FREE ESSAY ON CHE GUEVARA

CHE GUEVARA

Ernesto "Che" Guevara
Che Guevara was the Argentine born Marxist guerrilla who helped oust the corrupt Cuban
government and set up a communist system 90 miles from the US. Che under the leadership
of Fidel Castro helped lead a small guerrilla band of soldiers to take over the country.
After the old government was out Che helped Castro decide communism as the way to go for
Cuba. He helped Castro try to quickly industrialize the country, set up social reforms to
try, and make Cuba a better place for its citizens. Che supported the struggle against
imperialism by taking bands of guerrillas to Congo and Bolivia to help with revolutions
there.
Ernesto Guevara was born May 14, 1928 in Rosario, Argentina. He was born to Ernesto
Guevara Lynch and Celia de la Serna, two Argentines that were fairly well off at the
time. At two years old, Che was diagnosed with asmtha, which could plague him for the
rest of his life. His asmtha affected his family's life, forcing them to move until they
found a place where his asmtha could be stabilized. Che was home schooled until the age
of nine because of his illness. Guevara took after his mother in that he was attracted to
danger and he ended up with his father's temper. Guevara did all right in school, but it
wasn't until he got to college that he started to shine.
At first Che wanted to study engineering at the University. After the death of his
grandmother Che decided to study medicines instead of engineering. He was accepted to the
University of Buenos Aires to study medicine. By college, his parents were separated,
though still married, and Che became to come into his own. He worked part time jobs while
he was in school to help pay for his needs. Che started to take weekend hitchhiking trips
across Argentina. After awhile the trips started getting longer as he began to want to
see more and more of Latino America.
Che was introduces to Fidel Castro, the young Cuban revolutionary, in Mexico City in
1955. After several hours of talking Fidel invited Che to join the guerrilla movement.
Che accepted on the spot, he was to take on the position of being the group's doctor.
After receiving military training Che was quickly promoted as an officer in Castro's
ranks. In 1956 almost all of Castro's group was arrested officially for breaking Mexico's
immigration laws, despite the media frenzy saying that they were communists
revolutionaries planning an attack on Cuba. After everyone was eventually released Castro
began working at a manic pace to get everything ready for the invasion. After some
obstacles, the group was finally ready to go on November 25, 1957 eighty-two men loaded
with equipment climbed aboard a tiny yacht and set sail for Cuba. 
The fighting started off on very bad terms for the guerrillas. They missed the landing
point and date, and a few days after landing they were attacked by the army and the group
was highly disorganized. Fidel reformed his group, which then only consisted of 20 or so
men. After awhile though, the guerrillas were started to have an effect all across Cuba.
As the guerrilla army grew Fidel gave Che his own column and promoted him to commandarte.
The two columns worked well and progress began to move more quickly. Within a year the
guerrilla forces began setting up liberated territory in the mountains and moving out
across Cuba. Fidel knew that if he could take Santa Clara, then the war would almost be
guaranteed his. Santa Clara fell on January 1, 1959 not long after Batista had left the
country. By the next day the whole island was under the control of the rebel forces.
Fidel setup groups of men in all the towns and cities he conquered to help keep law and
order. The new government showed no favoritism towards either the capitalist or the
communist at first. Guevara was appointed as minister of industry, and he started trying
to go through with a rapid industrialization process. The idea behind this was to help
quickly diversify the economy and help Cuba bring in income other than its sugar staples.
The new government quickly started looking for a buyer for their sugar. Many believe that
the new government was almost forced into communism because the United States cut off all
relations with the new government, leaving only the Soviet bloc as a superpower that
would support the new government. Once communism was decided as the way to go, many
debates raged about how to start communism in a capitalist society. Guevara stated,
"Pursuing the chimera of achieving socialism with the aid of the blunted weapons left to
us by capitalism...it is possible to come to a blind alley"(Perez-Stable 96). This debate
raged on for many years after Guevara left the country, and there are still flaws in the
way they did it to this day.
In 1965 Guevara resigned his position and disappeared from public site. He had gone to
help the "struggle against imperialism" around the world. First he went to Congo, now
know as Zaire, to help with a guerrilla revolution going on in that country. After just
eight months he left the Congo, unsuccessful, and returned to Cuba. A few months later he
left for Bolivia to try and start a revolution in the heart of South America, hoping that
the revolution would then spread across the entire continent. Che even had hopes that the
United States would join the fight so that he could start his own South American Vietnam.
In Bolivia, though, his forces made many mistakes he said they couldn't make if they
wanted to win.
On October 8, 1967, as Che and his guerrilla troops were traveling, when Bolivian Army
Rangers led by Gary Prado Salmon moved in. They surrounded the guerrillas and the firing
began. Che, wounded from a shot in his calf, lay concealed behind a tree. As Sergeant
Bernard Huanca crept upon him Che told him, "Don't shoot. I am Che Guevara. I am worth
more to you alive than dead." (Anderson 733). Che was then taken captive and positively
identified. He under went questioning by the Bolivian Authorities, claiming to have
failed in his Cuban, Argentine, Bolivian, Peruvian mission. When questioned as to what
his nationality may be Che replies, "I am Cuban, Argentine, Bolivian, Peruvian,
Ecuadorian, etc. . . You understand" (Anderson 735). In saying this he is saying that he
represents the people. He later states that the state of the poverty is appalling and
that he wants the people to have some hope, an optimistic view for the future, that soon
improvements will be made.
Colonel Zenteno Ayoroa, under the watchful eye of the CIA, gave the execution order that
ended Che's life. As the man walked through the door to shoot him Che replied to him "I
know you've come to kill me. Shoot coward, you are only going to kill a man" (Anderson
739). After he was killed, his body was put on public display in Vallegrand, were many of
the peasants claimed he resembled Jesus. After this his hands were chopped of and sent to
Argentina for proper identification. He was buried near an airstrip outside of
Vallegrand, but the exact spot remained a mystery for thirty years. His body was found in
1997 and moved to its final resting-place in Cuba.
Che Guevara inspired thousands of people to take a stand against imperialistic
governments. He encouraged many people around the world to fight for the freedom that was
rightfully theirs. He showed courage in that he died for what he believed in, the fight
against imperialism. This courage is what made the Argentine born Marxist such an
inspirational figure around the world. Che was a symbol of hope and a better life for the
people of Cuba, and the world. 
Bibliography
Works Cited
Anderson, Jon Lee. Che Guevara A Revolutionary Life. New York: Grove Press, 1997.
Castaneda, Jorge G. Companero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara. New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, 1997.
Harris, Richard. Death of a Revolutionary: Che Guevara's Last Mission. New York: W.W.
Norton, 1970.
"Ernesto 'Che' Guevara". Bolivia Web. 1997. (13 April 1999).
Perez - Stable, Marifeli. The Cuban Revolution: Origins, Course and Legacy. New York:
Oxford UP, 1993.
Rojo, Ricardo. My Friend Che. New York: The Dial Press, 1968.
Rohter, Larry. "Cuba Buries Che, the Man, but keeps the Myth Alive." New York 
Times 17 October 1997.
Ryan, Henry Butterfield. "A Look At...Myths of Cuba: Che Guevara: The Triumph 
Mystique." Washington Post 2 November 1997: CO3.
Stockwell, Norman. "Reclaiming Che's Legacy." Capital Times 3 October 1997.
Taibo, Paco Ignacio. Guevara Also Known As Che. New York: St. Martin's, 1997.