The man whose face launched a million T-shirts, South American revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara (1928–1967) emerged as one of the twentieth century’s most recognizable icons of left-wing rebellion. Guevara, originally trained as a doctor, fought in revolutions in Cuba and the Congo and was killed while leading a guerrilla insurgency in Bolivia.
Since his death in the jungle, the mythology surrounding Guevara has only grown, and he is still revered by some segments of the Latin American left. But his critics charge that Guevara was a misguided romantic who was implicated in hundreds of political executions and human rights abuses.
Born to an affluent family in Argentina, Guevara experienced a political awakening in medical school, when he took a motorcycle tour through South America and witnessed the rampant poverty across the continent. Like many South Americans, he blamed the region’s woes on American economic hegemony and embraced Communism as a solution.
Guevara was an early backer of the Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro (1926–), joining Castro’s guerrilla insurgency in 1956. When Castro finally drove out American-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista (1901–1973), Guevara was elevated to a senior position in the new revolutionary government, giving him international stature. He also personally ordered the executions of hundreds of political prisoners without trials in 1959—foreshadowing his own demise.
In the 1960s, at Guevara’s urging, the Castro government sought to export its revolution to other parts of the developing world. Guevara traveled to the Congo to organize a revolution there, but returned to Cuba after its failure. His next assignment was to Bolivia, where he targeted the ruling military junta.
But the Bolivian military, with assistance from the CIA, was ready for Guevara and hunted down his guerrilla force in 1967. He was captured and shot by troops, who tried to make it look as if he had been killed in battle. Hailed as a revolutionary martyr and romantic, Guevara remains a hero in Cuba and parts of South America and a fashion statement throughout the rest.
ADDITIONAL FACTS
- His last words, supposedly, were “Shoot, coward, you’re only going to kill a man.”
- A movie based on Guevara’s memoir, The Motorcycle Diaries, was released in 2004, starring the Mexican actor Gael García Bernal (1978–) as the young guerrilla leader.
- After Guevara’s execution, his burial site was kept secret by the Bolivian government. The grave was rediscovered in the 1990s, and his remains were transferred to Cuba for reburial in 1997.
