Ernesto Guevara de la Serna was born on June 14th, 1928 in Rosario, Argentina. His family was well-off and had aristocratic roots, but they were filled with socialistic ideals. His parents were Ernesto Guevara Lynch, a civil engineer of Irish descent; and Celia de la Serna, of Spanish descent. Early in his childhood, he developed an almost paralyzing degree of asthma that more or less stayed with him for the rest of his life. In fact, it is said that "as one stood next to him, one could hear a wheezing sound coming from his lungs whenever he got too uptight about anything that didn't go his way." Despite this condition, Ernesto was deeply involved many athletic activities, especially rugby. Che's father played a crucial role in the development of his son's athletic interest, however outside of those activities his father was rather aloof and distant.
Although he bears his father's name, his mother came to be the dominate influence on him throughout his life, but especially in his youth. In fact, the relationship shared between them was stronger than that shared by any of the other children; perhaps due to his illness: there is nothing like a mother's anguish and guilt to create in her a boundless devotion to her child. She would often read to him; and teach him French among other things; during the time he spent indoors because of his illness.
He easily adopted his parents' liberal attitudes. He read a lot during this time, and grew impressed by what he read of the Spanish Civil War refugees and by the long series of squalid political crises in Argentina which culminated in the "Left Facist" dictatorship of Juan Per—n, to whom his parents were deeply opposed. Although his parents were strongly anti Per—nist and were activists against him, Che himself took no part in the activities. His path to becoming a revolutionary would not be so direct. Instead, he went to medical school; a decision probably based on his desire to find a cure for himself, but more likely to find a cure for his mother's malignant cancer which she developed at least two years before this decision.
During college, he developed an intense medical interest in leprosy. Soon before graduating, he began a long tour of South America, in search of medical centers devoted to the treatment of leprosy patients. It is said that he cried when he saw the brutal inhumanity of the treatment of lepers in San Pablo Leprosarium, located along the Amazon river. The trip made one thing clear to Che; he did not want to become a middle-class practicioner. After his return and graduation, he left once again for another tour of South America. He met a man named Ricardo Rojo in Ecuador, who convinced him that a real social revolution was taking place in Guatemala.
Jacobo Arbenz was the president at the time, who expropriated 225,000 acres of uncultivated land from the American Fruit Company to give to the starving, landless Indians. The American Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles (also a stockholder in the American Fruit Company) decided the Arbenz government was a communist regime and succeeded in preparing a mercenary invasion force in Honduras. Che tried to organize a fighting force against this; however the Guatemalan army had already sold out to the CIA, and the Arbenz government collapsed. It was here that Che decided that revolution could be made only through armed insurrection. He fled to Mexico City, where he married Hilda Gadea Acosta (whom was supporting and living with Che in Guatemala) and fathered their first child. Everything went smoothly, until Che met Raul Castro, brother of Fidel.
Che was introduced to Fidel Castro, who was planning an invasion of Cuba at the time, and managed to get himself involved in it; first as their troop physician and soon as a Commandante of the revolutionary army of barbutos. They landed in Cuba on December 2nd, 1956, and the revolution began. Shortly afterwards, he made the often talked about final decision between doctor and revolutionary soldier: escaping through sugarcane fields, he had to choose between carrying a backpack filled with medical supplies, or a crate of bullets. It was impossible to carry both. He chose the ammunition.
After the eventual success of the revolution in Cuba in 1959 and on through 1965, Che works mainly towards the improvement of the newly established Cuban government. When asked during the revolution if his involvement could be considered foreign interference (due to his origins in Argentina), he said "First of all I don't regard only Argentina as my native country but whole of America. ... Besides you can't call it interference if I want to give myself personally and totally - up to my blood - to a case that seems right to me and that is completely that of the people. A people that wants to get liberated of a tyranny that on itself cheers the armoured interference of a foreign power with aeroplanes, weapons and military advisors." It is in this spirit that he also left the Cuban cause, and set his sights on the revolutionary prospects of other countries. He wrote in a letter to Fidel, "I formally renounce my position in the national leadership of the party, my post as minister, my rank as major, and my Cuban Citizenship... other nations of the world call for my modest efforts."
With the support of Fidel and Cuba, he leaves for the Belgian Congo to help the Kinshasa rebels in their fight against Belgian mercenaries. His soldiers fought well, but he overestimated the potential of success in the Kinshasa rebels; and by the fall of 1965 he advised Castro to withdraw Cuban aid. His next overestimation of a revolutionary cause would prove to be fatal, as he joined the guerilla war in the Santa Cruz region of Bolivia. He failed to win the support of the peasants, saying "The farmers are still aloof. It is a vicious circle: to attract them we must have more actions in populated areas, but therefore we need more men." Eventually, Guevara was isolated and surrounded by the Bolivian army, under the direction of the CIA. He was held captive, and then killed by his captives a day later. It is unclear where the order to execute him came from, possibly the US government or the intentions of someone high up in the Bolivian army.
Che himself knew that he was to be executed, and said "It is better like this ... I never should have been captured alive." Che has been called a master of iconography and public appearance, made clear to be true by the everlasting image of him found worldwide; but these near last words raise some suspicion. Had he forseen the effect his martyring would cause on his followers, he might have welcomed it. On the other hand, the quote was to Felix Rodriguez, the CIA agent responsible for the movements of the Bolivian army, the one who quite possibly gave the order to execute. If he had known this, then perhaps the words were said to support the decision knowing full well the martyrdom which would occur and to encourage Rodriguez by not letting on to how much his death would act against those who wanted him dead. We will never know the truth, except that his legend will live on indefinitely.
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