One afternoon I held a tape recorder in my hands to collect my memories. But although I tried, I found I just couldn’t do it. So I discussed this with my friend and collaborator, María del Carmen Ariet.
At the time, I was working to create the Che Guevara Studies Center. Together, María del Carmen and I had archived Che’s documents, photographs, letters, poems and other personal items. It was a huge challenge. From that project emerged the plan to publish systematically all Che’s works. We wanted new generations to be able to know Che and understand what he fought for, to help young people feel close to him, not just as a symbol but as a real person who, from an early age, had great dreams and realized those dreams with a creative spirit.
As the Che Guevara Studies Center has developed, we have not only aspired to encourage the study of Che’s thought, life and example, but also to work with our local community in Havana to promote one of his most important qualities—ethics—so that they can understand the better world he fought for.
A few years ago, Mr. Giuseppe Cecconi, a gentle and persistent Italian man, approached me; he wanted me to write a script for a film he was making about Che. I wasn’t particularly interested in that project, but I realized that, apart from anything else, I owed it to my children to give my account of my life with Che. So I began to write down my recollections, everything I had lived through, everything we had experienced together.
This book is therefore my recollections, nothing more. I am not a writer. I simply put down on paper my most cherished memories, hoping that readers might appreciate what it cost me to share these precious letters and poems that until now I held so close to my heart.
Aleida March