Che Guevara Biography and List of Works

Latin American revolutionary leader who rejected both capitalism and orthodox communism. Guevara became an icon for young people throughout the world. His adventurous life with a tragic early death in Bolivia created a legend that still lives.

"I had to put a security around him to be sure that nothing happened. And he told me don't worry, captain, don't worry. This is the end. It's finished."
(General Gary Prado whose troops captured Guevara in Bolivia. From the document film 'Red Chapters,' 1999)

Ernesto Guevara was born in Rosario, Argentina into a middle-class family of Spanish-Irish descent. His parents were liberal and not very religious. In his youth Guevara read widely and among his reading list in the 1940s were Sartre, Pablo Neruda, Ciro Alegría, and Karl Marx's Das Kapital. He also kept a philosophical diary and in Africa 1965 Guevara planned to write a biography of Marx.

In 1953 Guevara graduated from the University of Buenos Aires, where he was trained as a doctor. During these years Guevara read Stalin and Mussolini but did not join radical student organizations. He made long travels in Argentina and in other Latin America countries. At the same time his critical views about the expanding economic influence of the United States deepened. In 1952 he made journey with his motorbike, which opened his eyes about the situation of the Indians and was crucial for the awakening of his social conscience.

After witnessing American intervention in Guatemala in 1954 Guevara radicalised and become convinced that the only way to bring about change was by violent revolution. In Guatemala Guevara met Hilda Gadea. They married 1955 and had one child. Guevara was arrested with Fidel Castro in Mexico for a short time. He had joined Castro's revolutionaries to overthrow the Batista government and in 1956 they loaded 38-feet long motor yacht Granma full of guerrillas and weapons and sailed to Cuba, landing near Cabo Cruz on December 2.

They made their base in the mountains of Sierra Maestra, attacking garrisons and recruiting peasants to the revolutionary army. In the areas controlled by the guerrillas a Guevara started land reform and socializing process. Guevara enjoyed the hard conditions and war, in spire of his asthma. Although considered violent he was respected by his men - Guevara shot Eutimio Guerra who had cooperated with dictator Fulgencio Batista's army.

In the mountains Guevara met Aleida March in 1958, 24-years old revolutionary fighter, and she became Guevara's second wife in 1959. He continued to write his diary and composed also articles for El Cubano Libre. Cuba became a hot subject for the media - New York Times, Paris Match and Latin American papers sent reporters to the mountains to make stories of the revolutionaries.

Guevara rose to the rank of major and led one of the forces that invaded central Cuba in the late 1958.

After the conquest of power in January 1959 Guevara gained fame as the leading figure in Castro's government, attracting attention with his speeches against imperialism and US policy in the Third World. He argued strongly for moral versus material work incentives and for centralized planning, and emphasized creation of the 'new socialist man'. When the executions of war criminals started Guevara acted as the highest prosecuting authority. The condemned were soldiers found guilty of murder, torture and other serious crimes. In 1959 Guevara adopted formally the nickname Che and was granted honorary Cuban citizenship.

From 1961 to 1965 Guevara was minister for industries, and director of the national bank, signing the bank notes simply 'Che'. He travelled widely in Russia, India and Africa, receiving much public attention and meeting the leading figures of the world, among others Jawaharel Nehru and Nikita Khruschev. Guevara was also the architect of the close relations between Cuba and the Soviet Union, although he was also critical about the Soviet system. In Cuba he was visited by such intellectuals as Sartre and de Beauvoir, who saw in him the 'perfect man'.

To test his revolutionary theories Guevara resigned from his post as a politician. He had published highly influential manuals GUERRILLA WARFARE (1961) and GUERRILLA WARFARE: A METHOD (1963), which were based on his own experiences and partly chairman Mao Zedong's writings. Guevara stated that revolution in Latin America must come through insurgent forces developed in rural areas with peasant support. There is no need for the right preconditions for revolution - guerrilla warfare can begin the activities.

During his disappearance from public life Guevara spent some time in Africa organizing the Lumumba Battalion, which took part in the Congo civil war. In 1966 he turned up incognito in Bolivia where he trained and led a guerrilla war in the Santa Cruz region. However, he failed to win the support of the peasants and his group was surrounded near Vallegrande by American-trained Bolivian troops. Guevara himself was captured and shot in La Higuera on October 9, 1967.

For further reading: Che Guevara by A. Sinclair (1970); Che Guevara, A Revolutionary Life by Jon Lee Anderson (1997) - - See also: José Martí - Film: Che! (1969), fictionalised biography, 'hasn't an ounce of political or historical sense in its nut'. (New Yorker). Film was directed by Richard Fleischer, starring Omar Sharif (Guevara) and Jack Palance (Castro). - Note: The most famous picture of Guevara was taken by Alberto Diaz Gutiérrez, known professionally as Korda. He declined to take royalties when the picture became worldwide icon. When a British advertising agency appropriated the image for a vodka ad Korda rejected the idea: He never drank himself," said the photographer, "and drink should not be associated with his immortal memory."

GUERILLA WARFARE, (1961)