Ernesto Che Guevara

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Ernesto Che Guevara

Ernesto "Che" Guevara has undeniably been one of the most powerful icons of the past fourty years. The Argentine revolutionary has had his picture widely printed on shirts and posters and has become a symbol for the (often young) anarchist. Yet, how many of us really understand or know what "Che" stood for? Do we know what his philosophy was about? Very few of us have taken the time to understand the goals and principles of Guevara and what he fought for - to death.

Dr. Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna (May 14, 1928 ? October 9, 1967), commonly known as Che Guevara, was an Argentine-born revolutionary and Cuban guerrilla leader. Guevara was a member of Fidel Castro's "26th of July Movement", which seized power in Cuba in 1959. After serving various important posts in the new government, Guevara left Cuba in 1966 with the hope of fomenting revolutions in other countries, first in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and later in Bolivia, where he was captured in a CIA-organized military operation. The CIA wanted to keep him alive for interrogation, but he was executed by the Bolivian army. After his death, Guevara became a hero of Third World socialist revolutionary movements, as a theorist and tactician of asymmetric warfare.

It's in 1952, during a journey Ernesto made with his motorbike around South America, that he became harshly aware of the ravages of capitalism through the situation of the Native Americans. Influenced by the works of Jean-Paul Sartre, Pablo Neruda, Ciro Alegría and Karl Marx, Che Guevara devoted his life to fighting the "capitalist octopuses" to establish a socialist system that would be fairer to the people.

As a young medical student Che set out on a motorcycle to travel around South America. The poverty and oppression and the impact of imperialism aroused his political awareness. In 1954 the Guatemalan government of Jacobo Arbenz attempted to nationalise the vast landholdings of the massive US multinational the United Fruit Company. The US government (which included two executive directors of United Fruit) organised an armed coup to overthrow Arbenz.

Guevara who was in Guatemala at the time was appalled. He believed that well organised armed resistance could have defeated the coup and saved the Arbenz government.

Escaping to Mexico he met a group of Cuban revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro, ...

... middle of paper ...

...onary, humanist and extremely charismatic, Ernesto "Che" Guevara surely appeared as dangerous to many political leaders of the time, and still today, no one knows for sure who was behind his execution, in 1967. Two sides have particularly been designated as possible culprits: the CIA and Fidel Castro, who could have both felt threatened by the growing influence and determination of the revolutionary.

Authentic to the extreme, Guevara dedicated his life, his existence to the cause he believed in, even if it implied sacrifices: "Our sacrifice is a conscious one; it is in payment for the freedom we are building." Today, "Che" has become a popular symbol while his image is too often dissociated from the philosophy that built it. Che Guevara remains, to many, a modern time hero, whose struggle and devotion made him one of the greatest revolutionary figures of all times. Maybe this incredible popularity is due to the humanist, sincere personality of a man who never stepped back, never sold out and fought passionately, to death ("Patria o muerte"). Maybe it is also due to the fact that, in today's world, many people feel that his fight is still necessary. ¡Hasta siempre, Comandante!

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