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.

[1] 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.

[2] 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.

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.

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.

Born in the city of Cochbamba, Cochabamba Department, on December 3, 1926, he was the son of Eugenio Manuel Terrazas Tapia and Octavia Céspedes Ugarte.

President Mamerto Urriolagoitía, in an attempt to deal with the civil unrest and military intrigues, installed General Hugo Ballivián as his successor in a self-coup known as the Mamertazo.

Víctor Paz Estenssoro and Hernán Siles Zuazo, the leading figures of the MNR, agreed to join the Alliance for Progress, which was the result of increasing American influence in Latin America.

Terrazas was an expert on this subject in Bolivia and travelled to the Panama Canal Zone, the original location of the SOA before its expulsion in 1984, to give lessons and participate in seminars.

After being promoted to this rank, Terrazas served as a representative of the Bolivian Armed Forces to the Development Corporation of the Oruro Department.

Among the positions he held, Terrazas served as Chief of Staff of the Bolivian Armed Forces and as Inspector General of the army.

Jorge Rafael Videla, Augusto Pinochet, and Ernesto Geisel were all important allies of their fellow dictator Banzer.

[15] For his central roles in several visits to Brazil, Geisel granted the illustrious Brazilian Order of Military Merit to Terrazas on 8 March 1978.

Participating in such an activity was common at the time and a part of the urban-rural dynamics coming from the major metropolitan center of Cochabamba.