and in 1961 she went to Cuba. In Cuba, she worked in the militia, literacy campaigns, the Ministry of Education, the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, and the Federation of Cuban Women. She also traveled with Guevara throughout Latin America. It was during this period that she took on the guerilla name "Tania".

In 1964 she traveled to Bolivia as an anthropologist to take part in Guevara's last campaign. She used the alias Laura Gutierrez Bauer to gather information about Bolivian high society while working as a teacher, and in her spare time she posed as a folk music collector. During this time she collected recordings of music from the people who lived in the mountains of Bolivia. These recordings are seen as highly valuable since there are not many like them.

In 1966 she met up with Juan Vitalio Acuna's group of Bolivian guerrillas. Che was there also. It was said that her jeep was discovered and her alias blown so she had to stay with the group even though some say Che oppossed her doing so.

On August 31, 1967, at Vado del Yeso, Bolivian soldiers ambushed the group while they were crossing the Rio Grande at Vado del Yeso, and killed Bider and eight fellow communist guerillas. She was shot through the lung and possibly the arm. Bider's body was swept away in the river with a man who was a doctor, he hoped she would be alive still when they reache the shore. When he discovered she was dead he left her by the bank of the river. Bolivian soldiers found her body on September 6, and she was buried the next day, close to her fellow dead.

Her body was recently recovered and returned to Cuba where she was buried in a monument. Her mother was able to see her daughter rightfully buried.

There is more but you can look it up.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Celia Sanchez played a major role in the Cuban revolution, although I don't have a indepth analysis of her life to post right now.

Also, I think it's worth mentioning that 30% or more of FARC-EP and the People's Army in Nepal are made up of women.