Ernesto
Guevara de la Serna, better known as Che Guevara or el Che was
an Argentine-born Marxist, politician and leader of Cuban and
international guerillas.
As a young man studying medicine, Guevara travelled “rough”throughout
Latin America bringing him
into direct contact with the impoverished conditions in which
many people lived. Through these
experiences he became convinced that only revolution could
remedy the regions economic equality
leading him to study marxism.
On 8th July 1953 Che was introduced to Fidel Castro and immediately
joined the 26th July movement
with the intention of overthrowing the Cuban Government. Guevara
became a leader among the rebels,
a Commandante (Major), respected by his comrades in arms for
his courage and military prowess.
On New Years Day 1959 Castros 3,000 guerrillas defeated a
30,000 strong professional army and to
this day Castro remains the President of Cuba Guevara became
an anti-Capitalist icon in the 1960s.
In August 1960 Time magazine published a cover story on Guevara
calling him “Castros brain” Guevara left Cuba
in 1965 with the intention of leading more revolutions but
was captured in a CIA/U.S.Army Special Forces-organised military
operation in the mountains of central Bolivia.
He died on October 9th 1967 at the hands of the Bolivian Army.
Participants in, and witnesses to the
events of his final hours testify that his captors executed
him without trial.
The Maryland Institute College of Art called his picture “The
most famous photograph in the world
and a symbol of the 20th century”
|
