Che Guevara

Che Guevara 

As he stood before his executioner in a distant corner of Bolivia, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara calmly uttered his last words: “Shoot, coward. You are killing but a man”. Moments later he lay dead, spattered with bullets, but eyes still open; staring. They say he looked like Christ

“Fact is mixed with fantasy here, truth with myth, realism with rhetoric” wrote the Polish correspondent, Ryszard Kapuscinski, on his arrival in Latin America. Never has this been truer than in the case of ‘El Che’; a man who’d become a legend even before he died that fateful October morning in 1967. Today, this obscure Argentine doctor, who left home in 1953 with little more than a backpack and a crying aversion to injustice, is set to remain a towering figure of modern history. Time named Guevara among the 100 most influential people of the 20^th century and The Victoria Albert Museum declared Alberto Korda’s iconic image to be the most reproduced photograph in history.  

Born in Rosario, Argentina, on 14 June 1928, Ernesto Guevara grew up in a comfortable, middle-class family. He spend his childhood in Alta Gracia, Cordoba, where the family moved on account of Ernesto’s debilitating asthma. Despite his lung condition, Guevara was a keen athlete, playing rugby for his university 1^st XV. They say he more than compensated for his illness with his fearlessness in the tackle. In 1953, he graduated in medicine from the University of Buenos Aires. Weeks later he had packed his bag and left for the open road, in search of a purpose.  

In Mexico City he found one. A group of big talking, idealistic Cubans, planned to invade their homeland by sea, overthrow the US backed, dictator Batista and set up a revolutionary nationalist government. Within hours of meeting Fidel Castro, ‘Che’ - as he had by now become known - had signed up.  

On the 25 November 1956, a band of 82 rebels set sail for Cuba in a decrepit cabin cruiser, designed to hold 12 passengers, known as the Granma. The invasion was an utter disaster. Not only were Batista’s troops ready and waiting, but the rebels mistakenly landed at the wrong point of the island. Lost and disorganised, the rebels suffered heavy losses. Legend has it that, on the band’s regrouping there remained only 12, Los Doce. In the midst of the chaos, Guevara, officially the group physician, was faced with a split-second decision. Fleeing under enemy fire, he saw before him a medical kit and a box of ammunition. He had time to pick up only one. As he wrapped his hands around the cool box of bullets, he chose his fate. He would live and die by the gun.  

After just over two years of relentless guerrilla warfare the rebels entered Havana victorious. It was on any account a phenomenal achievement. A group of around 20 poorly armed men, inexperienced in warfare and unused to the thick jungle of the Sierra Maestra, had overcome a large, well-trained, well-funded national army. It was the stuff of legend, and the rebel army’s commandantés; Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Raúl Castro and Camilo Cienfuegos understandably entered modern mythology.  

However, even among this high company Che was unique. He was a foreigner - an Argentine - who had given up everything to risk his life for a country he had never known. His sacrifice was purely based on the cause, rooted in a fanatical intolerance of injustice. He believed wholeheartedly in the importance of moral, as opposed to material, incentives and wrote and spoke at length of the need for communism to create not only a new financial system but also a ‘new man’. The ‘new man’ would feel no distinction between his personal desires and the need of the community. It is here that Guevara’s abounding appeal lies, in his unswerving dedication to justice. They say his executioner couldn’t look him in the eye; that his gaze was unyielding. They say he smiled at death.    

However, this uncompromising manner had a darker side that cannot easily be swept under the carpet or explained away. Guevara was a ruthless imposer of his notion of right and wrong. Under his command insubordination, desertion and defeatism were punished by death. After the rebel victory, Castro put Guevara in charge of La Cabaña prison. In five months, his heralded dedication to justice had led Che to order the executions of hundreds (some say thousands) of Batista’s soldiers, personnel and collaborators; without proper judicial procedure. Mass murderer or hero? The answer is both.   

After serving the revolutionary government for six years, in a variety of positions including both Minister of Industries and Minister of Finance, Guevara, again, gave up everything to risk his life in foreign lands. He fought first in the Congo and finally in Bolivia. In his farewell letter to Fidel and the Cuban people he signed off, “Hasta la victoria siempre” – “ever onward unto victory”.  In Bolivia a lack of local support, a breakdown in communication with Havana and a heavy US presence (including the arrival of CIA Special Activities Division commandos) doomed Guevara’s attempts to lead another successful guerrilla revolution. On 7 October, 1967, exhausted, exposed and suffering from almost constant asthma attacks, Guevara was injured and captured fighting in the Yuro ravine. Two days later he lay dead, spattered with bullets, but eyes still open; staring. They say he looked like Christ.