Yesterday in GCSE history we talked about the Cuban revolution (1953-59). It made me think of Che Guevara. He was a Marxist revolutionary who played a key role in the Cuban revolution and new Cuban government.

You may not know his story, but you probably do know his face. When I was young, I saw Guevara’s face everywhere. His image was used on t-shirts, bags, and many other things. It’s quite ironic that millions of Guevara products were produced by exploited workers in sweat shops and then sold to many oblivious customers which resulted in huge profits for large corporations. So, in order to save a bit of his legacy, who was Che Guevara?

Ernesto Guevara was born in Argentina in 1928. He was a smart kid who grew up comfortably in an upper middle-class family. As a medicine student, he made an 8000km long journey on a motorcycle through South America with a good friend. He wrote a famous diary about this which was turned into a movie in 2004. (‘The motorcycle diaries’, recommend)

During this long road trip Guevara noticed a lot of poverty and misery everywhere in South America and under the influence of his travel buddy Guevara became a convinced Marxist. Back in Argentina he finished his studies and started a second long journey. He eventually ended up in Guatemala where the centre-left president was planning to reform the country to improve people’s lives. However, this president was overthrown by a CIA backed coup after a successful lobby of the United Fruit Company (Chiquita).

After the events in Guatemala, Guevara develops a hatred for the US and is convinced that they will oppose any left leaning government in Latin-America, which turned out to be quite true. He dedicates his life to the Marxist cause and spends more than a decade building a communist Cuba. In 1966, Guevara decides to leave Cuba and support revolutions elsewhere. In 1967 he was arrested in a CIA backed operation in Bolivia and summarily executed.

Following his death, Guevara became a symbol for anti-Americanism, the left-wing struggle, and injustice. Over time the message has been largely lost, but his image remains. 

Originally posted on Instagram on April 30, 2022