October 8, 1967 is not a date that sands out in most people’s minds unless you know that Latin America lost a innovative and great man on that day at least to me he was. People see the image on shirts and basically anything else that can be sold to the public but, some do not know what he really stands for. Anyone who knows me knows that I love Che and he is my hero. He symbolizes revolution not Marxism. People assume that because he’s always associated with Fidel Castro and Cuba that he was a horrible man and that he shouldn’t be looked at as a Hero but that is for an individual to decide. I like him but many others may not. Still this past Monday October 8th marked the 40th anniversary of his capture and killing in Bolivia. Ernesto “Che” Guevara was executed on this date 40 years ago by the Bolivian army and two Cuban-American US central Intelligence Agency agents in the village of La Higuera, Bolivia.
Leftist leaders and sympathizers gathered in Santa Clara, Cuba where Che’s remains are buried to pay tribute to the revolutionary icon. Raul Castro, who is currently acting as president as Fidel Castro is recovering, read a homage written by Castro in honor of Che, “I thank him for what he tried but was not able to do in his home country, because he was like a flower prematurely severed from its stem.” He also went on to say, “He was a predestinate, but he didn’t know it. He still fights with us and for us.” (http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/5972/1/289)
Born in Rosario, Argentina Che traveled across Latin America from 1952 until 1953 and was shocked to witness the widespread economic disparity. He had become convinced that violence was necessary to overturn the unjust social order in the area. Guevara met Fidel Castro in 1955 and joined the uprising against former Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista and the revolution had succeeded in January of 1959. After he left Cuba, Che lead a group of Cuban revolutionaries fighting with Marxist guerillas in the Congo, where they traveled to Bolivia in 1966. A year later he was captured and executed at the age of 39.
Che however, is not seen as an iconic symbol by everyone and Miami is one such area. “he is the symbol of Anti- Americanism, of violence. I don’t think he should be remembered for anything good.” Said Felipe Salinas, a resident of Miami’s little Havana. Another resident by the name of Maria Carrera stated, “Like many people I was a Che fanatic. But since I arrived in Miami I don’t defend him anymore. Here we receive information, which does not happen in Cuba, about Che ordering many executions.” A Cuban American academic at Florida International University however, had an answer that explains why he is such a debatable figure. “Che is a complex person that blends legend and reality. We’ll still have to wait many years for history to deliver a definite judgement on Che, when the passions of both sides have passed.” (http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i_Nu88n2UAMUh4uim0HSwdnD-tCw)
A recent article of the Los Angeles entitled Che legacy still looms large asked the question of how people see and feel about Che and how his legacy has still lived on yet when they executed him it was because they were afraid he would spread Marxism to Latin America. Ubanis Ramirez, a Cuban doctor and teacher imported by Evo Morales the Leftist President of Bolivia said. “Great men like Che never die. His lesson is with us always.” French Philosopher and Novelist Jean-Paul Sartre said that Guevara is forever the doomed idealist, the poetry-loving “guerrillero” and “most complete human being of our age.” (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003935006_che09.html)
Anywhere you go in Latin America you will see statues, pictures, graffiti of his image everywhere and anyone who sees his image knows who he is. Che did a lot for his people and to explain who he was would take longer than this article or the whole newspaper combined however that is what the internet is for. Go into any search engine and you can get all the information you need to know. Various books have been written about him as well and some of you may have heard of The Motorcycle Diaries, (2004) which is based on his journey through Latin America. In 2008, director Steven Soderbergh will release two films based also on Guevara’s life, the Argentine and Guerrilla.
Although not everyone may find him to be a hero he for millions of people symbolizes a man who fought for change and for what was right in his heart. He was a doctor who later realized that change didn’t just happen you had to make it happen and as his famous line goes, “Hasta la Victoria siempre” which translates to Until victory always and that is what he fought to do. To bring victory to his people and those struggling to have a better life. You can judge for yourself if he was truly was a hero not but, in the eyes of his followers he will always be Che the revolutionist.