Hernán Terrazas Céspedes

Hernán Terrazas Céspedes (3 December 1926 – 6 November 2020) was a Bolivian general, politician, and diplomat who served as Mayor of Cochabamba during the era of dictatorships in Bolivia. Early in his military career he was stationed in the Rocha Regiment and, as a second lieutenant, formed part of the rebel lines in Incahuasi during the 1949 coup d'état in Bolivia.

Serving as Bolivia’s Military Attaché in West Germany in the early 1960s, Terrazas was an intelligence officer at the height of the Cold War. Trained with the rigorous curriculum of the School of the Americas (SOTA), his area of expertise was nuclear warfare. Graduating from this institution, he also presided over several classes and instructed other Latin American military officers in counterinsurgency. The government of the United States trained officers like Terrazas to suppress and combat against potential communist fifth columns that might form across South America with the backing of the Soviet Union.

Returning to Bolivia after the rise of René Barrientos, Terrazas continued his military career and held positions across several intelligence agencies, most of which were backed by the Central Intelligence Agency. As such, Terrazas had a more bureaucratic role in the capture of Che Guevara. Gary Prado Salmón employed tactics from the SOTA and received directives from Terrazas’ office, since he was his superior, when chasing and eventually capturing Guevara. Although Terrazas did not have an active role in Guevara’s capture and eventual death, as a commando he was deployed by orders of President Barrientos in the vicinity of La Higuera to ensure the guerilla was cut off from outside aid. By 1971, Hugo Banzer had seized power and Terrazas was eventually promoted to the rank of brigadier general by this newly instated regime. During the so-called banzerato, Terrazas carried out several diplomatic missions in Argentina, Brazil, and Peru. Promoted to division general, he was given command of the 4th division of the Bolivian Army, stationed in Camiri. In 1977, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Army. After the fall of Banzer, Terrazas served as Mayor of Cochabamba briefly before retiring into private life.