Page 179 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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Guevara, Ernesto (Che) (1928–1967)———155

See also ANTIABORTION MOVEMENT; PAUL HILL There, in 1955, Guevara met Fidel Castro, who had
already made one abortive attempt to overthrow the
Further Reading Batista regime in Cuba. The two men became close
friends, and when Castro and his ragtag band of rebels
Baird-Windle, Patricia, and Eleanor J. Bader. Targets of
Hatred: Anti-Abortion Terrorism. New York: Palgrave, returned to Cuba in December 1956, Guevara went
2001. with them. He became Castro’s second-in-command,
and his ideological fervor and tactical theories (made
famous in his 1960 book, La Guerra de Guerrillas,or
GSG-9. See GRENZSCHUTZGRUPPE 9. Guerrilla Warfare) shaped the Cuban Revolution. In
January 1959, Castro and his followers overturned
the Batista regime. Guevara spent five years in Cuba,
where he took charge of economic development.
GUEVARA, ERNESTO (CHE) Guevara’s unbending radicalism and hard-line anti-
American views soon irritated Cuba’s Soviet support-
(1928–1967)
ers, and a rift grew between Guevara and Castro. In
1965, a frustrated Guevara left Cuba, hoping to inspire
Che Guevara was a Latin American Marxist guer- Cuban-style revolutions in other third world countries.
rilla who helped lead the Cuban revolution and The main tenets of Guevara’s revolutionary theory
attempted to instigate communist revolutions in held that a foquista or foco (focal point) of hardened
several other countries. His political theories and guerrillas operating in the countryside should be used
adventurous life have inspired many followers. to crystallize opposition to a ruling regime among
Guevara was born to middle-class parents in Rosario, the peasantry; by this method, a very small number of
Argentina, on May 14, 1928. (His birth certificate, actual fighters could mobilize opposition without
forged to avoid scandal, states June 14, 1928.) At the age needing to confront the state military head on. Looking
of two, Guevara developed the asthma that would haunt for a suitable country to try to repeat his success, he
him throughout his life. Guevara’s liberal, intellectual and a small band of supporters traveled first to the
parents fostered his pursuit of knowledge. Guevara Democratic Republic of Congo, which was then in
excelled at school, displaying an early interest in both the midst of a civil war. Guevara found the Congolese
politics and athletics—he was a passionate rugby guerrillas undisciplined and ineffectual, and after six
player, a remarkable achievement given his asthma. months he left the country. After a brief stop in Cuba,
Graduating from secondary school with honors, in in March 1966 he traveled incognito to Bolivia to
1947 Guevara went on to medical school. In 1952, attempt another revolution.
before completing his studies, he set off with a friend Bolivia, too, would prove unripe for revolution.
for several months, traveling through Argentina, Both the local peasantry and the Bolivian Communist
Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela on a motor- Party were suspicious and resentful of Guevara and
cycle. Traveling without much money, his journeys his Cuban guerrillas; Guevara’s asthma began to trou-
took him among the slums and rural villages of Latin ble him, and he spent long periods incapacitated and
America, where he witnessed the poverty and oppres- unable to organize his troops. Desperate, Guevara
sion of the people by the ruling elites and North made a number of tactical errors that put the Bolivian
American plantation owners. Army on his scent; as the Bolivian mission began to
After passing his final examinations in 1953, seem more and more futile, even Castro dropped his
Guevara spent time in Bolivia and Guatemala, where support. In October 1967, Guevara was captured and
in May 1954 he witnessed the CIA-sponsored coup killed. Fearful that news of his death would spark
that toppled Guatemala’s leftist government. (While in massive unrest, the Bolivian authorities buried him in
Guatemala he acquired the nickname Che, which is an unmarked grave; his remains were finally recov-
Argentine slang for “Hey, you.”) These experiences ered and transported to Cuba in 1997.
transformed him into an ardent Marxist. Expelled from After his death, and in part thanks to Cuban propa-
Guatemala in the aftermath of the coup, he soon trav- ganda, Guevara became a legendary figure, a martyr to
eled to Mexico City, by now determined to become a his ideals who embodied the romance of the revolu-
revolutionary. tion. His treatises on guerrilla warfare and communist