Che Guevara

Che Guevara, real name Ernesto Guevara (1928-1967), Latin American guerrilla leader and revolutionary theorist, who became a hero to the New Left radicals of the 1960s. Born into a middle-class family in Rosario, Argentina, Guevara received a medical degree from the University of Buenos Aires in 1953. Convinced that revolution was the only remedy for Latin America's social inequities, in 1954 he went to Mexico, where he joined exiled Cuban revolutionaries under Fidel Castro. In the late 1950s, he played an important role in Castro's guerrilla war against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, and when Castro came to power, he served as Cuba's minister of industry (1961-1965). A strong opponent of U.S. influence in the Third World, he helped guide the Castro regime on its leftward and pro-Communist path. The author of two books on guerrilla warfare, Guevara advocated peasant-based revolutionary movements in the developing countries. He disappeared from Cuba in 1965, reappearing the following year as an insurgent leader in Bolivia. He was captured by the Bolivian army and executed near Vallegrande on October 8, 1967. Born in Argentina and trained as a physician, Che Guevara became a military commander for Fidel Castro from 1956 to 1959, during the Cuban revolution. Guevara opposed United States intervention in Latin American affairs and believed that only violent revolution could remedy the poverty of the masses. Guevara wrote two books about guerrilla warfare and led guerrilla forces in South American countries. He was captured and killed by Bolivian troops while leading a guerrilla band trying to overthrow the Bolivian government.

Walk down any high street in this country and chances are at some point you'll see somebody wearing a Che Guevara t shirt. Most of whom have absolutely no idea who he was and what he stood for. Still, it's a nice image, and he was handsome… Che Guevara was born in Argentina in 1928; initially he trained to be a doctor but became politically conscious and abandoned his vocation in order to travel across South America on the back of a motorbike. It was in Mexico in 1955 that Che met a young Fidel Castro who with his brother Raul had been exiled from his Cuban homeland and was preparing for an uprising there by training a crack squad of rebels in the Mexican countryside. This was Che's calling. It's what he'd been waiting his whole life for. It was his destiny. In this latest edition of his BAFTA nominated series of lectures, writer and broadcaster Mark Steel travels to South America and turns his attentions to the life and revolutionary times of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, a man who started out on a motorcycle holiday, only to end up being made Foreign Minister of Cuba. Which of course is nice work if you can get it. Despite numerous efforts to depict Che as a ruthless rebel over the years, there was something about him that's meant he’s survived as the epitome of cool rebellion - even today, to align yourself with Che is to identify with idealism and passion. Join Mark as he charts the course of Che's life – from the mystery surrounding the faking of both his birth and death certificates, the childhood asthma where he was made to sleep with a stray cat, the drunken shenanigans of his youth, right through to the Cuban revolution and his subsequent appointment as Cuba's Foreign Minister, the ill fated attempted revolution in the Congo and his ultimately tragic journey to Bolivia. Ernesto "Che" Guevara (1928-67) is the twentieth century's most famous revolutionary. Che grew up in a bohemian family drawn from the landed gentry and went on to train as a physician. As a young doctor his travels in Latin America produced a political awakening that altered the course of his life. He joined the 1952 riots against Juan Peron in Argentina, joined agitators in Bolivia, worked for the pro-Communist regime of Jacobe Arbenz Guzman in Guatemala and, when Arbenz was overthrown in 1954, fled to Mexico, where he first met Fidel Castro. Che became one of Castro's closest and most trusted friends, and after the 1956 rebel invasion of Cuba became his chief lieutenant. Che proved to be a resourceful guerilla leader and was instrumental in establishing the Communist state in Cuba. He continued to foster revolutionary activity in other countries until the time of his death in 1967 when he was captured and executed by government troops in Bolivia while directing a guerrilla group there. Che: Images of a Revolutionary features nearly 400 photographs--many of them never previously published. The book follows Che's life from early childhood to his career as a political activist. Writings by Che, including a number of his speeches and examples of literature written about him, by Fidel Castro and Allen Ginsberg and others, complement the visually stunning photographic collection. The book is a result of exhaustive research in public and private archives in Cuba, Argentina, Bolivia, Europe, and North America. A concluding chapter discusses the "Guevara myth" from his death until the present day.

Aprendimos a quererte
desde la historica altura
donde el sol de tu bravura
le puso un cerco a la muerte.
Aqui se queda la clara,
la entranable transparencia,
de tu querida presencia
Comandante Che Guevara. 
Tu mano gloriosa y fuerte
sobre la historia dispara
cuando todo Santa Clara
se despierta para verte.
Aqui se queda la clara,
la entranable transparencia,
de tu querida presencia
Comandante Che Guevara.
Vienes quemando la brisa
con soles de primavera
para plantar la bandera
con la luz de tu sonrisa. 
Aqui se queda la clara,
la entranable transparencia,
de tu querida presencia
Comandante Che Guevara. 
Tu amor revolucionario
te conduce a nueva empresa
donde esperan la firmeza
de tu brazo libertario. 
Aqui se queda la clara,>
la entranable transparencia,
de tu querida presencia
Comandante Che Guevara. 
Seguiremos adelante
como junto a ti seguimos
y con Fidel te decimos:
hasta siempre Comandante. 
Aqui se queda la clara,
la entranable transparencia,
de tu querida presencia
Comandante Che Guevara. 
(Carlos Puebla, 1965)
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Until Always [English]


We learned to love you
from the heights of history
with the sun of your bravery
you laid siege to death


Chorus:


The deep (or beloved) transparency of your presence
became clear here
Commandante Che Guevara


Your glorious and strong hand
fires at history
when all of Santa Clara
awakens to see you


Chorus


You come burning the winds
with spring suns
to plant the flag
with the light of your smile


Chorus


Your revolutionary love
leads you to a new undertaking
where they are awaiting the firmness
of your liberating arm


Chorus


We will carry on
as we did along with you
and with Fidel we say to you:
Until Always, Commandante!


Chorus

The true story of Che Guevara

Ernesto (Che) Guevara was born in Rosario in Argentine in 1928. After studying medicine at the University of Buenos Aires he worked as a doctor. While in Guatemala in 1954 he witnessed the socialist government of President Jacobo Arbenz overthrown by an American backed military coup. Disgusted by what he saw, Guevara decided to join the Cuban revolutionary, Fidel Castro, in Mexico. In 1956 Guevara, Castro and eighty other men and women arrived in Cuba in an attempt to overthrow the government of General Fulgencio Batista. This group became known as the July 26 Movement. The plan was to set up their base in the Sierra Maestra mountains. On the way to the mountains they were attacked by government troops. By the time they reached the Sierra Maestra there were only sixteen men left with twelve weapons between them. For the next few months Castro's guerrilla army raided isolated army garrisons and were gradually able to build-up their stock of weapons. When the guerrillas took control of territory they redistributed the land amongst the peasants. In return, the peasants helped the guerrillas against Batista's soldiers. In some cases the peasants also joined Castro's army, as did students from the cities and occasionally Catholic priests. In an effort to find out information about the rebels people were pulled in for questioning. Many innocent people were tortured. Suspects, including children, were publicly executed and then left hanging in the streets for several days as a warning to others who were considering joining the revolutionaries. The behaviour of Batista's forces increased support for the guerrillas. In 1958 forty-five organizations signed an open letter supporting the July 26 Movement. National bodies representing lawyers, architects, dentists, accountants and social workers were amongst those who signed. Castro, who had originally relied on the support of the poor, was now gaining the backing of the influential middle classes. General Fulgencio Batista responded to this by sending more troops to the Sierra Maestra. He now had 10,000 men hunting for Castro and his 300-strong army. Although outnumbered, Castro's guerrillas were able to inflict defeat after defeat on the government's troops. In the summer of 1958 over a thousand of Batista's soldiers were killed or wounded and many more were captured. Unlike Batista's soldiers, Castro's troops had developed a reputation for behaving well towards prisoners. This encouraged Batista's troops to surrender to Castro when things went badly in battle. Complete military units began to join the guerrillas. The United States supplied Batista with planes, ships and tanks, but the advantage of using the latest technology such as napalm failed to win them victory against the guerrillas. In March 1958, President Dwight Eisenhower, disillusioned with Batista's performance, suggested he held elections. This he did, but the people showed their dissatisfaction with his government by refusing to vote. Over 75 per cent of the voters in the capital Havana boycotted the polls. In some areas, such as Santiago, it was as high as 98 per cent. Fidel Castro was now confident he could beat Batista in a head-on battle. Leaving the Sierra Maestra mountains, Castro's troops began to march on the main towns. After consultations with the United States government, Batista decided to flee the country. Senior Generals left behind attempted to set up another military government. Castro's reaction was to call for a general strike. The workers came out on strike and the military were forced to accept the people's desire for change. Castro marched into Havana on January 9,1959, and became Cuba's new leader. In its first hundred days in office Castro's government passed several new laws. Rents were cut by up to 50 per cent for low wage earners; property owned by Fulgencio Batista and his ministers was confiscated; the telephone company was nationalized and the rates were reduced by 50 per cent; land was redistributed amongst the peasants (including the land owned by the Castro family); separate facilities for blacks and whites (swimming pools, beaches, hotels, cemeteries etc.) were abolished. In 1960 Guevara visited China and the Soviet Union. On his return he wrote two books Guerrilla Warfare and Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War. In these books he argued that it was possible to export Cuba's revolution to other South American countries. Guevara served as Minister for Industries (1961-65) but in April 1965 he resigned and become a guerrilla leader in Bolivia. In 1967 David Morales recruited Félix Rodríguez to train and head a team that would attempt to catch Che Guevara. Guevara was attempting to persuade the tin-miners living in poverty to join his revolutionary army. When Guevara was captured, it was Rodriguez who interrogated him before he ordered his execution in October, 1967. Rodriguez still possesses Guevara’s Rolex watch that he took as a trophy. In their book, Ultimate Sacrifice, published in 2006, Larmar Waldron and Thom Hartmann argued that in 1963 Guevara was involved in a plot with Juan Almeida Bosch to overthrow Fidel Castro.

Tracing Che

Tracing Che is a documentary that gives unique insight into the life of legend Che Guevara by recreating the journey he took through South America on a decrepit Norton motorcycle. Using the same motorcycle model Che rode, the director personally embarks on the trip that gave Ernesto the name "Che." Along the road, we search for pieces of Che's motorcylce he left behind some fifty years ago. This is a film that discovers humanity, passion and the free spirit of a 22 year old whose eyes where forced open on a relentless road trip that ultimately changed the world we live in. This legendary trip was chronicled by Che in the famous book, “The Motorcycle Diaries”, and has now been turned into a feature film by the same name. It is an attempt to learn more about the man behind the legend, this 'road-documentary' tries to retrace the trans-South American journey taken by the 22-year-old Ernsesto Guevara De La Serna. The journey was documented in his book 'Motorcycle Diaries' which has gone on to become cult literature for the followers of one of the 20th Century's more iconic political figures, Che Guevara. Ernesto 'Che' Guevara de la Serna represents one of the most enduring images of a political leader. His legendary character has been the inspiration for millions of people over the last fifty years. Lawrence Elman, a Canadian director, went in search of the man behind the myth. He embarked on the journey that gave Che his name. A trip through South America on an old Norton motorcycle. Che chronicled this trip during a break from medical school in a book called the Motorcycle Diaries. Lawrence encounters Che's family and oldest friends who shed light on this true icon of the 20th century. From the cousin who tells of Ernesto's chronic lack of hygiene to the tragedy of being rejected by a woman who is still believed to be his first love. Ernesto became Che and changed the perceptions of many. His love and friendship of Sartre (who called Che the only whole man he had ever met), his philosophical journals that began at the age of 15; all helped to shape a man who struggled with potentially fatal asthma allhis short life.

Che Guevara (on Discovery)

One of the most mainstream and controversial characters of this act is Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Due to his affiliation with the Cuban society and his disgust with the U.S. imperialism, he has been labeled unsuccessfully by the American Government as a opposition to democracy and freedom. This can be found all throughout history, not necessarily directed at "Che", but at the Cuban organization with the Bay of Pigs and the United States struggle against the Communist Revolution of the 60’s. As people have realized the U.S.‘s actions to keep Communism out of the American minds, propaganda was heavily enforced throughout the time period and Guevara’s Guerrilla forces were classified as a threat to the United States Security. Yet, despite the failures in the Congo and in Bolivia, he was able to take up arms to fight against poverty and reduction of society as a whole. But why did he decide to do it? He had a the path to a comfortable and prosperous life with his career as a doctor yet he sacrificed it all. I believe this is because, if one has the knowledge, he must be obligated to do so.

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