Ernesto Che Guevara

The Cuban revolution was five years old in 1964, when Ernesto Che Guevara was offered financial compensation to speak at Havana University. Guevara was one of only a handful of foreigners who came with the Castro Brothers on the Yacht called "Granma" to fight against the Batista dictatorship.

By landing in Cuba, most of the 81 men on the yacht were caught or killed, and only 16 escaped into the Sierra Maestra Mountains, where peasants and farmers supported them until their forces grew into the revolutionary army that defeated Batista.

By the time his troops marched on Havana with Camilo Cienfuegos' troops in January 1959, Guevara became very popular among the Cuban people. Stories of his bravery and leadership circulated widely, and he was considered one of the key figures in the revolution.

In its reply to the offer from Havana University, Guevara showed contempt for money that he openly shared with the Castro Brothers and a number of other revolutionaries. "It is inconceivable to me," he wrote, "that a monetary payment shall be offered an official from the government and the (communist) party for all the activities of any kind can be. Among the many payments that I have received important is regarded as a part of the Cuban people, I would not know how to measure that in dollars and cents. "(The letter was printed in the Mexican magazine Sucesso, January 2, 1967.)

The word "Che" is the familiar diminutive for "you" in Argentina, as in "Hey, you!" It was a loving words that became his "official" name and one which he used for a signature, always with a lowercase "c."

Born in Argentina, 14 June 1928 (he was ten months younger than Fidel Castro), Guevara studied medicine at Buenos Aires University, where he also became involved in opposition to the Argentine leader Juan Perón. He later went to Guatemala, and in 1953 he joined the government in Jacabo Arbenz Guzman, who was overthrown by a CIA-sponsored coup.

An intellectual and an idealist, able to speak coherently about Aristotle, Kant, Marx, Gide or Faulkner, he also loved poetry, and was equally at home with Keats as with Sara De Ibanez, his favorite author. It is said that he knew Kipling's "If" by heart.

"I do not think you and I are very closely related," Che wrote in a letter to Senora Maria Rosario Guevara, "but if you are capable of trembling with indignation when the clock is committed in the world, we are comrades, and the is more important. "It was this" great sensitivity to injustice "that forged his political views and led him to distrust imperialism, particularly the U.S. government.

It is said that Guevara played an important role in converting Castro to communism, often quoting Marx, Engels, Mao Tse-tung and others. Guevara suffered from a lifelong asthmatic condition that could have prevented a man from engaging in guerrilla warfare, which he did, but he was determined not to let his illness interfere with his ideals of a just society. This condition may be why, as a doctor, he specialized in allergies.

Journalist Herbert L. Matthews writes about Guevara in his book, Revolution in Cuba: "His dedication to his revolutionary beliefs was deeply religious. Che had a missionary belief in the innate goodness of mankind, the ability of workers to dedicate themselves to ideals and to overcome selfishness and prejudices. It was the other side of the medal for his passionate indignation against injustice and exploitation of the humble. He saw the solution in an exalted form of Marxism that would bring freedom and brotherhood. Such people are born to be martyred. "

While living in Mexico, Guevara worked in the allergy ward of General Hospital and supplemented his salary as a photographer. It was at this time that he met Raul Castro, who told him about the situation in Cuba. In early July 1954, Guevara met Fidel, and after talking through the night for ten straight hours, he joined the Cuban revolution.

Guevara ended up being the official doctor of the rebel army, and a great leader and strategist. Before you travel to Cuba, in Granma, he told his wife, Hilda Gadea (whom he married August 18, 1955 in Mexico City) that he joined the expedition, "because it was part of the fight against Yankee imperialism and the first phase of the liberation of our continent. "

After taking in many important jobs in the Cuban government after the Revolution (he headed Cuba industries from 1961 to 1965) he led a force of 120 Cubans to the Congo, but the mission ended in failure.

In 1966 Guevara went to fight for revolution in Bolivia. He was captured by the Bolivian Army and executed on 9 October 1967.