This early period in Ernesto Che Guevara’s life is the key to understanding his later life. It begins in 1950 when, while still at medical school, he set out on a trip around Argentina and ends with his arrival in Cuba in 1956 on board a cabin cruiser with Fidel Castro and other Cubans with the goal of initiating a guerrilla movement against the Batista dictatorship.
This was a formative stage, filled with many questions and concerns from the moment Ernesto embarked on his tour of his native Argentina on a motorized bicycle until he finds his true path and throws in his lot in with the Cuban revolutionaries.
His first trip around Latin America,1 which began in late 1951 and lasted until mid-1952, bound him forever to the cause to which he would dedicate his life: Latin America’s full independence. This trip inspired a second trip. After receiving his medical degree, in 1953 he set out once more to gain a deeper knowledge of Latin America and a greater commitment to its people.2
He went in search of a true revolution in Bolivia and Guatemala. Finally, in Mexico in 1955 he met Fidel Castro and other Cuban revolutionaries, an encounter that would determine the rest of his life.
It was during this period that Che the revolutionary began to emerge, the young man who later developed into the socialist theoretician and rebel leader, the seeds of which had always existed within him. It was a stage of spiritual and political growth, which brought him closer to his future as the symbol of hope for Latin America.
1. The journal of Ernesto’s first trip through Latin America was posthumously published as The Motorcycle Diaries, and was the basis of the popular movie of the same name.
2. Ernesto’s experiences during this second trip are recorded in his book, Latin America Diaries.