He was born in Argentina, had a doctors diploma and soon became one of Fidel Castros nearest men. He wanted to do something against oppression and he wanted everyone to have the right of a good life. And he did. Many young people see him as a big person, a person to look up to. What he did made a difference. It made him special. Ernesto ”Che” Guevara was born in 1928 in Argentina . In 1953 he got his doctors diploma. Then he was 25 and an active opponent against the dictatorship. He suffered over the Indians bad condition in Latin America. He decided to work for the poor and went to a hospital for leprosy. He was a man that wanted to help people. When he met his first wife (Hilda Gadea) he got in contact with 4 Cubans that were members of the 26th July movement. In 1955 he met Fidel Castro for the first time. Castro asked if he didn’t want to join the Cuban liberation movement. Just like Castro he wanted to bring down the dictatorship and make Cuba a free country. In December 1956 they arrived in Cuba. Of the 82 people that came to Cuba to bring down Batista only 12 made it to the mountains. Two of them were Castro and Guevara. In two years they had beaten all Batista groups (groups that supported the USA). 1 of January 1959 was the night when Batista fled with the statedeposit and Castro got the power. Che Guevara became chief of the National Bank and industrial minister in the new government. Che Guevara was also famous for his speeches when he at different times represented Cuba or Latin America. Che Guevara left Cuba in 1965. ”other places need my small efforts” he wrote in a letter to Fidel Castro. In nine months he fought in Congo and then he left for Bolivia to work for freedom for the whole Latin America. But in 1967 the Bolivian army, with support from CIA, finally caught him and his troop. The 8th October 1967 Che Guevara was captured and the day after that they killed him. There are many versions of which his last words were but the sentence that have appeared the most times is: ”Shoot, coward, you only going to kill one man”. The legend says that he smiled when he died. In almost 30 years Che’s body was gone. In July 1997 they found his remnant near Vallengrade. They could identify his body because he didn’t have any hands. They had cut them off at the time of his death and sent them to Argentina to match fingerprints to make a statement that he was dead. The body was buried in a mausoleum in Santa Clara in Cuba with six other bodies. The memory still lives
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| In his last letter to Fidel Castro he wrote: ”I would like to say much to you and to our people, but I feel it is not necessary. Words cannot express what I would want them to, and I don't think it's worth while to banter phrases. Ever onward to victory! Our country or death! |
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More than three decades have past since Che’s death. But his legend lives. His life as a revolutionary person fascinates many people.
Che Guevara was and still is a great man. It’s more than just a picture on a T-shirt or a cd-cover, or just a painting of his face on a wall. Che lived and died for something that was good. He wanted to do something against oppression and he wanted everyone to have the right of a good life. He didn’t have to fight for his own. He could have liven a good life without worrying about food for his family. But he did something important, he cared. That made him a very special person. His legend won’t die.
Do you think that Che Guevara was a great person that did something for people?
Is he worth all the ”big words” that is said about him?
© 2003 Freeway
Writers: Christine Persson (sp04-38@park.se).
HTML by: Tomas Sjölund (te04-43@park.se).