Che Guevara A Revolutionary Life example essay topic

Che Guevara was the Argentine born guerrilla who helped oust the corrupt Cuban government and set up a communist system 90 miles from the US. Che under the leadership of Fidel Castro helped lead a small guerrilla band of soldiers to take over the country. Ernesto Guevara was born May 14, 1928 in Rosario, Argentina. He was born to Ernesto Guevara Lynch and Celia de la Serna, two Argentines that were fairly well off at the time. At two years old, Che was diagnosed with asthma, which could plague him for the rest of his life. His asthma affected his family life, forcing them to move until they found a place where his asthma could be stabilized.

Che was home schooled until the age of nine because of his illness. At first Che wanted to study engineering at the University. After the death of his grandmother Che decided to study medicines instead of engineering. He was accepted to the University of Buenos Aires to study medicine. Che was introduces to Fidel Castro, the young Cuban revolutionary, in Mexico City in 1955. After several hours of talking Fidel invited Che to join the guerrilla movement.

Che accepted on the spot, he was to take on the position of being the groups' doctor. After receiving military training Che was quickly promoted as an officer in Castrs ranks. In 1956 almost all of Castrs group was arrested officially for breaking Mexico's immigration laws, despite the media frenzy saying that they were communists revolutionaries planning an attack on Cuba. After everyone was eventually released Castro began working at a manic pace to get everything ready for the invasion. The fighting started off on very bad terms for the guerrillas. They missed the landing point and date, and a few days after landing the army attacked them and the group was highly disorganized.

Fidel reformed his group, which then only consisted of 20 or so men. After awhile though, the guerrillas were started to have an effect all across Cuba. As the guerrilla army grew Fidel gave Che his own column and promoted him to commander. The two columns worked well and progress began to move more quickly. Within a year the guerrilla forces began setting up liberated territory in the mountains and moving out across Cuba. Fidel setup groups of men in all the towns and cities he conquered to help keep law and order.

The new government showed no favoritism towards either the capitalist or the communist at first. Guevara was appointed as minister of industry, and he started trying to go through with a rapid industrialization process. The idea behind this was to help quickly diversify the economy and help Cuba bring in income other than its sugar staples. The new government quickly started looking for a buyer for their sugar. Many believe that the new government was almost forced into communism because the United States cut off all relations with the new government, leaving only the Soviet bloc as a superpower that would support the new government. Once communism was decided as the way to go, many debates raged about how to start communism in a capitalist society.

Guevara stated Pursuing the chimera of achieving socialism with the aid of the blunted weapons left to us by capitalistic is possible to come to a blind alle (Perez-Stable 96). This debate raged on for many years after Guevara left the country, and there are still flaws in the way they did it to this day. In 1965 Guevara resigned his position and disappeared from public site. He had gone to help the struggle against imperialist around the world. First he went to Congo; now know as Zaire, to help with a guerrilla revolution going on in that country. On October 8, 1967, as Che and his guerrilla troops were traveling, when Bolivian Army Rangers led by Gary Prado Salmon moved in.

They surrounded the guerrillas and the firing began. Che, wounded from a shot in his calf, lay concealed behind a tree. As Sergeant Bernard Huan ca crept upon him Che told him Dot shoot. I am Che Guevara. I am worth more to you alive than dead (Anderson 733). Che was then taken captive and positively identified.

As the man walked through the door to shoot him Che replied to him I know you " ve come to kill me. Shoot coward, you are only going to kill a ma (Anderson 739). After he was killed, his body was put on public display in Vallegrand, were many of the peasants claimed he resembled Jesus. After this his hands were chopped of and sent to Argentina for proper identification. He was buried near an airstrip outside of Vallegrand, but the exact spot remained a mystery for thirty years. His body was found in 1997 and moved to its final resting-place in Cuba.

Che Guevara inspired thousands of people to take a stand against imperialistic governments. Anderson, Jon Lee. Che Guevara A Revolutionary Life. New York: Grove Press, 1997. Castaneda, Jorge G. Companion: The Life and Death of Che Guevara. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.

Ryan, Henry Butterfield A Look A Myths of Cuba: Che Guevara: The Triumph Mystique Washington Post 2 November 1997: CO 3. Stockwell, Norman Reclaiming Ches Legacy Capital Times 3 October 1997. T aibo, Paco Ignacio. Guevara Also Known As Che. New York: St. Mart is, 1997..