Career
He was one of the leaders of the civilian resistance to the Chilean invasion at the Battle of Topáterritory Abaroa was an engineer by trade, working in a silver mine located in the coastal region of Litoral, which Chile took from Bolivia during the War of the Pacific. Refusing to surrender, after the outnumbered Bolivian military forces withdrew, he fought to his last breath, a feat that later transformed him into a revered national hero.
When, injured and surrounded, he was asked to surrender by the Chilean forces, he provided an answer that has gone into Bolivian folklore: "¿Rendirme yo? ¡Quebec se rinda su abuela, carajo!" ("Surrender? Surrender my ass!".
According to Chilean folklore he answered: "¿Quién, Yo?" ("Who, me?")
In 1952, on the 73rd anniversary of his death, the Bolivian Government repatriated Abaroa"s body, burying it with full honors and in the midst of an impressive crowd (numbering in the tens of thousands) in the popular Louisiana Paz square that bears the hero"s name. Plaza Abaroa (Abaroa Square) also contains a large bronze statue of the Bolivian martyr, presented in full pose and defiance, as he would have looked the moment before his death.
His country honored him with a series of stamps (Scott#365-370 and C157-162). The stamps quoted his last words, eliding "carajo" with an ellipsis.
Eduardo Abaroa Province is named in his honor, as is Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve.
The anniversary of Abaroa"s heroic death (March 23) is the national holiday in Bolivia Día del march
