Che Guevara

On June 14, 1929, Ernesto Guevara de la Serna was born in Rosario, Argentina. Throughout his life, he has proven to possess many qualities which a leader must hold. Qualities, such as bravery, putting his country before himself, determination, acting on his beliefs, prudence, and a great number of others.

Che's main accomplishments were achieved in the Latin American island, Cuba. Since 1492, when it was discovered, Cuba has been under complete Spanish control. Even after most of the other Latin American countries had gained their independence, Cuba remained a colony. By the mid 1800s, revolts against Spain began, but failed, until in 1898 when the United States became involved with the rebellion and easily defeated Spain. Then Cuba became a US colony, but was granted independence in 1902. Democracy came to rule Cuba as the country began to gain in strength. In 1950, Colonel Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán was elected president where he created land reforms to redistribute the land to the impoverished to help the country become more established. However, much of the land given to the poor, previously belonged to the US where profits were made. Also, a large number of communist radicals started to support Arbenz's reforms. This caused the US to become uneasy about the intentions of Arbenz, so they made sure that Cuba would not become a communist nation. The US secretary of state, John Foster Dulls, was given permission by President Dwight Eisenhower to pay off Cuban mercenaries to overthrow the government and install a military dictatorship in it's place. This is where Che Guevara's defiance begins.

Although, to start describing Che's strength at this point in time would be to skip over many of his other efforts. Even as a child, Guevara has acted with much hard work to overcome his obstacles. At the age of two, he developed asthma and throughout his life battled attacks from the disease. He never stopped fighting it; everyday for at least three hours, Che would swim and play other sports to maintain strong, healthy lungs so he could breath. Later, to help others who face this and many other diseases, he would enroll in college as a medical doctor.

After Che turned nineteen, he entered the Buenos Aires University, majoring in medical studies. After four years of studying here, he left with a friend for a transcontinental trip through Chile, the Amazon, and Florida. While in these places, Che was introduced to the lives of the poor and undernourished. He then traveled back to Argentina and returned to school where he graduated in 1953 with a degree as a doctor of medicine and surgery. After graduation, he set forth for Bolivia to give help to the sick and needy. Che earned very little money, but saved the lives of so many people.

Three years later, Guevara was introduced to Fidel Castro, a Cuban independence radical, who led revolts against the dictatorship earlier, but failed in each of them. Fidel and Che quickly found they shared very similar opinions of many political topics and became close comrades. Both felt that in order to defeat Cuba's immense army, tactics of guerrilla warfare had to be employed. Guerrilla warfare is used when an army lacks soldiers, weapons, or other supplies and is greatly outnumbered by the enemy. The soldiers split up into small groups and swiftly attack the opponent's camps and raid their supplies. They depend on local villages for food, shelter, supplies, and recruits. In fact, one of the reasons that Castro's army was so respected was because of how pleasantly they treated the townspeople. When the guerrilla training began Che dedicated all his time and energy towards his studies. Soon, it was obvious that Guevara was exceeding the rest of the rebels and was placed Commander of the Second Military Unit of the Rebel Forces. At this time, he had earned his name Che which is Argentinean for "pal," given to him by his men.

During the violent movement, Che fought against large odds. He came extremely close to death many times, but always put his men before himself. For example, in one battle Che was shot by a plane while carrying a box of ammunition and a medical kit with supplies for one person. Wounded, he could only carry one box and he chose the ammo for his men to use in battle. He risked his life several other times to protect his men.

Finally in 1959, the Cuban Revolution came to an end as Fidel and Che took over the government. At first, Fidel had complete intentions of creating a democracy for Cuba, but Che noticed the incredibly large amount of impoverished people living in small areas with very little food. He strongly suggested that Fidel begin with a communistic government so that the land could be redistributed to the poor and the country could get back on it's feet again. His idea was that communism and socialism would let the capital be distributed equally among Cubans so there would be less poverty. He also firmly believed education was the key to becoming powerful, so if everyone could afford education, the country would slowly gain in strength. He then figured Cuba would be powerful enough to follow a democratic form of government. This process would take awhile and lot of hard work from various leaders, but it seemed to be the only plan that would work. Castro also decided that this would be the best way to establish Cuba and because of Che, action was taken toward these goals.

Later in 1966, Guevara fought in another guerrilla revolution in Bolivia. Unfortunately while hiding out from the enemy, he was captured; and on October 9, he was executed.

Many people living in the US today may object to considering Che Guevara to be a hero because most think he was just a trouble maker trying to spread communism. That was not the case at all. Actually, in the minds of many Cubans including Che, communism was the only method of strengthening Cuba. If Cuba became a democracy without time for recovery, there would be thousands more needy people than there truly are today. With democracy, many families would never even have a chance to rebuild their lives. If they are given support from the government, advancement in social, economical, and political areas can be made. In fact, while the US government complains about Cuba's choices, they are covering up the reality that they are the cause of all these problems. If the already incredibly strong nation didn't in the first place, pay off a military to take over a less capable nation and form a dictatorship, Cuba could have been a democracy today. Instead, heroes such as Che Guevara and Fidel Castro had to fight for their country's rights to freedom and independence and because they were such brave heroes, not even the US could stop them.

Few Americans living in the United States today, know the actual, complete truth of Che's heroic, legendary fight for revolution. In many educational textbooks, there are very few words describing his deeds. Nothing is added about the US's huge mistake when overthrowing Cuba either. Everyone deserves to have the knowledge of the Cuban Revolution and how Che Guevara played a very important role in not allowing Cuba to become controlled. This is why Che is entitled his induction into the hall of fame. It couldn't have been said better, when Fidel Castro ended a speech with "If we wish to express what we want the men of future generations to be, we must say: 'Let them be like Che.'"

Written by Jeff Camelio sometime when he was a freshman in high school (1995-1996)

 

Bibliography

Hyams, Edward. "Che Guevara." A Dictionary of Modern Revolution. 1973.

James, Daniel, ed. The Complete Bolivian Diaries of Che Guevara. New York: Stein and Day Incorporated, 1968.

Keller, Douglas. Ernesto "Che" Guevara. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989.

Suchlicki, Jaime. "Guevara." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 1973.