Ernesto Guevara was born in the city of Rosario (Argentina). This event in the family of a Basque and an Irish woman took place on June 14, 1928. Ernesto was the first of five children. His parents always supported the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. Veterans of the resistance army have repeatedly visited their house. This could not but affect the young Ernesto. His father repeated more than once that the son was of the flesh and blood of the Irish rebels.
It is interesting to note that all family members loved to read. About 3,000 books were stored on the shelves. Among them are books by Franz Kafka, Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jules Verne, William Faulkner and many others.
Youth
In 1948, the future national hero of Argentina successfully passed the exams for the medical department at the national university in Buenos Aires. Literally two years later, he took a leave of absence for a grand tour of Latin America with his friend Alberto Granado. On a motorcycle, two comrades traveled around half of the mainland and saw the main sights with their own eyes, got acquainted with the amazing nature and various peoples of the large continent. He wrote down his thoughts and impressions in a diary. Later, these records appeared on the front pages of the New York Times under the loud headline "The Motorcycle Diaries."
Back in Argentina, 22-year-old Ernesto once again sat down at his desk - this time to complete his studies, and finally receive a well-deserved doctorate. He reached his goal in 1953. But with all his thoughts and feelings, he was directed to another world - a world of justice and freedom, directly opposite to flourishing poverty and lawlessness.
revolutionary activity
At the end of 1953, Ernesto Guevara moved to Guatemala, where he actively participated in the political and public life of the country. From there, under threat of arrest, he was forced to flee to Mexico. There he met his future wife, Ilde Gadea, who introduced him to the circle of revolutionary-minded emigrants from the Island of Freedom.
In the summer of 1955, a fateful meeting awaited him with Raul Castro, who soon introduced him to his own brother, Fidel Castro. The latter invited Guevara to join the Cuban revolutionary group to fight the dictatorial regime of Batista. The Argentine agreed without any doubt, because the success of the Cuban uprising is the first step towards victory in the continental revolution. And this was his main dream and goal of life.
Victory
The road to victory was hard. Some died during the fighting, others were arrested and shot. However, Fidel Castro was supported by most of the country's population. As a result, in the summer of 1958 Batista's army was finally defeated.
Guevara was awarded the highest military rank - commandant. He became an honorary citizen of Cuba and second only to Fidel Castro. But honors didn't change him. He led a modest lifestyle, opposed all sorts of excesses and luxury. But most importantly, he continued to lead his just struggle for equal rights, the eradication of poverty and a new social society throughout the South American continent.
Other biography options
- In a brief biography of Ernesto Che Guevara, one cannot fail to mention the appearance of the word "Che" in his name. The fact is that the “comandante” often used the interjection “che”, which literally translated as “friend”.
- In 1962, the world was on the brink of nuclear war, largely due to the efforts of Guevara. It was he who participated in bringing nuclear missiles to Cuba.
- In 1967, Che Guevara was captured and subsequently shot in La Ichera.
Everything about him was wrong. Instead of the aristocratic sonorous name of Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, there is a short, almost faceless pseudonym Che, which doesn’t even have a special meaning. Just an interjection - well, hey. Argentines repeat it through the word. But go and see - you got accustomed, remembered, became known to the world. Instead of a dandy outfit and pomaded hair - a rumpled jacket, worn shoes, disheveled hair. A native Argentinean, but he could not distinguish tango from waltz. And yet it was he, and not one of the smartest peers, who captured the heart of Chinchina, the daughter of one of the richest landowners in Cordoba. And so he came to the parties in her house - shaggy, in shabby clothes, terrifying the snob guests. Still, he was the best for her. Until then, of course. In the end, the prose of life took its toll: Chinchina wanted a calm, secure, comfortable life - a normal life, in a word. But for a normal life, Ernesto was just not good enough. Then, in his youth, he had a dream - to save the world. At any price. That's probably the secret. That is why the pampered, sickly boy from a well-born family turned out to be a revolutionary. But in the family of his mother - the last viceroy of Peru, his father's brother - the admiral - was the Argentine ambassador to Cuba when his nephew was partisan there. His father, also Ernesto, said: "The blood of Irish rebels, Spanish conquerors and Argentine patriots flowed in my son's veins"...
Move on. Revolutionary. In the common view - a gloomy, laconic subject, alien to the joys of life. And he lived greedily, with pleasure: he read avidly, loved painting, he painted with watercolors, was fond of chess (even after making a revolution, he continued to participate in amateur chess tournaments, and jokingly warned his wife: “I went on a date”), played football and rugby , engaged in gliding, raced rafts on the Amazon, loved cycling. Even in the newspapers, the name of Guevara appeared for the first time not in connection with revolutionary events, but when he made a tour of four thousand kilometers on a moped, traveling all over South America. Then, together with a friend, Alberto Granados, Ernesto traveled on a decrepit motorcycle. When the driven motorcycle gave up its last breath, the young people continued on foot. Granados recalled his adventures in Colombia: “We arrived in Leticia not only exhausted to the limit, but also without a centavo in our pocket. Our unpresentable appearance aroused natural suspicions among the police, and soon we found ourselves behind bars. We were rescued by the glory of Argentine football. When the police chief , an avid fan, found out that we were Argentines, he offered us freedom in exchange for agreeing to become coaches of the local football team, which was to participate in the regional championship.And when our team won, grateful fanatics of the leather ball bought us plane tickets, which safely delivered us to Bogota.
But in order. Painful. On May 2, 1930 (Tete - that was Ernesto's childhood name - was only two years old) he had his first asthma attack. Doctors advised to change the climate - the family, having sold their plantation, moved to Cordoba. The disease did not let Ernesto go all his life. He could not even go to school for the first two years - his mother had to study with him at home. By the way, Ernesto was lucky with his mother. Celia de la Ser na y de la Llosa was an outstanding woman: she spoke several languages, became one of the first feminists in the country and almost the first car enthusiast among Argentine women, she was incredibly well-read. The house had a huge library, the boy was addicted to reading. He adored poetry, retained this passion until his death - in a backpack found in Bolivia after Che's death, along with the Bolivian Diary, there was a notebook with his favorite poems.
A man who could not sit still all his life. Since childhood. At the age of eleven, Tete ran away from home with his younger brother. They were found only a few days later, eight hundred (!) Kilometers from Rosario. In his youth, already a medical student, Guevara enlisted on a cargo ship: the family needed money. Then - by his own choice - he trained in a leper colony. One day, fate threw Guevara and Granados in Peru, to the ruins of the ancient Indian city of Machu Picchu, where the last Inca emperor gave battle to the Spanish conquistadors. Alberto said to Che: "You know, old man, let's stay here. I will marry an Indian woman from a noble Inca family, I will proclaim myself emperor and become the ruler of Peru, and I will appoint you prime minister, and together we will carry out a social revolution." Che replied: "You're crazy, they don't make a revolution without shooting!"
After graduating from the university and having received a diploma as a surgeon, Ernesto Guevara did not even think of settling down. It would be possible to start a measured life - the profession of a doctor in Argentina has always been a profitable business - but he ... leaves his homeland. And it turns out in Guatemala at the most dramatic moment for this country. As a result of the first free elections, a moderately reformist government came to power in the republic. In June 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower organized a military intervention against Guatemala. It was then that Guevara established himself in the thought: a revolution is not made without shooting. Of all the recipes for getting rid of social inequality, Ernesto chooses Marxism, but not rationally dogmatic, but romantically idealized.
After Guatemala, Ernesto ended up in Mexico City, worked as a bookseller, street photographer, and doctor. And here his life changed dramatically - he met the Castro brothers. After the unsuccessful assault on the Moncada barracks on July 26, 1953, the Castros emigrated to Mexico. Here they developed a plan to overthrow the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. In a training camp near Mexico City, Ernesto studied military affairs. The police arrested the future rebel. The only document found in Che's possession was, unknown how, a certificate of attendance at courses... of the Russian language, which fell into his pocket.
Having got out of prison, Che almost missed the board of the Granma. Among about a hundred rebels, Ernesto was the only foreigner. After a week-long voyage, the yacht moored at the southeastern tip of Cuba, but at the time of the landing, the landing was met by an ambush. Part of the rebels was killed, someone was taken prisoner, Che was wounded. Those who remained took refuge in the forested mountains of the Sierra Maestra and began a 25-month struggle.
All this time, Ernesto's parents hardly heard from him. And suddenly - joy. Around midnight on December 31, 1958 (the next day the revolution won in Cuba), there was a knock on the door of their house in Buenos Aires. Opening the door, Father Ernesto did not see anyone, but an envelope lay on the threshold. News from my son! "Dear old people! Feeling great. Used up two, left five. However, hope that God is an Argentine. I hug you all tightly, Tete." Guevara often said that he, like a cat, had seven lives. The words "used up two, left five" meant that Ernesto was wounded twice. Who brought the letter, the Guevara family never found out. And a week later, when Havana was already in the hands of the rebels, a plane arrived from Cuba for the Che family.
Best of the day
A few days after the victory, Che was visited by Salvador Allende. The future president of Chile was in Havana passing through. Allende told about this meeting: “In a large room, adapted for a bedroom, where books were everywhere, a man, naked to the waist, in green-olive pants, with a piercing gaze and an inhaler in his hand, was lying on a camping cot. with a severe attack of asthma. For several minutes I watched him and saw the feverish gleam in his eyes. Before me lay, mowed down by a cruel illness, one of the great fighters of America. He told me without showmanship that throughout the insurrectionary war asthma did not give him peace."
But the rebel war is over. Weekdays have come. Che - Minister of Industry, Head of the Planning Commission, Chief Banker. His sweeping two-letter signature appears on banknotes. He studies higher mathematics, writes a work on the theory and practice of revolution, in which he sets out the theory of the "partisan hearth": a handful of revolutionaries, mainly from strata of educated youth, go to the mountains, start an armed struggle, attract peasants to their side, create an insurgent army and overthrows the anti-people regime.
The Cuban Revolution needed international recognition, and Che heads important diplomatic missions. In August 1961, he attended an inter-American economic meeting in the fashionable Uruguayan resort of Punta del Este. There, President John F. Kennedy's Alliance for Progress program was announced. Cuba is under blockade, the rulers of Latin American countries in exchange for economic assistance break off relations with the "Island of Liberty". The Soviet embassy in Uruguay was ordered from Moscow to assist Che's mission.
After the end of his lecture in Montevideo, the audience was attacked by the police. A shot rang out, and a professor struck by a bullet fell onto the pavement. The professors were not going to kill - the bullet was intended for Che.
Che was the first of the outstanding figures of the Cuban revolution to come to Moscow. The photographs have been preserved. Packed in a hat with earflaps, Che on the podium of the Mausoleum on November 7th. He sincerely sympathized with our country and, perhaps, that was why he was concerned about Khrushchev's initiative to "throw a hedgehog in the Americans' pants" by placing Soviet missiles in Cuba.
The Minister of Industry, a banker, a diplomat... But in his heart Che always remained a revolutionary - he recklessly believed in the effect of a "partisan hearth", that the Sierra Maestra could be repeated in other countries of the "third world". For eight months he fought in the Congo to save the regime of Lumumba's successor. Using Tanzania as a rear base, Che led a detachment of black Cubans. He failed to find a common language with the Congolese: they fired from machine guns with their eyes closed.
The defeat in the Congo cured Che of his illusions about the "revolutionary potential of Africa." What remained was Latin America "pregnant with the revolution", its weakest link being destitute, cut off from the outside world, Bolivia, which had experienced about two hundred coups in its short history of independence.
Che is in a hurry: the United States is rapidly taking revenge for the victory of the Cuban revolution. In 1964, a military regime reigned in Brazil for more than twenty years. And as Nixon said, "the path that Brazil takes, the whole continent will follow." The continent was clearly drifting to the right. A year later, President Lyndon Johnson organized an intervention against the Dominican Republic. By creating a new "partisan hearth" Che Guevara hoped to divert US attention from Cuba.
In March 1965, Che Guevara returned to Cuba after a three-month absence. And since then ... more in public did not appear. Journalists were at a loss: arrested? is sick? fled? killed? In April, Ernesto's mother received a letter. The son reported that he was going to leave the government and settle somewhere in the wilderness.
Shortly after Che's disappearance, Fidel announces his letter in a narrow circle: "I officially renounce my post in the leadership of the party, from my post as minister, from the title of comandante, from my Cuban citizenship. Officially, nothing more connects me with Cuba, except for the ties of another kind that cannot be renounced in the same way that I renounce my posts."
Here are fragments of a letter he left to "dear old people", his parents:
"... I again feel the ribs of Rocinante with my heels, again, dressed in armor, I set off.
Many will call me an adventurer, and this is true. But I'm the only adventurer of a special kind, the kind who risk their own skin to prove their point.
Maybe this is the last time I'm trying to do this. I do not seek such an end, but it is possible... And if it happens, accept my last embrace.
I loved you deeply, but I did not know how to express my love. I am too direct in my actions and I think that sometimes I was not understood. Besides, it was not easy to understand me, but this time - trust me. So, the determination, which I have cultivated with the enthusiasm of the artist, will make frail legs and tired lungs work. I'll get mine.
Remember sometimes this modest condottiere of the 20th century...
Your prodigal and incorrigible son hugs you tightly
And here is the letter to the children:
"Dear Ildita, Aleidita, Camilo, Celia and Ernesto! If you ever read this letter, then I will not be among you.
You won't remember much about me, and the kids won't remember anything.
Your father was a man who acted according to his views and undoubtedly lived according to his convictions.
Raise good revolutionaries. Learn a lot to master the technique that allows you to dominate nature. Remember that the most important thing is the revolution and each of us individually does not mean anything.
Above all, always be able to feel in the deepest way any injustice committed anywhere in the world. This is the most beautiful trait of a revolutionary.
Goodbye kids, I hope to see you again.
Dad sends you a big kiss and hugs you tight."
Hope did not come true. He didn't see them again. These letters were the latest news.
A year and a half after the disappearance, Che would be in Bolivia at the head of a detachment of forty people from different tribes: approximately the same "team" began the guerrilla in Cuba. But the second Sierra Maestra was not destined to take place. Indian peasants treated all whites - and even more so foreigners - as strangers. Contrary to expectations, the local Communist Party did not provide assistance, which invariably carried out the ideological order of Moscow. And Moscow did not need another revolution, committed in violation of the Kremlin calendar (without the participation of the hegemon-proletariat).
Throughout the eleven months of Che's stay in Bolivia, his demoralized detachment was haunted by setbacks. Winding, the rebels tried in vain to get away from the rangers trained by the Americans. President Johnson gave the go-ahead for Operation Cynthia, the liquidation of Che and his detachment. A day before the denouement, The New York Times published a piece of correspondence under the heading "Che's Last Fight." On October 8, 1967, Che was trapped in the El Yuro Gorge in southeastern Bolivia. Exhausted, he could barely move, there was no cure for asthma for a long time, he was shaking with malaria, he was tormented by stomach pains. Che found himself alone, his carbine was broken, he himself was wounded. The legendary partisan was captured.
In a nearby village, he was locked up in a hut called a school. Che did not react in any way to the appearance of high military officials. His last conversation is with a young teacher, Julia Cortez. On the blackboard was written in chalk in Spanish: "I can already read." Che said, smiling: "The word 'read' is spelled with an accent. It's a mistake!" On October 9, at about 13.30, non-commissioned officer Mario Teran shot Che with an M-2 automatic rifle. As proof that the hated Che died, his body was put on public display. Che reminded the Indians of Christ, and they, like amulets, cut off strands of his hair. At the direction of the Bolivian military leadership and the CIA station, the wax mask was removed from Che's face and his hands were cut off to identify fingerprints. Later, the well-wisher will transport Che's alcoholized hands to Cuba and they will become an object of worship.
It wasn't until almost three decades later that Che's killers revealed the truth about his burial place. On October 11, the bodies of Che and six of his associates were buried in a mass grave, razed to the ground and covered with asphalt on the runway of the airfield near the village of Valle Grande. Later, when the remains of the fallen guerrillas are brought to Havana, the skeleton with the tag "E-2" is identified as the remains of Che.
The solemn funeral of Che took place on the eve of the opening of the Fifth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba. A week of mourning was declared. Obelisks, memorial plaques, posters with Che's motto: "Always to victory!" Hundreds of thousands of Cubans walked in silence past seven containers of polished wood.
The partisans were buried three hundred kilometers east of Havana, in the center of the province of Las Villas, the city of Santa Clara, where Che won his most brilliant victory.
Ernesto Che Guevara has been dead for over 40 years. His great contemporaries, such as Charles de Gaulle and Mao Zedong, John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, took their places of honor in the textbooks of world history, and Che is still an idol... Why?
Who is Che Guevara?
Che Guevara - Latin American revolutionary, commander of the Cuban Revolution of 1959. Full name Ernesto Guevara de la Serna Linch or in Spanish Ernesto Guevara de la Serna Linch.
To understand the unusual popularity of Che Guevara, one must delve into the biography of this Latin American revolutionary, popular for so many years. I tried to collect the most interesting and unusual facts from the life of Che Guevara.
1. The distant ancestor of Che's mother was General José de la Serna e Hinojosa, Viceroy of Peru.
2. Ernesto Che Guevara's childhood name was Tete, which means "pig" * is a diminutive of Ernesto.
He later received the nickname Borov:
“And of course Ernesto continued to play rugby with the Granado brothers. His friend Barral spoke of Guevara as the most gambler on the team, although he still always carried an inhaler with him to games.
It was then that he earned a rude nickname, which, however, he was very proud of:
“- They called me Borov.
- Because you were fat?
No, because I was dirty.
Fear of cold water, which sometimes caused asthma attacks, gave rise to Ernesto's dislike for personal hygiene. (Paco Ignacio Taibo)
3. For the first two years of school, Che Guevara could not attend school and studied at home, as he suffered from daily asthma attacks. The first attack of bronchial asthma happened to Ernesto Che Guevara at the age of two, and this disease haunted him until the end of his life.
4. Ernesto entered Dean Funes State College only at 30 and all because of the aforementioned asthma at 14 years old.
5. Che Guevara was born in Argentina, and became interested in Cuba at the age of 11, when the Cuban chess player Capablanca arrived in Buenos Aires. Ernesto was very passionate about chess.
6. Starting from the age of 4, Guevara became passionately interested in reading, since there was a library of several thousand books in the house of Che's parents.
7. Ernesto Che Guevara was very fond of poetry and even composed poetry himself.
8. Che was strong in the exact sciences, especially in mathematics, but chose the profession of a doctor.
9. Che Guevara in his youth was fond of football (however, like most boys in Argentina), rugby, horseback riding, golf, gliding and loved to travel by bike.
10. The name of Che Guevara appeared in the newspapers for the first time not in connection with the revolutionary events, but when he made a tour of four thousand kilometers on a moped, traveling all over South America.
11. Che Guevara wanted to devote his life to treating lepers in South America, like Albert Schweitzer, whose authority he bowed to.
12. In the 40s, Ernesto even worked as a librarian.
13. On his first second trip to South America, Che Guevara and the doctor of biochemistry Alberto Granados (do you remember that Che wanted to devote his life to treating lepers?) earned money for food by doing odd jobs: they washed dishes in restaurants, treated peasants, or acted as veterinarians, repaired radios, worked as loaders, porters or sailors.
14. When Che and Alberto got to Brazil Colombia they were arrested for looking suspicious and tired. But the police chief, being a football fan familiar with Argentina's football success, released them after learning where they were from in exchange for a promise to coach the local football team. The team won the regional championship, and the fans bought them plane tickets to the Colombian capital, Bogotá.
15. In Colombia, Guevara and Granandos again went to jail, but they were released with a promise to leave Colombia immediately.
16. Ernesto Che Guevara, not wanting to serve in the army, caused an asthma attack with an ice bath and was declared unfit for military service. As you can see, they don’t want to serve in the army, not only in our country :)
17. Che was very interested in ancient cultures, read a lot about them and often visited the ruins of the Indians of ancient civilizations.
18. Being from a bourgeois family, he, having a medical degree in his hands, sought to work in the most backward areas, even for free, in order to treat ordinary people.
19. Ernesto once came to the conclusion that in order to be a successful and rich doctor, it is not necessary to be a privileged specialist, but to serve the ruling classes and invent useless medicines for imaginary patients. But Che believed that he was obliged to devote himself to improving the living conditions of the broad masses.
20. On June 17, 1954, the armed groups of Armas from Honduras invaded the territory of Guatemala, the executions of supporters of the Arbenz government and the bombing of the capital and other cities of Guatemala began. Ernesto Che Guevara asked to be sent to the fighting area and called for the creation of a militia.
21. “Compared to me, he was a more advanced revolutionary,” recalls Fidel Castro.
22. Che Guevara learned to smoke cigars in Cuba to ward off annoying mosquitoes.
23. Che did not shout at anyone, and did not allow mockery, but often used strong words in conversation, and was very sharp, "when necessary."
24. On June 5, 1957, Fidel Castro singled out a convoy led by Che Guevara consisting of 75 fighters. Che was awarded the rank of commandant (major). It should be noted that during the revolution in Cuba in 1956-1959, the commandant was the highest rank among the rebels, who deliberately did not assign each other a higher military rank. The most famous commandantes are Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos.
25. As a Marxist, Ernesto Che Guevara reproached the "fraternal" socialist countries (USSR and China) for imposing on the poorest countries conditions of commodity exchange similar to those dictated by imperialism in the world market.
26. Che Guevara in the early 1950s jokingly signs the letters "Stalin II".
27. During his life, Che, leading partisan detachments, was wounded in battle 2 times. Che wrote to his parents after the second wound: “he used up two, five remained,” meaning that he, like a cat, had seven lives.
28. Ernesto Che Guevara was shot by Bolivian army sergeant Mario Teran, who pulled out a short straw in a dispute between soldiers for the honor of killing Che. The sergeant was ordered to fire carefully in order to simulate death in battle. This was done to avoid the accusation that Che was executed without trial or investigation.
29. After the death of Che, many Latin Americans began to consider him a saint and addressed him as “San Ernesto de La Higuera”.
30. Che is traditionally, with all monetary reforms, depicted on the front side of a banknote in denominations of three Cuban pesos.
31. The world-famous two-color portrait of Che Guevara full face, has become a symbol of the romantic revolutionary movement. The portrait was created by Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick from a 1960 photograph taken by Cuban photographer Alberto Korda. Che's beret shows the asterisk José Marti, the hallmark of the Comandante, received from Fidel Castro in July 1957 along with this title.
32. The famous song "Hasta Siempre Comandante" ("Comandante forever"), contrary to popular belief, was written by Carlos Puebla before the death of Che Guevara, and not after.
33. According to legend, Fidel Castro, having gathered his associates, asked them a simple question: “Is there at least one economist among you? On hearing "communist" instead of "economist", Che was the first to raise his hand. And then it was too late to retreat.
* Many thanks for pointing out the inaccuracies in the text to Alexander, the author of the project about Che Guevara. I deliberately left the original text for the story crossed out as an edification that open sources do not always indicate the correct facts and they need to be verified.
You can buy T-shirts with Che Guevara, as well as badges, mugs, baseball caps by clicking on the banner below. High quality and affordable, I recommend! 
In the Heroes section, we wrote about cultural figures, businessmen, athletes, but we never wrote about real heroes, whose life is a tribute to ideals and a struggle for justice. Are you saying you're a superhero? Well, Che Guevara was him. Take away the skepticism for a minute, let's look at his life, and not at the notorious Cuban revolution, to be convinced of this. Che is not just a guy who ran through the jungle with a machine gun, for which he received a place on a T-shirt. It's something more.
A family
Ernesto Rafael "Che" Guevara Lynch de la Serna was born in sultry Argentina and had nothing to do with Cuba until the revolution. An insane mixture of blood raged in his blood, where, in addition to different nationalities, different classes mixed up. Mother came from an old aristocratic family, and father was a descendant of Creoles and one fugitive Irish rebel. So it is clear in whose footsteps little Ernesto followed. The mother inherited a good plantation of the famous mate, and while she, the favorite of Argentine bohemia, communicated with artists and troubadours, her husband, having retrained from an architect to landowners, mindful of his roots (which were similar to the roots of plantation workers), began to these same workers pay wages not with food, as was customary, but with money.
The neighboring planters did not like the reforms of the young upstart, as the workers, realizing where conditions were sweeter, fled en masse to the de la Serna plantation. But the intrigues of the planters turned out to be stronger, and the family had to move to the second largest city of glorious Argentina - Rosario, where Ernesto was born. There, the family opened a mate processing factory, but, alas, things did not work out. A crisis broke out, and the factory went bankrupt, after which Rafael Guevara - Che's father - vowed to ever do business. When the news reached him that Che had become the Minister of Economy of Cuba, he only laughed and said that it would not end well, that the Guevara family had very crappy economists.
As a result, the family moved to Cordoba, but not because of financial difficulties - there was another reason. Little Ernesto went with his nanny to the river, but, having lost his balance, fell into the icy water, receiving an unpleasant souvenir in the form of asthma for the rest of his heroic life. It was asthma that prevented the fiery revolutionary from becoming a great speaker, he was still a man of action. Although, it must be admitted, his style was good, as evidenced by his letters. In any case, there were enough words to cheer up their comrades during the battle.
If you take a closer look at the glorious Guevara family, it becomes clear where such an inflamed sense of justice and craving for eternal struggle come from. Let's take a look at Argentina during Che's childhood - a kind of piece of Europe in wild Latin America. In addition to the sultry tango, it was famous for its incredibly developed economy, thanks to which, by 1930, it became one of the richest countries. This attracted millions of immigrants, mainly from Italy and Spain, who professed the principles of classical fascism. The leader of Argentina, Juan Peron, also supported the Nazis, with which the older Guevara did not agree. Generals who volunteered in the Spanish Civil War and talked about the horrors that prevailed in the Pyrenees often dined in their house. It was then that Che began to form an opinion. Guevara were a kind of oppositionists who criticized the political regime in every possible way. Fortunately, they did not occupy high positions: Rafael was a contractor, and Celia ... And Celia was a socialite, the dream of troubadours, and it is believed that one of the ideologists of feminism in Argentina. Well, is it possible to grow up as a normal person in such a rebellious family? However, Che has always been a little crazy.
How the character was tempered
If you begin to tremble with indignation at every injustice, then you are my comrade.
Can an asthmatic with regular attacks actively go in for sports, sending away the doctor's prohibitions? Erensto could and therefore spent most of his time playing rugby for the local team. Here the iron character was tempered, and during breaks Che ran to his bag for a saving inhaler. Then Ernesto got the first nickname, which he loved very much - Hog. Not at all because of stubbornness and madness on the rugby field, but because of one feature that our hero does not really like. As you remember, as a child, Ernesto had a sad contact with water, which not only “rewarded” him with asthma, but also beat off his love for hygiene. So here is a reference to other qualities that these animals are famous for.
But thanks to his father's upbringing, Che had a developed sense of justice. Therefore, at dances, the handsome Guevara always tried to make ugly girls happy by inviting them to dance.
He was great with girls. In his youth, he planned to marry the daughter of one of the richest landowners in the province of Cordoba. True, he himself did not like his future father-in-law, as he appeared at dinner parties in shabby clothes and shaggy, which contrasted with the offspring of wealthy families who sought her hand, and with the typical appearance of Argentine young people of that time. Their relationship was hampered by Che's desire to devote his life to the treatment of lepers in South America, and indeed, too spoiled girl to be the wife of a revolutionary.
However, this phrase says about Che's relationship with the female sex:
A man should not live his whole life with only one woman. A man would be simply an animal, imposing this restriction on himself, which, however, he regularly violates - hiding or openly.
Che found his wives on a campaign. There he found his only official wife, Aleida March, who gave him four children. And how many fighting girlfriends there were - history is silent.
Che studied badly, studying only what he liked. "A talented threesome" - that's what biographers call him. Despite bad grades, he was fluent in French and read Sartre in the original.
Later they will meet and have a long conversation, after which Sartre will call him "an intellectual and the most perfect man of our era." But that's later, but for now Che goes to Buenos Aires, where he decides to study to be a doctor. Propaganda attributes this impulse to the desire to help people. In fact, he just wanted to know the secret to curing the asthma that tormented him. However, studies do not fascinate him as much as the thirst for travel and fashionable political trends. He satisfied his first thirst by getting a job as a sailor on an oil tanker from Argentina, visited the island of Trinidad and British Guiana.
And then there was a legendary trip to Latin America with his friend, leprologist Alberto Granado. Yes, yes, he treated for leprosy - such a bad skin disease, and not at all from a well-known site. He himself wanted to visit the leper colonies of the continent, and Che followed him. Both are more fun. Ditching a motorcycle along the way, they literally hitchhiked, eating mate and fantasizing about the future at the sacrifice site in Machu Picchu, treated the peasants, and many times they were detained by the police for being tired, shabby. There is a story about one of the arrests. While in Brazil, the police, having learned that tourists from Argentina, set the condition that they would release the prisoners if they prepared the local team for the regional championship. The fact is that in the early 50s, Uruguay and Argentina were considered the two greatest football powers in America. Apparently, the Brazilians believed that everyone played in Argentina. And so it was, Ernesto played in the city team, although he rarely entered the field - all damn asthma. Surprisingly, the asthmatic Guevara trained to victory.
A wonderful film "Che Guevara: The Motorcycle Diaries" was shot about this trip. It was filmed according to the very notes that Che kept during the trip. An excellent guide turned out, I tell you. But that's not why travel is given so much attention. After him, having admired how the rich oppress the poor, Che began to take an active interest in the right revolutionary cause.
Struggle
Hasta la victoria siempre. Patria o muerte.
Before going down in history as a fighter for justice, Che communicated with almost all the revolutionaries of Latin America, visited Guatemala, where he was disliked by the local authorities, moved to Mexico, worked as a laboratory assistant, loader, watchman, wrote articles, read like a damned, communicated with people until he came across the Castro brothers. Ernesto didn't care who to fight for. He did not leave the thought of a successful world revolution. Imbued with the speeches of one of the most brilliant orators in history, Che agreed to fight for an island completely alien to him. True, it is not known who impressed whom more: Fidel on Che or vice versa. The detachment needed a doctor, and Che agreed, running to the wharf to the already sailing ship with the sweet and eloquent name "Granma" ("Grandmother").
While swimming, Guevara suffered an asthma attack. Everyone immediately thought that it was necessary to send the sickly doctor back to land, but Che insisted on his own, courageously hiding the attacks that tormented his lungs throughout the war.
Writing about a victorious revolution is a thankless task. You yourself know everything about this. Che, who did not serve in the army, became one of the best field commanders of the revolution. He was harsh but fair. He shot traitors, rewarded heroes. Based on personal experience, he wrote a treatise "Guerrilla Warfare" on how to arrange world peace with two rusty machine guns. So if you're thinking of starting a coup, read the manual.
When peace and justice came to Cuba, the charismatic leader and field commander became something of a pop star. Che did not like this arrangement. He was drawn to the battle, to the jungle, to fight injustice. The post of Minister of Economy did not bring satisfaction. He actually got it by accident. Just when Fidel asked if there were economists among them, Che raised his hand, because he heard "communists." However, he did not refuse. But all attempts to sell sugar, visits to friendly countries (including the USSR) disappointed him completely. Not what he expected, he even stopped signing with the bright pseudonym "Stalin II". He considered himself a true Marxist, one of the last. He was drawn into battle, into the thick of it, into the thick of it. Accusing the USSR of imperialism, making sure that after the revolution bureaucrats, not revolutionaries, get down to business, he leaves to fight for justice in the Congo.
After the revolution, it is not the revolutionaries who do the work. It is done by technocrats and bureaucrats. And they are counter-revolutionaries.
But then there was a problem. If you put monkeys behind a typewriter, sooner or later they will type Shakespeare. If you give the Congolese machine guns, they will shoot themselves. With such discipline and with such an approach, a revolution cannot be made, and he turned his gaze to Bolivia.
Ah, Bolivia! One of the poorest and most ridiculous Latin American countries: impoverished peasants and impenetrable jungle. However, this time the heroic fervor was not enough. The Bolivian army was actively supported by instructors from the United States. The forces were too unequal, and the peasants, learning that, it turns out, it was necessary to fight for freedom, they fled from the detachment. The agent network was failed, there were only traitors around, and it goes without saying that the detachment was ambushed. They put almost everyone, Che survived. Being unarmed and wounded, he shouted the legendary during his arrest:
"Do not shoot! I am Che Guevara, and I am worth more alive than dead.”
Of course, the CIA tried in every possible way to interrogate him and find out where the others were hiding. But if you believe in your cause, if not blood flows through your veins, but real courage, you are not afraid of anything. Rather, the Bolivians were afraid of him than he was of them. Even in captivity, the beast is dangerous. Even during interrogation. So Che hit the Bolivian officer Espinosa against the wall after he entered the school and tried to snatch the pipe from the smoking Che's mouth as a souvenir for himself. In another case of defiance, Che Guevara spat in the face of Bolivian Rear Admiral Ugarteche, who tried to question him hours before his execution.
A few minutes before the execution, one of the soldiers guarding him asked Che if he thought about his immortality.
"No," replied Che, "I am thinking about the immortality of the revolution."
There is an opinion that the unfortunate sergeant Teran, who by lot fell to execute Che, received from the fiery revolutionary the canonical phrase:
I know you came to kill me. Shoot. Do this. Shoot me, coward! You will only kill a human!
But believe me, Che was too calm and balanced. He spoke quite calmly with the soldiers, did not lose his composure even after spending the night in the room where the two corpses of his comrades lay. Here is such a seasoned man. So Ernesto Rafael “Che” Guevara Lynch de la Serna said to his trembling executioner: “Calm down and aim well. Now you are going to kill a man." Still, the Comandante is something more than just a person. True, this did not help, rather, it frightened Teran even more, who first put bullets into his arms and legs, and only then into his chest.
"There was no man more feared by the CIA than Che Guevara, because he had the capacity and the charisma necessary to lead the fight against the political repression of the traditional power hierarchies in the countries of Latin America."
Philip Agee, CIA agent who fled to Cuba
Life after death
Tell Fidel that the revolution is not over, it will triumph anyway! Tell Aleyda to get married again, be happy and make sure the children study well. And order the soldiers to aim well.
Now the name of Che Guevara is shrouded in a halo of heroism. Absolutely deserved. He can be considered a murderer, a flayer, a fool, but one cannot blame him for one thing: he was incredibly honest. And the mind and honesty, backed up by brilliant intellect and courage, give birth to the very “superman” that Sartre spoke about. The last romantic of the revolution, he delights the whole world, even those against whom he fought, also because he has crystal clear motives. He didn't need power. He really wanted to see justice. But apparently, justice is impossible in this world, and anyone who fights for it will die as proudly as Che himself. It is for this that Che deserves respect. There are very, very few such people, but they are vital to this misguided world.
Now Che Guevara is a brand. But it would be nice for those who wear T-shirts with his symbols to know what kind of person he was.
In the town of La Higuerra, where he was shot, Che is the locally revered saint "San Ernesto de La Higuera", in Pelevin's book his spirit denounces the motives of human activity, and in general Che is the true spirit of the Cuban Revolution shrouded in romantic veil. Well, the most important confirmation that the people loved the commandant is creativity. And confirmation of this is not only the iconic picture of the Cuban photographer Korda, but also hundreds of sad songs, the most famous of which is this one, performed by Kalos Puebla.
There are not many historical figures who could compete with Ernesto Che Guevara (full name Ernesto Rafael Guevara Lynch de la Serna) in popularity. He is perhaps the most famous revolutionary of the 20th century. After his death, he turned into a real symbol of revolution and protest. The Comandante's portrait can be seen on souvenirs, T-shirts, baseball caps, bags and backpacks, on the signs of cafes and nightclubs named after him. The image of Che retains its appeal even today - it is still romantic and interesting. At the same time, people who adorn themselves with accessories with his portrait sometimes know almost nothing about what kind of person he was, against whom he fought and what inspired him to fight.
Childhood and youth of the future Comandante
Ernesto Guevara was born on June 14, 1928 in Argentina, the son of the respected architect Ernesto Guevara Lynch. That is, in 2018, if he lived to this day, he could have turned ninety years old.
From early childhood, Che Guevara became interested in reading, this was facilitated by the fact that there was a library in the parental home, which included thousands of books. Poetry was his special passion, he read it in large quantities, and even himself, when he became an adult, composed poetry. In addition, from an early age, Ernesto was fond of chess. It is known that he was greatly impressed by the Cuban chess player Capablanca, who once came to Buenos Aires. Little Ernesto did not yet know that soon he would write his name forever in the history of Cuba - the Island of Freedom.
In 1946, Ernesto became a student - he entered the medical faculty of the University of Buenos Aires. Che Guevara wanted to devote himself to the treatment of people affected by leprosy (the young man was inspired by the example of Albert Schweitzer, a German doctor who built a hospital on the territory of the modern African state of Gabon and treated local residents for many years).
As a student, Che Guevara was involved in equestrian sports, cycling, gliding, football and rugby. There is evidence that the future revolutionary, together with like-minded people, founded the first rugby magazine in Argentina. Tackle("Throw"). There Che Guevara wrote sports notes and signed them with a pseudonym Chang-cho.
By nature, Che Guevara, of course, was an incorrigible adventurer. And this manifested itself even in those years when he was studying to be a doctor. In 1950, student Ernesto enlisted on a cargo ship as a sailor and thus traveled to several islands, such as Trinidad. In the same year, he made a tour of 12 Argentine provinces on a moped, which was squeezed out to him by the Mikron company for advertising purposes.
Later, he made a couple more trips to South America - 1952 and 1953-1954 (and between these trips, Guevara just received an official medical diploma). On the road, Che Guevara often saw the terrible poverty and lack of rights of ordinary people, and this, against the backdrop of the luxurious life of the elites, seemed to him extremely unfair. Latin America at that time was called the "backyard of the United States" - here the US intelligence agencies often contributed to the establishment of dictatorial regimes, which primarily protected the interests of American corporations represented in the region.
In 1954, the traveling Ernesto, succumbing to the persuasion of a random fellow traveler, ended up in Guatemala, where Jacobo Arbenz was president at that time. Árbenz was a socialist, legalized all left-wing parties in the country and began to carry out progressive reforms for his time.
It was in Guatemala that Che Guevara met his first wife, revolutionary Ilda Gadea. Ilda soon gave birth to a daughter from Che Guevara, but this marriage as a whole did not last too long. Here, in Guatemala, he met Cuban emigrants - supporters of Fidel Castro and his revolutionary 26 July Movement.
Che Guevara - Hero of the Cuban Revolution
In June 1954, a CIA-inspired military coup took place in Guatemala. As a result, President Árbenz was forced to resign. And Guevara was soon included by the new authorities of this Central American state in the list of "dangerous communists who are subject to liquidation." But thanks to the efforts of the Argentine embassy staff, he managed to leave the country.
But he did not go home, but to Mexico. Here Ernesto Guevara worked for about two years as a doctor at the Institute of Cardiology. And it was during this period (more specifically, in 1955) that he met directly with Fidel Castro. At that time, Fidel was just preparing an operation in Cuba. According to eyewitnesses, the two men talked all night and the next morning Che Guevara decided to join Castro's detachment.
In November 1956, a group of 82 revolutionaries, among whom was Ernesto, set off on the Granma yacht to the coast of Cuba in order to launch an attack against the Batista dictatorship. Only a month later the yacht reached its destination. However, at the landing site, the detachment expected an unpleasant meeting with an enemy military group of many thousands, which had tanks, ships and aircraft. As a result, almost half of the detachment died in the first battle, and more than twenty people were captured.
However, a small group of rebels, in which Ernesto turned out to be, managed to get lost in the mangroves and go to the mountains of the Sierra Maestra - these beautiful mountains became a shelter for the revolutionaries for a long time. Cuban peasants, on the whole, accepted the members of the Castro detachment in a friendly manner and settled them in their homes. In addition, many local residents joined the revolutionaries, became part of the rebel armed formation.
During the years of the guerrilla war in Cuba, Guevara learned to smoke cigars - this helped drive away mosquitoes in the forests. By the way, the nickname "Che" Guevara was also given on the Island of Freedom - he often used this word in his speech. “Che” is an Argentinean interjection, an abbreviated and colloquial form from the verb “escuche” (“listen”, that is, an analogue of the Russian “hear”). Ernesto very often uttered this word, referring to his comrades. He himself did not object to such a nickname. After all, it emphasized his connection with his homeland - sunny Argentina.
In the summer of 1957, Castro awarded Che Guevara the rank of major (commandante) and made him the commander of a revolutionary army unit. Despite his severe asthma attacks, Che Guevara made forced marches on a par with the rest. Those who fought with Guevara in Cuba also recall that, as a commander, he did not shout at anyone and did not allow mockery, but he often used strong words in conversation and could be very harsh when necessary.
Comandante as statesman
Surprisingly, a small detachment, which arrived from Mexico on just one yacht, eventually managed to topple the Batista regime. It happened at the very beginning of 1959. After the revolution won, Che Guevara received Cuban citizenship and married a second time. His second wife was Aleida March, an active participant in the July 26 Movement. Guevara had 4 children from this marriage.
Then Che Guevara was the head of the garrison of the fortress of La Cabaña in Havana, participated in the implementation of agrarian reform, served as president of the National Bank of Cuba, and then minister of industry of the Island of Liberty ...
The opinion that Che Guevara performed his duties in these positions through the sleeves is generally not true - a smart, well-educated Argentine proved to be a decent professional who delved into the nuances of any business that was assigned to him.
By 1964, Che Guevara was already a well-known politician all over the world. He visited many countries on business trips - he visited Czechoslovakia, the GDR, China, North Korea, Egypt and the USSR (he was here several times). His anti-American speech at the XIX UN General Assembly, delivered on December 11, 1964, gained great resonance.
At some point, Che Guevara apparently realized that the career of an official was not for him. He felt like a citizen of the world and strove to continue the struggle for the victory of socialism in other parts of the world. And in the spring of 1965, having written letters to his parents, his children, and also to Fidel Castro, he quietly leaves Cuba.
Che Guevara in Congo and Bolivia
Together with detachments of 150 black Cuban volunteers, he goes to the Congo, where at that time the so-called Simba uprising was going on - a major anti-government demonstration in several regions of the country. However, the operation in the Congo did not work out from the very beginning - failures happened one after another. Yes, and Guevara's relationship with the local rebels, whose leader was Laurent-Desire Kabila, could not be called simple.
In the first battle, which took place on June 20, the forces of the rebels and Cubans suffered an unfortunate defeat. Guevara soon came to the conclusion that it was unrealistic to win the war with such allies, and soon he had to stop the operation. In his diary, he himself admitted that his mission in the Congo was a failure.
After some time, the restless Che again tried to raise a revolutionary uprising - this time in Bolivia. He arrived there in November 1966. Moreover, back in the spring, at the request of Castro, the Bolivian communists specially acquired land here to create bases where, under the control of the commandant, the partisans could be trained.
The detachment of Che Guevara, who arrived in Bolivia, consisted of 50 people. He was well equipped and was able to carry out several successful attacks against regular troops in the highlands of the Camiri region.
Of course, the appearance of the famous rebel scared the Bolivian authorities, and therefore they asked for help from the United States. Armed forces were sent to Bolivia from almost all the then-existing dictatorial regimes in South America. CIA agents were also looking for the location of the National Liberation Army of Bolivia (the so-called combat organization Comandante). A real hunt began for the commandant, and this put him in a very difficult position. In addition, Che did not take into account that the local population in Bolivia at that time did not support the left very much.
In Bolivia, Che kept a very active diary, in which he focused on analyzing the shortcomings and mistakes of the partisans. During August and September 1967, the Bolivian army managed to detect and eliminate two rebel groups, including one of the leaders, Juan "Joaquina" Acuña Nunez, was killed. Che, however, was not going to give up. He continued to cheer up his comrades and, if necessary, provide medical assistance to them, as well as to captured soldiers of the enemy army, whom, by the way, after that he often released.
Capture and execution of Che Guevara
At the very beginning of October 1967, Ciro Bustos, who agreed to cooperate with the Bolivian troops, named the place where Che Guevara could be. And soon the special forces really found the camp of the commandant. The commandos attacked unexpectedly: a firefight ensued, Che was wounded and his rifle was disabled by a bullet. But it was possible to grab an experienced revolutionary only when the cartridges in his pistol ran out. Che was tied up and brought to the village of La Higuera.
Ernesto spent the night of October 9 in the small building of the local school, while the authorities, meanwhile, decided what to do with the inflexible rebel. It is not completely known who exactly made the decision to execute, but officially this order was only signed by the head of the Bolivian government, René Ortunho. The direct executor was chosen by lot - and it so happened that a sergeant named Mario Teran pulled out a short straw.
When this sergeant entered the room where Che Guevara was kept, the commandant immediately understood everything. He, keeping calm, stood in front of the executioner, who, on the contrary, was very nervous, his hands were even trembling. Then Che said: "Shoot, coward!", and Teran began to shoot - he fired as many as nine bullets at the commandant.
Guevara's dead body was flown by helicopter to the tiny town of Vallegrande, where it was shown to locals and media representatives. And then something unplanned happened: the Bolivian peasants, who had previously been wary of Guevara, looking at the body of a revolutionary who died in the struggle for a better life for them, considered him a saint.
The body of Che Guevara was buried secretly, and for a long time its whereabouts were unknown. However, in 1997, a man named Mario Vargas Salinas, who participated in the capture of Che, admitted that the remains of the commandant and six of his comrades should be looked for under the runway of a small airfield in Vallegrande. Indeed, they were found there and transported to Cuba, after which they were buried with honors in a beautiful mausoleum in Santa Clara - it was in this city that the detachment under the command of Che won a major victory during the revolution in Cuba.
The famous portrait of Che and the memory of the commander
Comandante Che Guevara lived a short but colorful life. He was remembered as a selfless and disinterested fighter, for whom power was not an end in itself, he was honest with people to the end and unconditionally believed in his ideals.
Surely everyone has seen the famous two-tone portrait created by artist Jim Fitzpatrick based on the photo "Heroic Guerrilla". And this photo itself was taken by Cuban Alberto Korda at a rally on March 5, 1960, and it was taken almost by accident.
Over the years, Fitzpatrick's portrait has become a symbol of revolutionary romance, but now it has largely lost its meaning and is often used in contexts that are inappropriate and far from Guevara's personality.
On October 8, Cuba celebrates the Day of the Heroic Guerrilla - on this day it is customary in the country to remember Comandante Guevara and his legendary exploits. And in the schools of the Island of Freedom, lessons begin with the song "We will be like Che." In addition, Comandante Guevara is depicted on the front of the three Cuban peso bills.
In Argentina, the birthplace of the revolutionary, there are also many museums dedicated to him. And in the city of Rosario there is even a four-meter-high bronze statue of Che, it was installed here not so long ago - in 2008.
And one more amazing fact: among the Bolivian hard workers, Che Guevara, who during his lifetime was a staunch atheist, is still revered as a saint, they call him San Ernesto de La Higuera (Saint Ernesto of Igera). Ordinary people turn to him with prayers and ask for intercession and help.
Documentary "Che Guevara As You've Never Seen Him"