Paris was Saint-Just, at the guerrilleros of Havana - Che Guevara, Latin American Nechaev.
Ernesto Guevara comes from a bourgeois family, was born in 1928 in Buenos Aires. Even before receiving his medical degree, this fragile bourgeois youth, prone to vagrancy and suffering from chronic asthma, managed to drive a moped from the pampas of Argentina to the jungles of Central America. In the early 1950s, he found himself in Guatemala, where the government of Jacobo Arbenz was overthrown by American intervention. There, Guevara learned to hate the United States. “For ideological reasons, I am of the opinion that the solution to the problems of our world is carried out on the other side of the so-called iron curtain,” he wrote to one of his friends in 1957. In 1955, in Mexico, at night, he meets a young Cuban lawyer who, while in exile, is preparing a revolutionary detachment for the invasion of his native Cuba - this is Fidel Castro. Guevara decides to side with the Cubans, with whom and lands on the island in December 1956. Che Guevara was appointed commandant of the "column" in the partisan detachment, and he immediately showed an extraordinary severity of disposition. One boy-guerillero from his column for petty theft of food was shot on the spot without trial or investigation. This "ardent supporter of authoritarianism", who planted the communist revolution everywhere, often had to deal with the Cuban commandant of a more democratic orientation, outraged by his lust for power.
Che Guevara
In the fall of 1958, he opens a second front on the Las Villas plain, in the central part of the island. In Santa Clara, he brilliantly carries out an attack on a train with reinforcements sent against the revolutionaries by a dictator Batista... The military fled, fleeing the battle. After the seizure of power by the supporters of Castro, Che Guevara assumed the powers of a revolutionary "prosecutor" - now the outcome of requests for clemency from political prisoners depends on him. Kabana's prison, where he performs clergy, examining all cases and almost never pardoning anyone, becomes the site of numerous executions, many of whose victims are old comrades who previously fought alongside Castro, but remained democrats.
After being appointed to the posts of Minister of National Industry and President of the National Bank of Cuba, he implements the "Soviet model" of the economy in Cuba. Verbally expressing contempt for money, but living in the most prestigious neighborhoods of Havana, this Minister of Industry, deprived of the most elementary representations O economic activity, eventually ruins the National Bank. He really likes to establish "voluntary Sunday work" - the fruit of his admiration for the USSR and China, he also welcomes " cultural revolution» Mao Zedong... It is he, not Fidel, who creates the first forced labor camp on the Guanaja Peninsula, or rather, a forced labor camp.
In his testament, this diligent student of the School of Terror extols "a productive hatred that turns a person into an active, violent, selective and cold-blooded killing machine." “I cannot be friends with someone who does not share my views,” admits this fanatic, who christened his son Vladimir in honor of Lenin. Dogmatic, soulless and intolerant by nature, Che (his Argentine nickname) is the exact opposite of the open and hot-blooded Cubans. In Cuba, he becomes one of the initiators of the recruitment of young people who are ready to sacrifice on the altar of the cult of the new man.
Obsessed with the idea of exporting a Cuban-style revolution, this anti-Americanist, blinded by hatred, sought to spread guerrilla (guerrilla warfare) throughout the world, as he put it in May 1967: "Create two, three ... many Vietnam!" In 1963, Che went to Algeria, then to Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and finally ends up in the Congo, where his paths intersect with the notorious Marxist Desiree Kabila, who ruled in Zaire and did not disdain mass beatings of the civilian population.
Castro used Che Guevara for tactical purposes. When their views diverged, Guevara left for Bolivia. There he tried to implement the theory of Fockism (from foco - hearth), that is, to kindle a hotbed of guerrilla warfare, in no way taking into account the special position of the Bolivian Communist Party. Finding no support from the peasants - none of them joined his mobile partisan detachment - alone and persecuted by the authorities, Che Guevara was captured and executed on October 8, 1967.
Based on materials from the Black Book of Communism.
(Spanish: Ernesto Che Guevara; full name: Ernesto Rafael Guevara de La Serna; 1928 - 1967) - legendary revolutionary, Latin American statesman, known as “ Commander of the Cuban Revolution"(Spanish Сomandante -" commander ").
In addition to Latin America, Guevara also operated in the Republic of the Congo and other countries (complete data are still classified). The nickname "Che" emphasized his Argentine origin (the interjection "Che" is a very common reference in).
In 2000, the magazine "Time" included Che Guevara in the lists of "20 heroes and icons" and "Heroes and idols of the XX century." (English TIME 100: Heroes & Icons of the 20th Century).
In 2013 (85th anniversary of the birth of Che), his manuscripts were included in the UNESCO documentary heritage, within the framework of the "Memory of the World" program.
Childhood and youth
E. Guevara was born on June 14, 1928 in (Argentina) in the family of the architect Ernesto Guevara Lynch (1900 - 1987) and Celia De La Serna. Ernesto's parents were Argentine Creoles, his father had Irish and Californian Creoles.
Having married, Celia inherited a yerba mate plantation in northeastern Argentina, in the province of Misiones (Spanish: Misiones). In an effort to improve the lives of the workers, her husband displeased local planters, and the family was forced to move to Rosario, establishing a small yerba mate processing factory there. The future legendary Che was born there.
In addition to Ernesto (in childhood, his affectionate name was Tete, in the photo is a boy in a shirt), the family had four younger children: sisters - Celia and Anna Maria, brothers - Roberto and Juan Martin. Parents gave all children higher education: daughters became architects, Roberto - a lawyer, and Juan Martin - a designer.
In 1930, 2-year-old Tete suffered a severe attack. bronchial asthma, subsequently attacks of suffocation pursued him all his life. To restore the health of the first-born, the family, having sold the estate, acquired Villa Nydia in the province of Cordoba (Spanish Cordoba), moving to a region with a healthier mountain climate (2 thousand meters above sea level). His father worked as a construction contractor, and his mother looked after a sick boy. With the change of climate, the baby's well-being did not improve, so Ernesto struggled to give every word he uttered.
The first 2 years Ernesto, due to daily seizures, studied at home, then studied at a secondary school in Alta Gracia (Spanish Alta Gracia). Having learned to read at the age of 4, Ernesto was passionately fond of reading, this love lasted all his life. The boy enthusiastically read the works of Marx, Engels, Freud, which were available in abundance in his father's library (in his parents' house there was a rich library - several thousand books). The young man also adored poetry, even wrote poetry himself; subsequently, Che Guevara's collected works (2 and 9 volumes) were published in Cuba. At the age of 10, Ernesto became interested in chess, and first became interested in Cuba when Capablanca, a famous Cuban chess player, came to visit.
Despite his illness, Tete was seriously involved in rugby, football, equestrian sports, golf, gliding, and also loved cycling.
At the age of 13, Ernesto entered State college them. Dean Funes of the city, graduating in 1945, then entered the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Buenos Aires.
In his youth, Ernesto was deeply impressed by the Spanish emigrants who fled to Argentina from repression during the civil war, as well as the chain of political crises in his native country, the apotheosis of which was the establishment of the "left-fascist" dictatorship of J. Peron. Events like these fully confirmed in the young man his contempt for parliamentary games, hatred of military dictators and the army, which is a means of achieving dirty political goals, but most of all, American imperialism, ready to commit any crime for the sake of money.
Formation of political views
The civil war that broke out in Spain caused a huge public outcry in Argentina. Ernesto's parents were ardent opponents of the regime: his father was a member of an organization acting against the dictatorship of Peron, and Celia was arrested more than once for participating in anti-government demonstrations in Cordoba. They even made bombs in their house for the demonstrators.
Ernesto himself, while studying at the University, was very little interested in politics, he wanted to become a doctor, dreaming of alleviating human suffering. At first, the young man was only interested in diseases. respiratory tract, because this was closest to him, but later he was interested in one of the most terrible ailments of mankind - leprosy (leprosy).
At the end of 1948 Ernesto made his first big Adventure cycling through the northern provinces of Argentina, during which he sought to get better acquainted with the life of the poorest strata of the population and the remnants of the indigenous Indian tribes, doomed by the then political regime to extinction. On this trip, he realized that the whole society in general, in which he lived, needed treatment, and realized his powerlessness in this matter as a doctor.
In 1951, after passing the exams, Ernesto went on a longer trip with his friend Alberto Granado, a biochemist. Friends stayed for the night in the field or in the forest, earning themselves a living by all kinds of occasional part-time jobs. Young people visited southern Argentina (according to some reports, there Guevara met with), Florida and Miami.
In Peru, travelers got acquainted with life and, mercilessly exploited by landowners and drowning hunger with coca leaves. In the city of Ernesto, in the local library, he read books about. Friends spent several days in the ruins ancient city Incas in Peru, in all countries they always visited leper colony, photographed a lot and kept diaries.
On his return from a 7-month trip, in August 1952, Ernesto firmly decided on main goal your life: to ease the suffering of people. He immediately began to prepare for the exams and began his thesis. In March 1953, Ernesto Guevara received a degree in skin diseases surgeon. Avoiding military service, he caused himself an asthma attack by taking an ice bath and was declared unfit for military service. With a brand new diploma as a doctor - dermatologist, Ernesto decided to devote himself to the work of a practicing doctor for 10 years and went to the Venezuelan leper colony in. Passionate about archeology, interested in friends' stories about the ancient architectural monuments of the Mayan civilization and the revolutionary events taking place in Guatemala, Guevara hurriedly headed there with like-minded people (there were written his travel notes about the ancient monuments of the Maya and Incas).
In Guatemala, Guevara worked as a doctor during the reign of the socialist president Arbenz.
Sharing Marxist beliefs and thoroughly studying Lenin's work, Ernesto, however, did not join the Communist Party for fear of losing his position as a medical worker. Then he was friends with Ilda Gadea (Marxist Indian school), who later became his wife, who introduced Ernesto to Lieutenant Antonio Lopez Fernandez (Niko) - the closest supporter of Fidel Castro.
On June 17, 1954, armed groups of Castillo Armas (Spanish: Carlos Castillo Armas; President of Guatemala from 1954 to 1957) invaded Guatemala from Honduras, arranging executions of supporters of the Arbenz government. The bombing of the cities of Guatemala began. Together with other members of the Patriotic Youth of Labor organization, Ernesto was on guard duty during the bombings, took part in the transportation of weapons, risking his life. Guevara was included in the list of "dangerous communists" to be liquidated after the overthrow of Arbenz. The Argentinean ambassador offered him asylum at the embassy, where Che took refuge with a group of Arbenz's supporters, and after his overthrow (not without the active support of the American special services), Ernesto left the country and moved to Mexico City, where from September 1954 he worked in a city hospital.
"Comandante" of the Cuban Revolution
At the end of June 1955, Cuban revolutionaries gathered in Mexico City and began preparing an expedition to Cuba, and Fidel Castro in the United States raised funds for it among Cuban emigrants.
On July 9, 1955, at the safe house, where the forthcoming hostilities in Oriente were discussed, Fidel and Che met. Fidel said that Che "was the most mature and advanced revolutionary among others." Ernesto, impressed by Castro as an "exceptional man," did not hesitate to join the fledgling squadron as a physician. The expedition was preparing for a serious struggle for the liberation of the Cuban people.
Nickname " Che“Which Guevara was proud of until the end of his life, he found it in this detachment for his typical Argentinean manner of using this exclamation when speaking.
Ernesto Che Guevara first performed the duties of a doctor in the detachment, and then headed one of the brigades, having received highest rank"Commandante" (major).
He trained the group, taught how to do injections and dressings, apply splints. The rebel camp was soon dispersed by the police. On June 22, 1956, Fidel Castro was arrested in Mexico City, then, as a result of an ambush at a safe house, Che and a group of comrades were also arrested. Guevara spent about 2 months in prison. Fidel was preparing to sail to Cuba.
On a stormy night on November 25, 1956, in Tuspan, a detachment of 82 people embarked on the Granma ship, heading for Cuba. Arriving on the Cuban coast on December 2, 1956, the Granma ran aground. The fighters reached the shore up to their shoulders in the water, boats and planes subordinate to Batista rushed to the landing site, and Castro's detachment came under fire from 35 thousand armed soldiers, tanks, coast guard ships, 10 warships, and several fighters. The group made their way for a long time through the mangroves of the boggy coast. Che was bandaging his comrades, whose legs were bleeding from the arduous campaign. Almost half of the detachment's soldiers were killed under the fire of enemy aircraft and many were captured.
Fidel said, addressing the survivors: "The enemy will not be able to destroy us, we will fight and still win this war." Cuban peasants sympathized with the members of the detachment, feeding them and sheltering them in their homes.
Illness periodically choked Che, but he stubbornly walked through the mountains in full gear. The enduring fighter with an iron will was given strength by ardent devotion to revolutionary ideas.
In the mountains of the Sierra Maestra (Spanish Sierra Maestra), suffering from asthma, Guevara sometimes slept in peasant huts so as not to delay the advance of the column. He never parted with books, a pen and a notebook for a second, read a lot, sacrificing minutes of sleep to make another entry in his diary.
On March 13, 1957, a student organization in Havana revolted in an attempt to take over the university, the radio station and the Presidential Palace. Most of the rebels died in clashes with the government army. In mid-March, Frank País (Spanish: Frank Isaac País Garcia, 1934 - 1957), a Cuban revolutionary, organizer of the underground movement, sent Fidel Castro reinforcements from 50 townspeople. The replenishment was not ready for long hikes in highlands, so it was decided to start training volunteers. To the detachment barbudos"Fidel (Spanish Barbudos -" bearded people "), who let go of beards in the field, were joined by volunteers, and weapons, money, food and medicine were delivered to them by Cuban emigrants.
Che proved himself to be a talented, decisive, courageous and successful brigade commander. Demanding, but fair to the fighters subordinate to him and merciless to the enemies, Ernesto Guevara won several victories over parts of the government army. The battle for the city of Santa Clara (Spanish Santa Clara), an important strategic point near Havana, predetermined the victory of the Cuban revolution. Began on December 28, 1958, the battle ended on December 31 with the capture of the capital of Cuba - the Revolution won, the revolutionary army entered Havana.
Rise to power in Cuba
With the coming to power of F. Castro, persecution of his political opponents began in Cuba. In Santiago de Cuba, after its occupation by the rebels, on January 12, 1959, a show trial was held over 72 police officers and other persons accused of "war crimes". All were shot. The "partisan law" abolished all legal guarantees in relation to the accused, "Che" personally instructed the judges: "They are all a gang of criminals, and we must act in accordance with conviction, not arranging red tape with legal proceedings." Ernesto Che Guevara presided over the Appeals Tribunal and, as prison commandant, personally administered the executions in the Havana prison fortress of La Cabana (Spanish: La Cabana, full name: Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabana). After the adherents of F. Castro came to power in Cuba, more than 8 thousand people were shot.
Che, the second person (after Fidel) in the new government, was given Cuban citizenship in February 1959, entrusting the most important government posts: Guevara headed the National Institute for Agrarian Reform, having achieved a significant increase in its effectiveness; served as Minister of Industry; served as President of the National Library of Cuba. Che, who had no experience in the field of public administration and economics, in the shortest possible time studied and established business in the spheres entrusted to him.
In 1959, after visiting Japan, Egypt, India, Pakistan and Yugoslavia, Guevara entered into a historic treaty with the USSR on oil imports and sugar exports, ending the dependence of the Cuban economy on the United States. Later, when he visited the Soviet Union, he was impressed by the successes achieved there in building socialism, however, not fully approving the policy pursued by the then leadership, even then seeing a rollback to imperialism. As it turned out, Che was right in many ways.
Ernesto Che Guevara - Bfighter and inspirer of the world revolutionary movement
Che was fascinated by the revolutionary movement all over the world, he wanted to be its ideological inspirer. For this, he attended a meeting of the UN General Assembly; became the initiator of the Conference of 3 Continents, designed to implement the program of liberation cooperation in the countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America; published books on the tactics of guerrilla warfare and the revolutionary struggle in Cuba.
Ultimately, for the sake of the world revolution, Ernesto Che Guevara abandoned everything else, and in 1965, leaving all government posts, renouncing Cuban citizenship, scribbling a few lines to his relatives, disappeared from public life... Then there were many rumors about his fate: they said that he was either in an insane asylum somewhere in the Russian outback, or died somewhere in Latin America.
But in the spring of 1965, Guevara arrived in the Republic of the Congo, where hostilities were then fought. With the Congo, Che had great hopes, he believed that in the vast territories covered by the jungle there were excellent opportunities for organizing guerrilla warfare. More than 100 Cuban volunteers took part in the military operation. But from the outset, the Congo venture was plagued by setbacks. The rebel forces were defeated in several battles. Guevara was forced to stop acting and go to the Cuban embassy in Tanzania. His diary of those events in the Congo begins like this: "This is a story of total failure."
After Tanzania, the commander went to Eastern Europe, but Castro persuaded him to secretly return to Cuba to prepare for the creation of a revolutionary hearth in Latin America. In 1966, Che led the Bolivian guerrilla war.
Bolivian communists bought land specifically for the organization of the bases where Guevara led the training of the guerrillas. In April 1967, Ernesto Che Guevara, with a small detachment, secretly made his way into the territory, having won several victories over government forces. Alarmed by the appearance of the "frantic Che" and the guerrillas in his country, Bolivian President Rene Barrientos turned to the American secret services for help. It was decided to use the forces of the CIA against Che Guevara.
The commandante's guerrilla force, numbering almost 50 people, acted as the "National Liberation Army of Bolivia" (Spanish "Ejercito de Liberación Nacional de Bolivia"). In September 1967, by order of the government in Bolivia, leaflets were scattered about the issuance of a bonus for the head of a revolutionary in the amount of $ 4,200.
Perhaps at that time there was no man whom the CIA feared more than Che, who possessed incredible charisma and was obsessed with the idea of revolution in Latin America.
Capture and execution
On October 7, 1967, the Bolivian special military units, controlled by the CIA, learned from informants about the location of the Che detachment - the Cuebrada del Yuro gorge (Spanish. Quebrada del Yuro) near.
With the help of the most advanced American intelligence technical means they found and surrounded a partisan detachment in the vicinity of the village of Vallegrande. While trying to break through the encirclement, a bullet hit Che's weapon, the unarmed commander was wounded and taken prisoner on October 8.
Jon Lee Anderson, an American journalist and biographer of Che Guevara, described his arrest as follows: the wounded Che, whom one of the partisans was trying to carry away, shouted: “Don't shoot! I, Ernesto Che Guevara, I am worth more alive than dead. "
The guerrillas were tied up and escorted to an adobe hut in the nearby village of La Higuera (Spanish: La Higuera, "Fig tree"). According to one of the guards, Che, twice wounded in the leg, tired, covered in mud, in torn clothes, looked terrible. However, he "held his head high, not lowering his eyes." Bolivian Rear Admiral Horacio Ugarteche, who interrogated him right before his execution, "Che" spat in his face. Che Guevara spent the night from 8 to 9 October on the clay floor of the hut, next to the bodies of 2 killed partisans.
On October 9 at 12:30 an order came from the command: "Destroy Senor Guevara." Che's executioner volunteered to be a certain Mario Teran (Spanish Mario Teran), a 31-year-old sergeant of the Bolivian army, who wished to avenge his friends killed in battles with Guevara's detachment. Teran was ordered to aim carefully and make it appear as if Che had been killed in action.
In 30 min. before the execution, F. Rodriguez (CIA officer, colonel of the US Armed Forces) tried to find out from Che where the other rebels were, but he refused to answer. The prisoner was taken out of the house so that Bolivian soldiers could take pictures with him. A few minutes before the execution, one of the guards asked Che if he was thinking about the immortality of his soul, to which he replied: "I think only about the immortality of the revolution." Then he said to Teran: “Shoot me, you coward! Know, you will only kill a person! " The executioner hesitated, then fired 9 times. Che Guevara's heart stopped at 13:10 local time.
The body of the legendary Che was tied to the skids of a helicopter and thus delivered to Vallegrand, where it was put on public display. After a military surgeon amputated Che's hands, on October 11, 1967, soldiers of the Bolivian army secretly buried the bodies of Guevara and 6 more of his associates, carefully concealing the burial place. On October 15, F. Castro informed the world about Che's death, which was a heavy blow to the world revolutionary movement. Locals began to consider Guevara a saint, turning to him in prayers with the words: "San Ernesto de La Higuera".
The enemy's fear of Che (even of the dead) was so great that the house where the commander was shot was razed to the ground.
In the summer of 1995, the grave of the legendary Che was discovered near the airport in Vallegrand. But only in June 1997, Cuban and Argentine scientists managed to find and identify the remains of Che Guevara, which were transported to Cuba and buried with magnificent honors on October 17, 1997 in the mausoleum of Santa Clara (Spanish: Santa Clara).
The Latin American Revolution is the goal that Ernesto Che Guevara set for himself. For the sake of his great goal, he sacrificed family, friends, associates. The greatest romantic, Che was sure that it should be started by a person who is familiar with the intricacies of guerrilla warfare. Che did not see a more suitable candidate than himself.
Che considered himself a soldier of the world revolution, in the necessity of which he had always sincerely believed. Guevara longed for the happiness of the peoples of Latin America and strove for the triumph of social justice on his native continent. In his last letter, he wrote to his children: "Your father was a man who lived according to his convictions and always acted according to his conscience and his views."
(+21
points, 6
estimates)
Childhood, adolescence, youth
Che Guevara's family. From left to right: Ernesto Guevara, mother Celia, sister Celia, brother Roberto, father Ernesto with his son Juan Martin in his arms and sister Anna Maria
Che Guevara at the age of one (1929)
In addition to Ernesto, whose childhood name was Tete (translated as "pig"), the family had four more children: Celia (became an architect), Roberto (lawyer), Anna Maria (architect), Juan Martin (designer). All children received higher education.
At the age of two, on May 2, 1930, Tete experienced the first attack of bronchial asthma - this disease haunted him until the end of his life. To restore the baby's health, the family moved to the province of Cordoba, as an area with a healthier mountain climate. After selling the estate, the family bought Villa Nydia in the town of Alta Gracia, at an altitude of two thousand meters above sea level. His father began to work as a construction contractor, and his mother looked after the sick Tete. For the first two years, Che could not attend school and studied at home, as he suffered from daily asthma attacks. After that, he went to high school in Alta Gracia with interruptions (due to health conditions). At the age of thirteen, Ernesto entered the state-owned Dean Funes College in Cordoba, from which he graduated in 1945, then enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires. Father Don Ernesto Guevara Lynch said in February 1969:
Hobbies
In 1964, speaking with a correspondent for the Cuban newspaper El Mundo, Guevara said that he first became interested in Cuba at the age of 11, being passionate about chess, when the Cuban chess player Capablanca arrived in Buenos Aires. In the house of Che's parents there was a library of several thousand books. From the age of four, Guevara, like his parents, became passionately interested in reading, which continued until the end of his life. In his youth, the future revolutionary had an extensive reading circle: Salgari, Jules Verne, Dumas, Hugo, Jack London, later - Cervantes, Anatole France, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Gorky, Engels, Lenin, Kropotkin, Bakunin, Karl Marx, Freud. He read popular at that time social novels by Latin American authors - Ciro Alegria from Peru, Jorge Icaza from Ecuador, Jose Eustacio Rivera from Colombia, which described the life of Indians and workers on plantations, works by Argentine authors - Jose Hernandez, Sarmiento and others.
Che Guevara (first from right) with his rugby teammates, 1947
Young Ernesto read in the original in French (knowing this language from childhood) and was engaged in the interpretation of the philosophical works of Sartre "L'imagination", "Situations I" and "Situations II", "L'Être et le Nèant", "Baudlaire", "Qu'est-ce que la litèrature?", "L'imagie." He loved poetry and even wrote poetry himself. Read by Baudelaire, Verlaine, García Lorca, Antonio Machado, Pablo Neruda, the works of his contemporary Spanish republican poet Leon Felipe. In his backpack, in addition to the "Bolivian Diary", a notebook with his favorite poems was found posthumously. Subsequently, the two-volume and nine-volume collected works of Che Guevara were published in Cuba. Tete was strong in exact sciences such as mathematics, however, chose the profession of a doctor. Played football at the local sports club"Atalaya", playing in the reserve team (could not play in the first team, because of asthma he needed an inhaler from time to time). He also went in for rugby, equestrian sports, was fond of golf and gliding, with a special passion for cycling (in the caption on one of his photographs, presented to his bride Chinchina, he called himself "the king of the pedal"). ...
Ernesto in Mar del Plata (Argentina), 1943
In 1950, already a student, Ernesto was hired as a sailor on an oil cargo ship from Argentina, having visited Trinidad and British Guiana. Then he made a trip on a moped, which was provided to him by the company "Micron" for advertising purposes, with partial coverage of travel expenses. In an announcement from the Argentine magazine El Grafico on May 5, 1950, Che wrote:
| February 23, 1950. Seniors, representatives of the Micron moped company. I am sending you a Mikron moped for inspection. On it, I traveled four thousand kilometers across the twelve provinces of Argentina. The moped functioned flawlessly throughout the trip, and I did not find the slightest malfunction in it. Hope to get it back in the same condition.
Signed: "Ernesto Guevara Serna" |
Che's youthful love was Chinchina (translated as "rattle"), the daughter of one of the richest landowners in Cordoba. According to the testimony of her sister and other people, Che loved her and wanted to marry her. He appeared at parties in tattered clothes and shaggy, which was in contrast to the offspring of wealthy families who sought her hand, and with the typical appearance of Argentine young people of that time. Their relationship was thwarted by Che's desire to devote his life to treating lepers in South Americans, like Albert Schweitzer, whose authority he admired.
In difficult years
Ernesto Guevara in 1945
Traveling in South America
Ernesto Che Guevara in 1951
| Nothing further delayed us in Argentina, and we headed for Chile - the first foreign country on our way. Having passed the province of Mendoza, where Che's ancestors once lived and where we visited several hacienda, watching how horses are tamed and how our gauchos live, we turned south, away from the Andean peaks, impassable for our stunted two-wheeled Rocinante. We had to suffer a lot. The motorcycle broke down incessantly and needed to be repaired. We didn’t so much ride it as we dragged it on ourselves. |
Staying overnight in the forest or in the field, they earned money for food on occasional jobs: they washed dishes in restaurants, treated peasants or acted as veterinarians, repaired radios, worked as loaders, porters or sailors. We exchanged experiences with colleagues, visiting leper colony, where they had the opportunity to take a break from the road. Guevara and Granandos were not afraid of infection, and felt sympathy for the lepers, wanting to devote their lives to their treatment. On February 18, 1952, they arrived at Temuco in Chile. The local newspaper, Diario Austral, published an article entitled "Two Argentinean Leprological Experts Traveling in South America on a Motorcycle." Granandos's motorcycle finally broke down near Santiago, after which they moved to the port of Valparaiso (where they intended to visit the leper colony of Easter Island, however, they learned that the steamer would have to wait six months, and abandoned the idea) and then on foot, on hitchhiking or "hares" on steamers or trains. We walked to the Chuquikamata copper mine, which belonged to the American company "Braden Copper Mining Company", having spent the night in the barracks of the mine guards. In Peru, travelers got acquainted with the life of the Quechua and Aymara Indians, by that time exploited by landowners and drowning out hunger with coca leaves. In the city of Cuzco, Ernesto spent several hours reading books about the Inca empire in the local library. We spent several days on the ruins of the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu in Peru. Having settled down on the site for sacrifices of an ancient temple, they began to drink mate and fantasize. Granandos recalled his dialogue with Ernesto:
From Machu Picchu we went to the mountain village of Huambo, stopping on the way to the leper colony of the Peruvian communist doctor Hugo Pesce. He warmly welcomed the travelers, introducing them to the methods of treating leprosy known to him, and wrote letter of recommendation in a large leper colony near the city of San Pablo in the province of Loreto in Peru. From the village of Pucallpa on the Ucayali River, having settled on a ship, the travelers set off to the port of Iquitos on the shores of the Amazon. In Iquitos, they were delayed because of Ernesto's asthma, which forced him to go to the hospital for a while. Upon reaching the leper colony in San Pablo, Granados and Guevara received a cordial welcome and were invited to treat patients in the center's laboratory. The patients, trying to thank the travelers for their friendly attitude, built a raft for them, calling it "Mambo-Tango" on which they could sail to the next point of the route - the Colombian port of Leticia on the Amazon.
Second trip to Latin America
The path that Che Guevara traveled, 1953-1956.
Ernesto traveled to Venezuela through the Bolivian capital, La Paz, on a train called the Milk Convoy (a train that stopped at all the halts and where farmers loaded milk cans). On April 9, 1952, the 179th revolution took place in Bolivia, in which miners and peasants participated. The Nationalist Revolutionary Movement, which came to power, led by President Paz Estensoro, nationalized the tin mines (paying compensation to foreign owners), organized a militia of miners and peasants, and carried out an agrarian reform. In Bolivia, Che visited the mountain villages of the Indians, the settlements of miners, met with members of the government, and even worked in the department of information and culture, as well as in the department for the implementation of agrarian reform. He visited the ruins of the Indian sanctuaries of Tiahuanacu, which are located near Lake Titicaca, taking many pictures of the "Gate of the Sun" temple, where the Indians of ancient civilization worshiped the sun god Viracoche.
Guatemala
Life in Mexico City
On September 21, 1954, they arrived in Mexico City. There they settled in the apartment of the Puerto Rican Juan Huarbe, a leader of the Nationalist Party, which advocated the independence of Puerto Rico and was outlawed because of the shooting they committed in the US Congress. In the same apartment lived the Peruvian Lucio (Luis) de la Puente, who later, on October 23, 1965, was shot dead in a battle with anti-partisan "rangers" in one of the mountainous regions of Peru. Che and Patoho, having no stable means of subsistence, hunted for pictures in parks. Che recalled this time like this:
| We were both running aground ... Patojo didn't have a penny, and I only had a few pesos. I bought a camera and we smuggled pictures in parks. A Mexican man who owned a small darkroom helped us print the cards. We got to know Mexico City, walking up and down, trying to foist our clients with our unimportant photos. How many had to convince, persuade that the child we photographed had a very cute look and that, really, it was worth paying a peso for such a charm. We lived on this craft for several months. Little by little, our affairs were getting better ... |
Having written the article “I saw the overthrow of Arbenz,” Che, however, did not manage to get a job as a journalist. At this time, Ilda Gadea came from Guatemala, and they got married. Che began selling books from the Fondo de Cultura Economics publishing house, got a job as a night watchman at a book exhibition, continuing to read books. At the city hospital, he was admitted on a competition basis to work in the allergy department. He lectured on medicine in National University, began to engage in scientific work (in particular, experiments on cats) at the Institute of Cardiology and the laboratory of a French hospital. On February 15, 1956, Ilda gave birth to a daughter, who was named after her mother Ildita. In an interview with a reporter for the Mexican magazine Siempre, in September 1959, Che stated:
Raul Roa, a Cuban publicist and opponent of Batista, who later became foreign minister in socialist Cuba, recalled his Mexican meeting with Guevara:
| I met Che one night, at the house of his compatriot Ricardo Rojo. He has just arrived from Guatemala, where he took part in the revolutionary and anti-imperialist movement for the first time. He was still acutely worried about defeat. Che seemed and was young. His image is imprinted in my memory: a clear mind, ascetic pallor, asthmatic breathing, a bulging forehead, thick hair, decisive judgments, an energetic chin, calm movements, a sensitive, penetrating look, a sharp thought, speaks calmly, laughs loudly ... work in the allergic department of the Institute of Cardiology. We talked about Argentina, Guatemala and Cuba, looked at their problems through the prism of Latin America. Even then, Che towered over the narrow horizon of Creole nationalisms and reasoned from the perspective of a continental revolutionary. This Argentine doctor, unlike many emigrants who were concerned only with the fate of their country, thought not so much about Argentina as about Latin America as a whole, trying to find its “weakest link”. |
Preparing an expedition to Cuba
At the end of June 1955, two Cubans, one of whom turned out to be Nico Lopez, Che's acquaintance from Guatemala, came to the Mexico City hospital to see the doctor on duty, Ernesto Guevara. He told Che that the Cuban revolutionaries who attacked the Moncada barracks had been released from a prison prison on the island of Pinos under an amnesty and began to flock to Mexico City and prepare an expedition to Cuba. A few days later, an acquaintance with Raul Castro followed, in which Che found a like-minded person, later saying about him: “It seems to me that this one is not like the others. By at least, speaks better than others, besides, he thinks "... At this time, Fidel, while in the United States, collected money from emigrants from Cuba for the expedition. Speaking in New York at a rally against Batista, Fidel said: "I can tell you with full responsibility that in 1956 we will gain freedom or become martyrs.".
The meeting between Fidel and Che took place on July 9, 1955 in the house of Maria Antonia Gonzalez, at 49 Emparan Street, where the safe apartment of Fidel's supporters was organized. At the meeting, the details of the upcoming hostilities in Orient were discussed. Fidel claimed that Che at that time “I had more mature revolutionary ideas than me. Ideologically, theoretically, it was more developed. Compared to me, he was a more advanced revolutionary. "... By the morning Che, whom Fidel made, in his words, the impression of an "exceptional person", was enrolled as a doctor in the detachment of the future expedition. Some time later, another military coup took place in Argentina, and Peron was overthrown. Emigrants - opponents of Peron were invited to return to Buenos Aires, which was used by Rojo and other Argentines living in Mexico City. Che refused to do the same, as he was carried away by the upcoming expedition to Cuba. Mexican Arsacio Vanegas Arroyo owned a small printing house and knew Maria Antonia Gonzalez. His printing house printed documents from the July 26 Movement, which was headed by Fidel. In addition, Arsacio was engaged in the physical preparation of the participants of the upcoming expedition to Cuba, being an athlete-wrestler: by long hiking trips over rough terrain, judo, an athletics hall was hired. Arsacio recalled: “Besides, the guys listened to lectures on geography, history, political situation and other topics. Sometimes I myself stayed to listen to these lectures. The guys also went to the cinema to watch films about the war ".
Colonel of the Spanish army Alberto Bayo, a veteran of the war with the Francoists and author of the manual "150 Questions to the Partisan", was engaged in military training of the group. Initially asking for a fee of 100,000 Mexican pesos (or $ 8,000), then he cut it in half. However, believing in the capabilities of his students, he not only did not take the payment, but also sold his furniture factory, transferring the proceeds to Fidel's group. The colonel purchased the Santa Rosa hacienda 35 km from the capital for 26 thousand US dollars from Erasmo Rivera, a former partisan of Pancho Villa, as a new base for training the detachment. Che, while training with the group, taught how to dress, heal fractures, and injections, having received more than a hundred injections in one of the sessions - one or more from each of the members of the group.
| Studying with him at the Santa Rosa ranch, I learned what kind of person he was - always the most diligent, always filled with the highest sense of responsibility, ready to help each of us ... I met him when he stopped my bleeding after a tooth extraction ... At the time, I could barely read. And he says to me: "I will teach you to read and understand what you have read ..." neck "and" Young guard ".
Carlos Bermudez |
| After our arrest, we were taken to the Miguel Schulz prison, a place of imprisonment for immigrants. There I saw Che. In a cheap see-through nylon cloak and an old hat, he looked like a bogeyman. And I, wanting to make him laugh, told him what impression he made ... When we were taken out of prison for interrogation, he was the only one handcuffed. I was indignant and told the representative of the prosecutor's office that Guevara was not a criminal to put handcuffs on him and that in Mexico, even criminals were not put on them. He returned to prison without handcuffs.
Maria Antonia |
The prisoners were interceded ex-president Lazaro Cardenas, his former naval minister Heriberto Jara, labor leader Lombardo Toledano, artists Alfaro Siqueiros and Diego Rivera, as well as cultural figures and scientists. A month later, Mexican authorities released Fidel Castro and the rest of the prisoners, with the exception of Ernesto Guevara and Cuban Calixto Garcia, who were accused of illegally entering the country. After leaving prison, Fidel Castro continued his preparations for the expedition to Cuba, collecting money, buying weapons and organizing secret appearances. The training of the fighters continued small groups in various parts of the country. The yacht "Granma" was purchased from the Swedish ethnographer Werner Green for 12 thousand dollars. Che was afraid that Fidel's worries about getting him out of prison would delay his sailing, but Fidel told him: "I won't leave you!" The Mexican police arrested Che's wife, but after a while Ilda and Che were released. Che spent 57 days in prison. The police continued to follow, broke into the safe houses. The press wrote about Fidel's preparations for sailing to Cuba. Frank Pais brought 8 thousand dollars from Santiago and was ready to raise an uprising in the city. Due to the frequent raids and the possibility of the group, the yacht and the transmitter being handed over to the Cuban embassy in Mexico City by a provocateur for 15 thousand dollars, preparations were accelerated. Fidel gave the order to isolate the alleged provocateur and concentrate in the port of Tuspana in the Gulf of Mexico, where the Granma was moored. Frank Pais was sent a telegram "The book is sold out" as an agreed signal about the preparation of the uprising at the appointed time. Che ran into Ilda's house with a medical bag, kissed her sleeping daughter and wrote a farewell letter to her parents.
Departure on "Granma"
At 2 o'clock in the morning on November 25, 1956, in Tuspan, the detachment landed on the Granma. The police received a "mordida" (bribe) and were absent from the pier. Che, Calixto Garcia and three other revolutionaries traveled to Tuspan in a passing car, which had to wait a long time, for 180 pesos. Halfway through, the driver refused to go further. They managed to persuade him to take him to Rosa Rica, where they changed to another car and got to their destination. In Tuspan they were met by Juan Manuel Marquez and taken to the river bank, where the Granma was stationed. 82 people with weapons and equipment boarded the overcrowded yacht, which was designed for 8-12 people. At that time there was a storm at sea and it was raining, "Granma" with the lights extinguished set the course for Cuba. Che recalled that "out of 82 people, only two or three sailors and four or five passengers did not suffer from seasickness." The ship gave a leak, as it turned out later, because of the open tap in the lavatory, however, trying to eliminate the draft of the ship with the pump out of operation, they managed to throw canned food overboard.
| You need to have a rich imagination to imagine how 82 people with weapons and equipment could fit on such a small vessel. The yacht was packed to overflowing. People were literally sitting on top of each other. We were running out of food. In the early days, each was given half a can of condensed milk, but it soon ran out. On the fourth day, everyone received a piece of cheese and sausage, and on the fifth day, only one rotten oranges remained.
Calixto Garcia |
Cuban revolution
First days
"Granma" arrived on the coast of Cuba only on December 2, 1956 in the Las Coloradas region of the Oriente province, immediately running aground. A boat was launched into the water, but it sank. A group of 82 people waded to the shore, up to their shoulders in the water; weapons and a small amount of food were brought to land. The landing site, which Raul Castro later compared with a "shipwreck", rushed boats and planes subordinate to Batista units, and Fidel Castro's group came under fire. For a long time, the group made their way along the boggy coast, which is a mangrove thicket. On the night of December 5, the revolutionaries walked along the sugar cane plantation, by the morning they made a halt on the territory of the central (sugar factory together with the plantation) in the area of Alegria de Pio (Holy Joy). Che, being a doctor of the detachment, bandaged his comrades, since their legs were worn out from a difficult hike in uncomfortable shoes, having made the last bandaging to a soldier of the detachment Umberto Lamote. In the middle of the day, enemy aircraft appeared in the sky. Half of the detachment's soldiers were killed in battle under enemy fire, and about 20 people were captured. The next day, the survivors gathered in a hut near the Sierra Maestra.
Fidel said: “The enemy defeated us, but failed to destroy us. We will fight and win this war. "... Guajiro - the peasants of Cuba warmly welcomed the members of the detachment and hid them in their homes.
| Somewhere in the woods long nights(with the sunset our inaction began) we built daring plans... They dreamed of battles, major operations, and victory. These were happy hours. Together with everyone, I enjoyed for the first time in my life cigars, which I learned to smoke to ward off annoying mosquitoes. Since then, the aroma of Cuban tobacco has become ingrained in me. And my head was spinning, either from the strong "havana", or from the audacity of our plans - one is more desperate than the other.
Ernesto Che Guevara |
Sierra maestra
Ernesto Che Guevara on a mule in the Sierra Maestra.
The Cuban communist writer Pablo de la Torriente Brau wrote that back in the 19th century, in the Sierra Maestra mountains, the fighters for Cuban independence found a convenient refuge. “Woe to the one who raises the sword to these heights. A rebel with a rifle, hiding behind an indestructible cliff, can fight here against ten. The machine gunner, entrenched in the gorge, will hold back the onslaught of a thousand soldiers. Let not those who go to war to these peaks rely on airplanes! The caves will shelter the rebels. " Fidel and the members of the expedition to Granma, as well as Che, were not familiar with this area. On January 22, 1957, at Arroyo de Infierno (Infernal Creek), a detachment defeated a detachment of casquitos (Batista's soldiers) Sanchez Mosquera. Five casquitos were killed, the detachment suffered no losses. On January 28, Che wrote a letter to Ilda, which reached through a confidant in Santiago.
| Dear old woman! I am writing to you these flaming Martian lines from Cuban Manigua. I'm alive and thirsty for blood. It seems that I really am a soldier (at least I'm dirty and ragged), for I write on a camping plate, with a gun on my shoulder and a new acquisition in my lips - a cigar. It turned out to be not easy. You already know that after seven days of sailing on the Granma, where it was impossible even to breathe, we, through the navigator's fault, ended up in the stinking thickets, and our misfortunes continued until we were attacked in the already famous Alegria de Pio and not scattered in different directions, like doves. There I was wounded in the neck, and I survived only thanks to my cat's happiness, for a machine-gun bullet hit the box with ammunition that I was carrying on my chest, and from there it ricocheted into my neck. I wandered for several days in the mountains, considering myself dangerously wounded, except for a wound in my neck, my chest still hurt a lot. Of the guys you know, only Jimmy Hirtzel died, he surrendered, and he was killed. I, along with your friends Almeida and Ramirito, spent seven days of terrible hunger and thirst, until we got out of the encirclement and, with the help of the peasants, joined Fidel (they say, although this has not yet been confirmed, that poor Nyiko also died). We had to work hard to reorganize into a detachment and arm ourselves. After which we attacked the army post, we killed and wounded several soldiers, others were taken prisoner. The killed remained at the battle site. Some time later, we captured three more soldiers and disarmed them. If you add to this that we had no losses and that we are at home in the mountains, then you will understand how demoralized the soldiers are, they will never be able to surround us. Naturally, the fight has not yet been won, there are still many battles ahead, but the arrow of the scales is already tilting in our direction, and this advantage will increase every day. Now, speaking about you, I would like to know if you are still in the same house where I am writing to you, and how you live there, especially “the most tender petal of love”? Hug her and kiss her as hard as her bones will allow. I was in such a hurry that I left your and my daughter's photographs in Pancho's house. Send them to me. You can write to me at your uncle's address and in the name of Patoho. Letters may be a little delayed, but I think they will reach. |
The peasant Eutimio Guerra, who was helping the detachment, was captured by the authorities, and promised them to kill Fidel. However, his plans did not materialize and he was shot. In February, Che knocked down an attack of malaria, and then another attack of asthma. During one of the skirmishes, the peasant Crespo, carrying Che on his back, carried him out from under enemy fire, since Che could not move independently. Che was left at the farmer's house with an accompanying soldier, and was able to overcome one of the passages, holding onto tree trunks and leaning on the butt of a gun, in ten days, using the adrenaline that the farmer was able to get. In the Sierra Maestra mountains, Che, who suffered from asthma, periodically lay down in peasant huts so as not to hinder the movement of the column. He was often seen with a book or a notebook in his hands.
A member of the detachment, Rafael Chao, claimed that Che did not shout at anyone and did not allow mockery, but he often used strong words in conversation, and was very harsh, "when necessary." “I have never known a less selfish person. If he had only one Boniato tuber, he was ready to give it to his comrades. ".
During the war, Che kept a diary, which served as the basis for his famous book Episodes of the Revolutionary War. Over time, the detachment managed to establish contact with the July 26 Movement in Santiago and Havana. The location of the detachment in the mountains was visited by activists and leaders of the underground: Frank Pais, Armando Hart, Vilma Espin, Aide Santa Maria, Celia Sanchez, the supply of the detachment was established. In order to refute Batista's reports about the defeat of the "robbers" - "forachidos", Fidel Castro sent Faustino Perez to Havana, with an order to deliver a foreign journalist. On February 17, 1957, Herbert Matthews, a reporter for the New York Times, arrived at the squad's location. He met with Fidel, and a week later published a report with photographs of Fidel and the soldiers of the detachment. In this report, he wrote: “Apparently, General Batista has no reason to hope to suppress the Castro rebellion. He can only count on the fact that one of the columns of soldiers will accidentally come across the young leader and his headquarters and destroy them, but this is unlikely to happen ... ".
Battle of Uvero
Main article: Battle of Uvero
In May 1957, it was planned to arrive from the United States (Miami) of the ship "Corinthia" with reinforcements led by Calixto Sanchez. To divert attention from their landing, Fidel gave the order to storm the barracks in the village of Uvero, 15 km from Santiago. In addition, this opened up the possibility of an exit from the Sierra Maestra into the valley of the Oriente province. Che took part in the battle for Uvero, and described it in Episodes of the Revolutionary War. On May 27, 1957, the headquarters was assembled, where Fidel announced the upcoming battle. Having started the hike in the evening, during the night we walked about 16 kilometers along a winding mountain road, spending about eight hours on the way, often stopping for safety reasons, especially in dangerous areas. The guide was Caldero, who was well versed in the area of the Uvero barracks and the approaches to it. A wooden barracks was located on the seashore, it was guarded by posts. It was decided to surround her in the dark on three sides. A group of Jorge Sotus and Guillermo Garcia attacked a post on the coastal road from Peladero. Almeida was instructed to eliminate the post opposite the height. Fidel was stationed in the area of the height, and Raul's platoon attacked the barracks from the front. Che was allotted a direction between them. Camilo Cienfuegos and Ameiheiras lost direction in the darkness. The task of the attack was facilitated by the presence of bushes, but the enemy noticed the advancing ones and opened fire. Cressensio Perez's platoon did not participate in the assault, guarding the road to Chivirico to block the approach of enemy reinforcements. During the attack, it was forbidden to shoot at living quarters where women and children were. The casquitos were given first aid to the wounded, leaving two of their seriously wounded in the care of the doctor of the enemy garrison. Having loaded a truck with equipment and medicines, we went to the mountains. Che pointed out that two hours and forty-five minutes elapsed from the first shot to the capture of the barracks. The attackers lost 15 killed and wounded, and the enemy - 19 wounded and 14 killed. The victory strengthened the fighting spirit of the detachment. Subsequently, other small enemy garrisons were destroyed at the foot of the Sierra Maestra.
The landing from Corinthia was unsuccessful: according to official reports, all the revolutionaries who disembarked from this ship were killed or captured. Batista decided to forcibly evacuate local peasants from the slopes of the Sierra Maestra in order to deprive the revolutionaries of the population's support, but many guajiro resisted the evacuation, provided assistance to Fidel's detachment, and joined their ranks.
Further struggle
Relations with local peasants did not always go smoothly: anti-communist propaganda was carried out on the radio and in church services. The peasant woman Iniria Gutierrez recalled that before joining the detachment, she had heard only "terrible things" about communism, and was surprised by the direction of Che's political views. In a feuilleton published in January 1958 in the first issue of the insurgent newspaper El Cubano Libre, signed The Sniper, Che wrote on this score: “Communists are all those who take up arms, for they are tired of poverty, in whatever this has never happened to the country. " To suppress robberies and anarchy, to improve relations with the local population, a discipline commission was created in the detachment, endowed with the powers of a military tribunal. The pseudo-revolutionary gang of the Chinese Chang was liquidated. Che noted: "In those difficult times it was necessary to suppress any violation of revolutionary discipline with a firm hand and not allow anarchy to develop in the liberated regions." Executions were also carried out on the facts of desertion from the detachment. Medical assistance was provided to the prisoners, Che strictly monitored so that they were not offended. As a rule, they were released.
| It is hereby declared that each person who provides information that may contribute to the success of the operation against the rebel groups under the command of Fidel Castro, Raul Castro, Cressensio Perez, Guillermo Gonzalez or other leaders, will be rewarded according to the importance of the information provided; in this case, the remuneration in any case will be at least 5 thousand pesos.
The amount of remuneration can range from 5 thousand to 100 thousand pesos; the highest amount of 100 thousand pesos will be paid for the head of Fidel Castro himself. Note: the name of the person who reported the information will forever remain a secret. |
Raul Castro with Ernesto Che Guevara in the Sierra del Cristal mountains south of Havana. 1958 g.
Fearing police harassment, Batista's opponents joined the ranks of the rebels in the Sierra Maestra mountains. Hotbeds of uprising arose in the Escambray mountains, the Sierra del Cristal and in the Baracoa region under the leadership of the Revolutionary Directorate, the July 26 Movement and individual communists. In October in Miami, bourgeois politicians established the Liberation Council, proclaiming Felipe Pasos as interim president. They issued a manifesto to the people. Fidel rejected the Miami Pact, considering it pro-American. In a letter to Fidel Che wrote: “Once again, I congratulate you on your statement. I told you that your merit will always be that you have proved the possibility of an armed struggle enjoying the support of the people. Now you are embarking on an even more wonderful path that will lead to power as a result of the armed struggle of the masses. ".
By the end of 1957, the rebel forces were dominating the Sierra Maestra, without, however, descending into the valleys. Foodstuffs such as beans, corn and rice were bought from local farmers. Medicines were delivered by underground workers from the city. The meat was confiscated from large cattle traders and those who were accused of treason, part of the confiscated was transferred to local peasants. Che organized sanitary posts, field hospitals, workshops for repairing weapons, making handicraft shoes, duffel bags, uniforms, and cigarettes. On the hectograph, the newspaper "El Cubano Libre" began to multiply, which got its name from the newspaper of the fighters for the independence of Cuba in the 19th century. The programs of a small radio station began to air. Close communication with the local population made it possible to learn about the appearance of casquitos and enemy spies.
Government propaganda called for national unity and harmony as strikes and insurgencies expanded in Cuba's cities. In March 1958, the US government announced an embargo on the delivery of weapons to Batista's forces, although the armament and refueling of government aircraft at Guantanamo Bay continued for some time. At the end of 1958, according to the constitution (statute) announced by Batista, presidential elections were to take place. In the Sierra Maestra, no one spoke openly about communism or socialism, and the reforms that Fidel openly proposed, such as the elimination of latifundia, the nationalization of transport, electric companies and other important enterprises, were moderate and not denied even by pro-American politicians.
Che Guevara as a statesman
Che Guevara in Moscow in 1964.
Che Guevara believed that he could count on unlimited economic assistance from "fraternal" countries. Che, being the minister of the revolutionary government, learned a lesson from the conflicts with the fraternal countries of the socialist camp. Negotiating support, economic and military cooperation, discussing international politics with Chinese and Soviet leaders, he came to an unexpected conclusion and had the courage to speak out publicly in his famous Algerian speech. It was a real accusatory speech against the non-internationalist policies of the so-called socialist countries. He reproached them for imposing on the poorest countries conditions of trade, similar to those dictated by imperialism on the world market, as well as refusing unconditional support, military, including refusing to fight for national liberation, in particular, in the Congo and Vietnam. Che knew very well the famous Engels equation: the less developed the economy, the more role violence in the formation of a new formation. If in the early 1950s he jokingly signed the letters "Stalin II", then after the victory of the revolution he was forced to prove: "In Cuba, there are no conditions for the formation of the Stalinist system."
Later Che Guevara would say: “After the revolution, the work is not done by revolutionaries. Technocrats and bureaucrats do it. And they are counter-revolutionaries. "
Fidel and Raul Castro's sister Juanita, who knew Guevara closely, who later left for the United States, wrote about him in the biographical book “Fidel and Raul, My Brothers. Secret History ":
Neither the trial nor the investigation mattered to him. He immediately began to shoot, because he was a man without a heart.
In her opinion, the appearance of Guevara in Cuba - "The worst that could happen to her" But it should not be forgotten that Juanita left for the United States and collaborated with the CIA.
Che Guevara's last letter to his parents
| Dear old people! Again I feel the ribs of Rocinante with my heels, again, donning armor, I set off on the road. |
Rebel
Congo
In April 1965, Guevara arrived in the Republic of the Congo, where hostilities continued at this time. He had high hopes for the Congo, he believed that the vast territory of this country, covered with jungle, would provide excellent opportunities for organizing guerrilla warfare. A total of over 100 Cuban volunteers participated in the operation. However, from the very beginning, the operation in the Congo was plagued by setbacks. Relations with the local rebels were rather difficult, and Guevara did not have faith in their leadership. In the first battle on June 29, the Cuban and rebel forces were defeated. In the future, Guevara came to the conclusion that it was impossible to win the war with such allies, but still continued the operation. The final blow to the Congolese expedition of Guevara was struck in October, when Joseph Kasavubu came to power in the Congo, who put forward initiatives to resolve the conflict. After Kasavubu's statements, Tanzania, which served as a rear base for the Cubans, stopped supporting them. Guevara had no choice but to end the operation. He returned to Tanzania and, while at the Cuban embassy, prepared a diary of the Congo operation, which began with the words "This is a story of failure."
Bolivia
Rumors about the whereabouts of Guevara did not stop in -1967. Representatives of the Mozambican independence movement FRELIMO reported meeting with Che in Dar es Salaam during which they refused to offer them assistance in their revolutionary project. Rumors that Guevara led a partisan in Bolivia turned out to be true. By order of Fidel Castro, the Bolivian communists specially bought land to create bases where partisans were trained under the leadership of Guevara. Hyde Tamara Bunke Bieder (also known by the nickname "Tanya"), a former Stasi agent who, according to some sources, also worked for the KGB, was brought into Guevara's entourage as an agent in La Paz. Rene Barientos, frightened by the news of the partisans in his country, turned to the CIA for help. Against Guevara, it was decided to use the CIA forces specially trained for anti-partisan actions.
Guevara's partisan detachment numbered about 50 people and acted as the National Liberation Army of Bolivia (Spanish. Ejército de Liberación Nacional de Bolivia ). He was well equipped and conducted several successful operations against regular troops in the difficult mountainous terrain of the Camiri region. However, in September, the Bolivian army was able to eliminate two guerrilla groups by killing one of the leaders. Despite the brutal nature of the conflict, Guevara provided medical assistance all the wounded Bolivian soldiers who were captured by the partisans, and later released them. During its last fight in Quebrada del Yuro, Guevara was wounded, his rifle was hit by a bullet that disabled the weapon, and he fired all the cartridges with a pistol. When he was captured, unarmed and wounded, and brought under escort to a school that served as a temporary prison for CIA guerrillas, he saw several wounded Bolivian soldiers there. Guevara offered to provide them with medical assistance, to which he was refused by a Bolivian officer. Che himself received only an aspirin pill.
Captivity and execution
The hunt for Guevara in Bolivia was led by Felix Rodriguez, an agent
The CIA agent who took part in the operation to capture and eliminate Ernesto Che Guevara spoke about the execution of the legendary revolutionary. According to him, the commander was a fanatical criminal who deserved to die: "Most people do not know the real Che Guevara, who wrote that he was tormented by a thirst for blood, Che Guevara, who killed thousands of people, violating all laws."Former intelligence officer Felix Rodriguez now lives in Miami. He took part in the largest anti-communist operations in Latin America, including aid to the Argentine military regime. In his house, a bloody Vietnamese flag hangs on the wall, a medal for excellent service, a photograph of him talking to Bush Sr. at the White House. Rodriguez does not hide that he is proud of his service, and recalls the events of the past years with pleasure.
The special operation carried out by CIA agents in October 1967 in Bolivia and resulting in the death of Che Guevara, he considers a blessing for the Cuban people, who, according to Rodriguez, the famous rebel brought only suffering. Recall that that autumn the revolutionary detachment was defeated by government troops, and the commander himself was taken prisoner. Rodriguez says that he could order the soldiers to take Che Guevara to Panama, as the White House wanted, but the Bolivian government demanded to shoot him and hide this fact, in order to later declare: Che Guevara was killed in battle.
Rodriguez has preserved many things in memory of the events in Higuera. This is a notebook with the commandant's encrypted codes, photographs of a dead revolutionary, and tobacco from his last pipe. There is also a photo in the collection. The executioners cut them off to save fingerprints in case Fidel Castro refuses to admit the death of his comrade. But the most, perhaps, the most important exhibit is a photograph, in which the arrested Che Guevara and Rodriguez interrogating him are filmed next to the soldiers. The CIA agent says that the interrogation took place in an almost friendly atmosphere, because the prisoner did not believe that he would be executed without trial. He himself agreed to pose for the photographer and even laughed in response to the banal: "Comandante, now the bird will fly out." Che Guevara was shot an hour after the photo was taken.
Fatal for the Commander, the encrypted radiogram that Rodriguez received from the Bolivian High Command read: "500-600", where 500 meant "Che Guevara" and 600 meant "dead." When he told the Argentine that there would be no trial, the famous revolutionary turned pale and said: "I would have been better off killed in battle."
There are different versions of why Rodriguez ordered the direct executor of the execution to aim better. Some say that the soldier was drunk, others that he was nervous, realizing who he was killing. The special agent himself says that everything should have looked as if Guevara was killed in battle. This was the wish of the Bolivian government.
After the death of the commander, disputes erupted between the soldiers over who would take his legendary pipe. Rodriguez says that he had the pipe, but he gave it to the one who shot Che Guevara so that he would "remember his feat." He also added that, recalling the events of that autumn, he regrets only one thing - he should have kept the pipe.
Ernesto Guevara was born on June 14, 1927 in one of the largest cities The famous "Che" prefix was used much later. With her help, living in Cuba, the revolutionary emphasized his own Argentine origin. "Che" is a reference to an interjection. In Ernesto's homeland, it is a popular address.
Childhood and interests
Guevara's father was an architect, his mother was a girl from a family of planters. The family moved several times. The future commander Che Guevara graduated from college in Cordoba, and received his higher education in Buenos Aires. The young man decided to become a doctor. He was a surgeon and dermatologist by profession.
Already early biography Ernesto Che Guevara shows how extraordinary his personality was. The young man was interested not only in medicine, but also in numerous humanities... His reading circle consisted of the works of the most famous writers: Verne, Hugo, Dumas, Cervantes, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy. The revolutionary's socialist views formed the works of Marx, Engels, Bakunin, Lenin and other left-wing theorists.
A little-known fact that distinguished the biography of Ernesto Che Guevara - he knew very well French... In addition, he loved poetry, knew by heart the works of Verlaine, Baudelaire, Lorca. In Bolivia, where the revolutionary died, he carried a notebook with his favorite verses in his backpack.
On the roads of America
Guevara's first independent trip outside Argentina dates back to 1950, when he worked part-time on a cargo ship and visited British Guiana and Trinidad. The Argentinean loved bicycles and mopeds. The next voyage covered Chile, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela. In the future, the partisan biography of Ernesto Che Guevara will be full of many such expeditions. In his early youth, he traveled to neighboring countries to get to know the world better and gain fresh impressions.
Guevara's partner on one of his travels was the doctor of biochemistry Alberto Granado. Together with him, the Argentine doctor visited leper colony in Latin American countries. The couple also visited the ruins of several ancient Indian cities (the revolutionary was always keenly interested in the history of the indigenous population of the New World). When Ernesto traveled to Colombia, civil war broke out there. He even visited Florida by chance. Several years later, Che, as a symbol of the "export of revolutions", would become one of the main opponents of the White House administration.
In Guatemala
In 1953, the future leader Ernesto Che Guevara, during a break between two major trips to Latin America, defended his thesis on the study of allergies. Having become a surgeon, the young man decided to move to Venezuela and work there in a leper colony. However, on the way to Caracas, one of the familiar fellow travelers persuaded Guevara to go to Guatemala.
The traveler found himself in the Central American republic on the eve of the invasion of the Nicaraguan army, organized by the CIA. Cities in Guatemala were bombed, and socialist president Jacobo Arbenz relinquished power. The new head of state, Castillo Armas, was pro-American and began repressions against supporters of leftist ideas living in the country.
In Guatemala, the biography of Ernesto Che Guevara for the first time was directly connected with the war. The Argentinian helped the defenders of the ousted regime to transport weapons, participated in extinguishing fires during air raids. When the socialists suffered a final defeat, Guevara's name was included in the lists of persons who were awaiting repression. Ernesto managed to hide in the embassy of his native Argentina, where he found himself under diplomatic protection. From there he moved to Mexico City in September 1954.
Meeting Cuban Revolutionaries
In the Mexican capital, Guevara tried to get a job as a journalist. He wrote a tentative article on the Guatemalan events, but the case did not go further. For several months, the Argentinian moonlighted as a photographer. Then he was a watchman in the building of a book publishing house. In the summer of 1955, Ernesto Che Guevara, whose personal life lit up happy event, got married. In Mexico City, his bride Ilda Gadea came from his homeland. Accidental earnings They barely helped the emigrant. Finally, Ernesto got a job at the city hospital, where he began to work in the allergy department.
In June 1955, two young men came to see the doctor Guevara. These were Cuban revolutionaries trying to overthrow the dictator Batista on their home island. Two years earlier, opponents of the old regime attacked the Moncada barracks, after which they were tried and imprisoned. An amnesty was announced the day before, and the revolutionaries began to flock to Mexico City. During his trials in Latin America, Ernesto met many of the Cuban socialists. One of his old friends came to see him, offering to participate in the upcoming military expedition to the Caribbean island.
A few days later, the Argentine first met with. Even then, the doctor firmly decided to give his consent to participate in the raid. In July 1955, Raul's older brother arrived in Mexico from the United States. Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara became the main actors impending revolution. Their first meeting took place in one of the Cubans' safe houses. The next day, Guevara became a member of the expedition as a doctor. Recalling that period, Fidel Castro later admitted that Che was much better than his Cuban comrades in the theoretical and ideological issues of the revolution.
Guerrilla war
Preparing to sail to Cuba, the members of the July 26 Movement (as the organization headed by Fidel Castro was called) faced many difficulties. A provocateur entered the ranks of the revolutionaries and informed the authorities about the suspicious activities of foreigners. In the summer of 1956, the Mexican police staged a raid, after which the conspirators, including Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara, were arrested. Well-known public and cultural figures began to stand up for opponents of the Batista regime. As a result, the revolutionaries were released. Guevara spent more than the rest of his comrades under arrest (57 days), as he was charged with illegal border crossing.
Finally, the expeditionary force left Mexico and sailed to Cuba. The departure took place on November 25, 1956. Ahead was a months-long guerrilla war. The arrival of Castro's supporters on the island was overshadowed by a shipwreck. A detachment of 82 men ended up in the mangroves. He was attacked by government aircraft. Half of the expedition died under shelling, and another two dozen people were captured. Finally, the revolutionaries took refuge in the mountains of the Sierra Maestra. Provincial peasants supported the partisans, gave them shelter and food. Caves and rugged passes became another safe haven.
At the beginning of the new 1957, Batista's opponents won their first victory, killing five government soldiers. Soon, some of the squad members fell ill with malaria. Ernesto Che Guevara was among them. Guerrilla warfare made one get used to the mortal danger. Every day, the fighters were faced with another fatal threat. Che was struggling with an insidious disease, lying down in the huts of the peasants. Comrades often saw him sitting with a notebook or another book. Guevara's diary later formed the basis of his own memoirs of the partisan war, published after the victory of the revolution.
By the end of 1957, the rebels were already in control of the Sierra Maestra mountains. The detachment was joined by new volunteers from among the local residents, dissatisfied with the Batista regime. At the same time, Fidel made Ernesto a major (commandant). Che Guevara began to command a separate column of 75 people. The underground workers enjoyed support abroad. American journalists penetrated into the mountains and published reports in the United States about the July 26 Movement.
The commander not only directed the hostilities, but also conducted propaganda activities. Ernesto Che Guevara became the chief editor of the Free Cuba newspaper. Its first numbers were written by hand, then the rebels managed to get hold of a hectograph.
Victory over Batista
In the spring of 1958, a new stage in the partisan war began. Castro's supporters began to leave the mountains and operate in the valleys. In the summer, a stable relationship was established with the Cuban communists in cities where strikes began. Che Guevara's detachment was responsible for the offensive in the province of Las Villas. Having traveled 600 kilometers in length, in October this army reached mountain range Escambray and opened a new front. For Batista, the situation was getting worse - the US authorities refused to supply him with weapons.
In Las Villas, where the rebel power was finally established, a law was published on the implementation of an agrarian reform - the liquidation of the estates of landowners. The course of scrapping old patriarchal customs in the countryside attracted more and more peasants to the ranks of the revolutionaries. Ernesto Che Guevara was the initiator of the popular reform. He spent years of his life working on the theoretical works of the socialists, and now he was honing his oratory skills, convincing ordinary people of Cuba of the correctness of the path proposed by the members of the July 26 Movement.
The last and decisive battle was the battle for Santa Clara. It began on December 28 and ended with the insurgent victory on January 1, 1959. A few hours after the surrender of the garrison, Batista left Cuba and spent the rest of his life in forced emigration. The battles for Santa Clara were led directly by Che Guevara. On January 2, his troops entered Havana, where a triumphant population awaited the revolutionaries.
New life
After Batista's defeat, newspapers around the world asked who Che Guevara was, what was this rebel leader famous for, and what was his political future? In February 1959, the government of Fidel Castro proclaimed him a citizen of Cuba. Then Guevara began to use the famous prefix "Che" in his signatures, with which he went down in history.
At new government yesterday's rebel served as President of the National Bank (1959-1961) and Minister of Industry (1961-1965). In the first summer after the victory of the revolution, he undertook a whole world tour as an official, during which he visited Egypt, Sudan, India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Indonesia, Burma, Japan, Morocco, Spain and Yugoslavia. In the same June 1959, the commandant got married for the second time. Aleida March, a member of the July 26 Movement, became his wife. The children of Ernesto Che Guevara (Aleida, Camilo, Celia, Ernesto) were born in a marriage with this woman (except for the eldest daughter Ilda).
State activity
In the spring of 1961, the American leadership, which had finally quarreled with Castro, began an operation in an enemy landing on Liberty Island. Until the end of the operation, Che Guevara led the troops in one of the provinces of Cuba. The American plan failed, and socialist rule in Havana survived.
In the fall, Che Guevara visited the GDR, Czechoslovakia and the USSR. In the Soviet Union, his delegation signed contracts for the supply of Cuban sugar. Moscow also promised the Island of Liberty financial and technical assistance. Ernesto Che Guevara, interesting facts about which could be a separate book, participated in the festive parade dedicated to the next anniversary of the October Revolution. The Cuban guest stood on the podium of the mausoleum next to Nikita Khrushchev and other members of the Politburo. In the future, Guevara visited the Soviet Union several times.
As a minister, Che seriously reconsidered his attitude towards the governments of the socialist countries. He was dissatisfied with the fact that the large communist states (primarily the USSR and China) set their own strict conditions for the exchange of goods with subsidized small partners, such as Cuba.
In 1965, during a visit to Algeria, Guevara made a famous speech in which he criticized Moscow and Beijing for their enslaving attitude towards fraternal countries. This episode once again showed who Che Guevara was, how he became famous and what reputation this revolutionary possessed. He did not compromise his own principles, even if he had to go into conflict with allies. Another reason for the dissatisfaction of the commander was the reluctance of the socialist camp to actively intervene in new regional revolutions.
Expedition to Africa
In the spring of 1965, Che Guevara found himself in Democratic Republic Congo. This Central African country was going through a political crisis, and in its jungle there were partisans who advocated the establishment of socialism in the homeland. The Comandante arrived in the Congo with another hundred Cubans. He helped organize the underground, shared with them own experience obtained during the war with Batista.
Although Che Guevara put all his strength into a new adventure, new failures awaited him at every step. The rebels suffered several defeats, and the relationship between the Cubans and the leader of their African comrades Kabila went wrong from the start. After several months of bloodshed, the government of the Congo, against which the socialists opposed, made some compromises and resolved the conflict. Another blow to the rebels was Tanzania's refusal to provide them with rear bases. In November 1965, Che Guevara left the Congo without reaching the goals set for the revolution.
Plans for the future
The stay in Africa cost Che another malaria. In addition, asthma attacks worsened, from which he suffered from the very beginning. early childhood... The first half of 1966, the commander spent in secret in Czechoslovakia, where he was treated in one of the sanatoriums in Czechoslovakia. Taking a break from the war, the Hispanic continued to work on planning new revolutions around the world. He became widely known for his statement about the need to create a "multitude of Vietnam", where at that time there was a conflict between the two main world political systems.
In the summer of 1966, the Comandante returned to Cuba and led the preparations for the guerrilla campaign in Bolivia. As it turned out, this war was the last for him. In March 1967, Barrientos was horrified to learn about the action in his country of partisans, abandoned in the jungle from socialist Cuba.
To get rid of the "red threat", the politician turned to Washington for help. In the White House, it was decided to use special CIA units against Che's detachment. Soon leaflets scattered from the air began to appear over the provincial villages in the vicinity of which partisans were operating, announcing a large reward for the murder of a Cuban revolutionary.
Doom
Che Guevara spent 11 months in Bolivia. All this time he kept notes, which after his death were published as a separate book. Gradually, the Bolivian authorities began to crowd out the rebels. Two detachments were destroyed, after which the commandant was left almost in complete isolation. On October 8, 1967, he, along with several comrades, was surrounded. Two rebels were killed. Many were injured, including Ernesto Che Guevara. How the revolutionary died, it became known thanks to the recollections of several eyewitnesses.
Guevara, along with his comrades, was escorted to the village of La Higuera, where a place was found for the prisoners in a small adobe building, which was a local school. The underground workers were captured by a Bolivian detachment, which the day before had completed training organized by military advisers sent by the CIA. Che refused to answer the officers' inquiries, spoke only with the soldiers and from time to time asked for a smoke.
On the morning of October 9, an order came to the village from the Bolivian capital to execute the Cuban revolutionary. On the same day he was shot. The body was transported to a nearby town, where Guevara's corpse was put on display. local residents and journalists. The hands were amputated from the body in order to officially confirm the death of the insurgent with the help of prints. The remains were buried in a secret mass grave.
The burial was discovered in 1997 thanks to the efforts of American journalists. At the same time, the remains of Che and several of his comrades were transferred to Cuba. There they were buried with honors. The mausoleum, where Ernesto Che Guevara is buried, is located in Santa Clara - the city in which the Comandante won his main victory in 1959.
