Che Guevara Research paper

November 27, 2013
Latin American Studies
Mr. Pollicella

Che Guevara Research Paper
Che Guevara was a revolutionary; he wanted the people of South America to be equal but he was a violent megalomaniac. He was a Marxist, a communist. Born in Argentina on June 14, 1928, Che came from a family of “leftists” and he was reported of always feeling bad for the poor. Che Guevara’s real name is Ernesto R. Guevara de la Serna. Ernesto was a medical student in Argentina before he became the famous “Che.” When Che was young, he went on a journey around South America with his friend Alberto Granado. They went on the trip from 1951-52; Che was still in his early twenties and a medical student. Che was in Guatemala during the collapse of their government. The CIA were sent to Guatemala to topple a popular President named Jacobo Arbenz. Arbenz had been trying to reform Guatemala from a “Banana Republic” by nationalizing the United Fruit Co. in Guatemala. The US did not like this and they sent the CIA. The CIA trained the Guatemalan Army to fight President Arbenz. The Army defeated Arbenz and successfully executed a coup d’état. The US installed a puppet dictator who was oppressive and ruthless to the people of Guatemala. Che saw what happened in Guatemala and he saw how the US was a “bad guy.” Che then became a Marxist and took his ideas to Cuba.
Che and Castro started the Cuban Revolution, Che teamed up with Fidel Castro and together they were able to take down the oppressive dictator in Cuba; Fulgencio Batista. Che and Castro used guerilla warfare to defeat Batista and his troops. Castro became the leader of Cuba and Che was his second in command. Che was an extremely violent person during and after the Cuban Revolution. It is reported that Che executed more than 400 people. He is a symbol of freedom and rebellion to many people and especially in popular culture yet he is a violent person and robbed many people of their freedom because they did not agree with his ideologies, which is why he executed them. “Che was an enemy of freedom, and yet he has been erected into a symbol of freedom.” (The Cult of Che) Che is not a fair man yet he is a symbol of equality. “He helped establish an unjust social system in Cuba and has been erected into a symbol of social justice.” (The Cult of Che) Che has a famous photo of him in a beret, that photo has been plastered onto t-shirts and people purchase them and wear them without even knowing who the man on the shirt is and what he stands for. “I wonder if people who stand up to cheer a hagiography of Che Guevara will ever give a damn about the oppressed people of Cuba” (The Cult of Che)
Che was not a man who was capable of compromise. He could only accept a true Marxist society which is impossible to achieve. “Many of the early leaders of the Cuban Revolution favored a democratic or democratic-socialist direction for the new Cuba. But Che was a mainstay of the hard-line pro-Soviet faction, and his faction won.” (The Cult of Che) Che turned Cuba into a communist state, but he was unsatisfied with it. He felt that Castro was not achieving a perfect Marxist state. Che was even exiled from Cuba, the place where he helped defeat the harsh dictator. Che criticized the Soviet Union for not achieving a perfect Marxist state as well. Communism and Marxism can never work on a large scale though. He fled to many countries to try and ‘stir up’ other revolutions to do what he could not in Cuba. But he was unsuccessful. The last place Che tried to start a revolution in was Bolivia. Che was 39 years old, he was no longer a young man and he could not accomplish anything. The peasants of Bolivia did not rise up against their dictator because they feared him. “leading a guerrilla movement that had failed to enlist a single Bolivian peasant … accomplished nothing.” (The Cult of Che) Che was captured and executed in Bolivia in 1967. “The volunteer warrant officer, Teran, fired the fatal shots” (Che Triumphs on Battlefield of Memory) The only thing Che did was cause the deaths of thousands of people and “set back the cause of Latin American democracy.” (The Cult of Che)
Che was a violent man but he was the man who defeated an oppressive Cuban dictator. “A legendary guerrilla leader in the Cuban Revolution that ousted dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959” (Che Triumphs on Battlefield of Memory) Of those who truly understand what Che did and stood for, some will agree with his actions and aspire to be like him. Today many people still support him and they make up the “Cult of Che.” Many are communists who want liberal reforms for oppressed peoples of South America. “All my life we communist pioneers pledged to be like Che,” said Jose Valledaris “Now I'm here, in the footsteps of Che.” Many historians have differing opinions on Che Guevara, some say he is a bad person and some say he is a hero. “Guevara … was a trigger-happy megalomaniac whose bloody example led thousands to their deaths in futile uprisings that only hardened military repression from Guatemala to Chile … Guevara is forever the doomed idealist, the poetry-loving "guerrillero" and "most complete human being of our age” (Che triumphs on Battlefield in Memory)
Every man does good and bad in their lives. In Che Guevara’s life he did more bad than good. He was a brave soldier and sincerely wanted to help the oppressed people of South America but he was violent and crazed about creating a Marxist country. His obsession with revolution led to his demise in 1967, his legacy lives on in those who believe he was a hero. Even though in pop culture he is a symbol of freedom and rebellion, to those who know who he is and don’t agree with his ideologies, he is a violent megalomaniac.