The story of Ernesto Guevara, a child who was born to a well-to-do Argentine family who went on to become a medical doctor sounds like a success story. Ernesto Guevara probably isn’t a name many people recognize, add the word “Che” to the name—Ernesto “Che” Guevara—and many people recognize the name of a famed revolutionary of the 1960’s. Even now, forty-four years after his death, his name and image remain popular. To some Che Guevara is idolized as a man of the people, a freedom fighter for the downtrodden, who gave his life in the struggle to free peoples of the world to live in a “better” society; for others he was a ruthless killer who was willing to die to be a martyr for his cause. This paper will look at the life of Che Guevara and what made him the cult figure in death he could not be in life.
Ernesto Guevara—the Beginning
Ernesto Guevara was born in 1928, the eldest of five children of a wealthy middle-class Argentine family. Ernesto’s mother schooled him at home until age nine when he entered public schools. The political climate in Argentina at the time was fairly volatile but “Guevara was not remembered to have any overt political leanings as a high school student” (Petersen, 2005, Early Years section, para. 2).
After graduation from high school Ernesto took a job working in a laboratory conducting studies of soil samples in the town of Villa Maria; his family moved to Buenos Aires the following year. Shortly after the move his grandmother died and he decided to become a doctor (Petersen, 2005, Early Years section, para. 3.)
He began his medical studies at the Buenos Aires University. Up to this point in his life he could be categorized as a fairly typical middle-class young man, but change was not far away.
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Rosenberg, J. (n.d.). Fidel Castro: A biography of Fidel Castro. In About.com online. Retrieved from http://history1900s.about.com/od/people/p/castro.htm
Skoller, J. (2005). Shadows, Specters, Shards: Making history in avant-garde film. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/excelsior/docDetail.action?docID=10194389&p00=che's%20 afterlife%3A%20the%20legacy%20image.
The Motorcycle Diaries (book). (n.d.) In Wikipedia, The free encyclopedia online. Retrieved December 15, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Motorcycle_Diaries_(book)
Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina came into the world on October 24, 1891. He was born in the small city of San Cristobal in the Dominican Republic. He was the son of Jose Trujillo Valdez and Altagracia Julia Molina. Trujillo’s parents were married on September 24, 1887 in San Cristobal. Trujillo’s father was a merchant and was dedicated to buy and sell items that he could make a profit from. His mother was a housewife and was considered very sweet and kind hearted by those who knew her . Not much is known about Trujillo’s childhood and family because he had records changed to not bring any shame brought onto his name. What is known is that he was...
young. Vicente was poor, but he wanted to achieve something greater, like money or fame: “He had been an ambitious boy 60 years ago… there was not much for a Spaniard to do in his country of Spain” (Wuorio 158). He was dissatisfied with his living conditions and he eagerly wanted to ...
Gott, Richard. 2013. "Man against the world: as illness ends Hugo Chavez's rule in Venezuela, what will his legacy be? Here, Richard Gott argues he brought hope to a continent--while overleaf, Rory Carroll asks if the price of change was too high. (Cover story)." New Statesman (1996), 2013. 20. Academic OneFile, EBSCOhost (accessed December 2, 2013).
In 1944 Guevara family moved to Buenos Aires. They were having serious financial problems now so Che started working while he was a student. He registered to medical school. In the early years of his study at the medical school he travelled throughout the northern and western Argentina, studying on leprosy and tropical diseases in the villages.
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on the 13th of August, 1926, the third of six children, and the son of a wealthy sugar plantation owner. After Castro graduated from El Colegio de Belen in 1945, he entered law school at the University of Havana. It was during this period that Castro began to become involved politics, taking an interest in the political climate of Cuban nationalism, anti-imperialism, socialism, and social justice (http://www.biography.com/articles/fidel-castro-9241487, 2009). Castro immediately became involved with student protests, whose student groups were known to be violent and often armed, which can be attributed to the fact that there had been a government crackdown on these protesters, with students sometimes being killed or terrorized (The Real Fidel Castro, p16-17, 2003). Brutality was already present in the political system, perhaps a sign that brutality would be needed to change it.
Argentine born, Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara played an important part for the Cuban revolution as guerrilla, as minister of industry, and as a figure that influenced the Cuba 's revolution with his philosophy of a "new man," a new society that could be motivated by the morals rather than by personal gain. He was a first doctor, then a soldier, and a teacher in-between in the Cuba army. Here is where the revolution begin.
He returned home for his finals sure of only one thing: he did not want to become a middle-class general practitioner. He passed, specializing in dermatology, and went to La Paz, Bolivia, during the National Revolution in which he condemned as an opportunist. From there he went to Guatemala, arriving during the socialist Arbenz presidency. It was in Guatemala that he began ...
From July 26, 1953 to January 1, 1959, Fidel Castro led an uprising against the incumbent Cuban president, Flugencio Batista. This insurrection, known as the Cuban Revolution, was successful in the overthrow of the Batista government and implemented a socialist state under Castro’s rule. By 1961, Fidel Castro became the undisputed leader of Cuba with strong popular and military support. Although Castro was the figurehead for revolution in Cuba, his brother Raúl and friend Ernesto “Che” Guevara were instrumental in helping the revolution to succeed. Guevara, an Argentine native, was passionate about guerrilla movements and social revolution.
Castro implemented additional significant social-economical polices which further more increased his popularity with in the public order, such as attempts towards improving health care, medical facilities, and tourism, but mostly highlighting the importance of education by drastically transforming the Cuban educational system. Achieving an extraordinary change required Castro to start the “1961 literacy campaign” which called for raising the literacy rate percentage in the Cuban society, by allowing education and it’s equipment free of charge, building schools, increasing the amount of teachers per student, and making it available to all ages who desired to peruse education. These reforms where a major increase in Castro’s popularity. “The quality of life lies in knowledge”- Fidel Castro (The Right Priorities: Health, Education, and Literacy. PBS.o...
Bourne, Peter G. Fidel A Biography of Fidel Castro. First ed. New York NY: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1986. N. pag. Print
Rosenberg, Jennifer. “Fidel Castro: A Biography of Fidel Castro.” History1900s.about.com. about.com, 2 Dec. 2013. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
After his graduation in 1950, Castro continued to practice politics and study law. He decided to become a member of the reformist Cuban People’s Party, called Ortodoxos. The Ortodoxos called for economic independence from the United States, political liberty, social justice, and an end to government corruption. Throughout these years, Castro stayed true to his interests, and political capabilities, and became a candidate for a seat in Cuba’s House of Representatives during the election of June 1952. However, right before the election was held, Fulgencio Batista disbanded the previous government and cancelled the election. This incident is what really pushed Castro into fighting this corrupted government and restoring justice to Cuba. Th...
Fidel Castro was an illegitimate child of the upper middle class in Cuba. He was the son of the family maid and his father, who happened to be a wealthy farmer and landowner. Castro was highly educated for the twentieth century in Cuba, earning a Doctorate in Law. However his success in life did not come to him as a lawyer, but as a ruthless politician and revolutionary. When dictator, Fulgencio Batista was overthrown during the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Fidel Castro boldly took on the role of leader over Cuba, broke away from the domination of the United States, and put Cuba’s economy in the hands of the Soviet Union. According to Charlip, “Castro visualized a reformed Cuba, with agricultural cooperatives, industry, education and healthcare
When Fidel Castro was exiled from Cuba after a failed attack on the Moncada barracks, his actions and memorable speech History Will Absolve Me started the 26th of July Movement that Castro would eventually come back to with a new strategic plan, one that would win him the war this time. While in Mexico, the breeding grounds for attempted revolutionaries, Castro met a team of other fighters who supported his attempt, but most crucial was Che Guevara. Ernesto “Che” Guevara was a Argentinian revolutionary specialised in Guerrilla War. His importance to the revolution’s success was paramount. Castro relied on the skills and knowledge of of his comrades as fellow revolutionaries with far more experience than him. Doing so, he exploited Che’s knowledge of guerrilla fighting, and by working together as a team, Che and Guevara created a new plan that successfully used guerrilla warfare to their advantage, and on the 25th of November, 1956, lead a group of 82 supporters of the movement back to Cuba. Castro relied on guerrilla warfare because of the conditions in which the war was subject to. Coming into Cuba, Castro had little active
Che Guevara, a revolutionary in Cuba, has become an internationally recognized figure. While many people are familiar with his achievements of helping to overthrow and rebuild the Cuban government, his image has expanded well beyond his political success. Che’s picture has been seen all over the world, in every imaginable context. Many people associate Che Guevara with the very word “revolution,” while others remember Che as a brutal and ruthless guerilla. While everyone has their own interpretation of Che, others solely recognize his picture on clothing, the internet, books and artwork. His very image has become so widespread that some people believe it has lost meaning altogether. Different forms of imagery and media portray Che in various ways, which help to further create and expand myths surrounding Che Guevara. The four myths discussed surrounding Che’s image are: caring individual, brutal dictator, martyr with similarities to Jesus Christ, and part of popular culture.