Guevara's Asthma Attacks

During his journey through Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela, with his good friend Granado, Che Guevara had many asthma attacks (Richards). These attacks caused for Guevara to be put in medical care time after time. This gave them both time to experience all of the terrible conditions in the hospitals and in all the countries they traveled through. These experiences caused for Guevara to form a negative impression of the capitalists in South America. The major factor that caused for this negative outlook on the government and politics was when he went to the Chuquicamata copper mine in Chile, the working conditions were horrendous. Also when he visited the 15th century Incan ruins of Machu Picchu, which was gorgeous but the government
did the same thing to as the copper mine. Since it was such an attraction and help to the economy they were willing to exploit the workers, the ruins, and the Indians that were living on the lands just to profit from it.
This opened up Che Guevara’s eyes to the world of politics. He, after the motorcycle ride, was excited to get out and go explore some more. While on his trip around Bolivia and Guatemala, Guevara met Hilda Gadea, a Peruvian revolutionary who got exhaled from her country. Hilda taught Guevara the ways of Marxism, the belief, by Karl Marx that the struggle between different classes in society should no longer exist and there should be no segregation (Marxism). Hilda and Guevara’s revolutionary friends, Jacobo Arbenz Guzman and others, were the main influence on his new found radical views. Guevara tried to be a part of the Guatemalan revolution with Guzman but Guzman already took over the government. The CSI soon took over the government and Guevara and the Guatemalan labor party decided to stop the CSI. It did not work out well for them, only leaving Guevara with a bad reputation for being a revolutionary and a
Marxist.
Che Guevara, in September of 1954, snuck out of Guatemala with his, now, wife Hilda Gadea to Mexico City (“Che Guevara”).
After finding out she was pregnant, they were in a hurry to get married so the public and family would not find out that they broke their religious values and had intercourse before marriage. Although Guevara had education and a family, he was not yet ready to live the domestic lifestyle that many others would choose. He never lived the life that he dreamed, he never became a revolutionary or a figure in the public eye. That was made possible in 1955, shortly after he came to Mexico City, when he was introduced to Cuban rebel Fidel Castro and his brother Raul. Fidel and Raul were living in exile in Mexico City, while they developed plans to overthrow the Cuban “leader” Fulgencio Batista. These three men quickly became very close because they had common goals and similar political beliefs. Guevara chose to help these two men, and eighty-two others in the revolution by signing up to be a physician and take care of them. After the intensive training at clandestine guerrilla warfare training camp, they were all shipped out on the yacht Granma. Even though many thought that this was a poorly planned and crazy attempt at invasion, the Granma ported in Cuba on December 2, 1956. Guevara went into the invasion as a physician but came upon a situation where he had to choose: bullets or his physicians kit. He chose his bullets, and after that he soon became a
trusted friend and skilled leader of the sixty-eight men that survived the first attack. Fourteen of the men died fighting Batista’s army at Algeria de Pio, but the surviving men and leaders fled to Sierra Maestra in eastern Cuba to try and escape from Batista’s army. Castro only had one goal in mind, to liberate his homeland. While Guevara was Castro’s good friend, he had different reasons for invading: it served as one of the many battles that would help heal oppression and domination around the world. After all of the hard work of their forces, they overcame the troops of Batista, and Batista was forced to flee the country. Guevara, using views as a Marxists, convinced Castro to move in the direction of making Cuba a socialist state, focusing on production, distribution, and exchange being owned or regulated by the community as a whole. Castro, a supporter of Guevara’s beliefs, appointed him to positions in finance and the economy, even though he had no experience in either of those sectors. He was soon appointed to the president of the National bank of Cuba, until he gained the opportunity to control the Ministry of Industry. Guevara had a clear idea of what he wanted to change in Cuba: “move Cuba’s economy away from its dependence on the export of sugar in general and its dependence on sales to the United States in particular” (“Che Guevara”). He traveled around the world creating trade negotiations with countries that were willing. This helped the relationship with the Soviet Union by creating a pact to exchange Cuba’s sugar for the Soviet Union’s political support. With the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, and the need for the Soviet Union's support, Cuba seized the U.S.’s oil refineries. After becoming very socialist, and not specifically communist, the Soviet Union became to no longer agree with the extreme Marxist views of Guevara. He not only lost the support of the Soviet Union, but also much of Cuba’s working class. He took away all the material incentives for production in hope to create the idealistic Marxist lifestyle “ the new socialist man” but instead pushed away all the workers. This made his ideals a complete failure without any support, at this point Castro no longer even believed in his ideas. His ideas came to a complete end in 1964, leaving a weak agricultural industry and food shortages. When it came down to choosing between his loyal friend Guevara, and his marxists ideals, or keep his powerful alliance of the Soviet Union, he chose his powerful ally. Rumor was that Castro killed or exiled guevara but turning out that he was just traveling around the world imposing his views on other countries. After he moved back to Cuba, he organized a group of people who were trained in guerilla warfare to prepare for a revolution in Bolivia. He was no longer interested in just Cuba, but spreading Marxism around the world until everyone was treated equally. He planned to establish a base for revolution and eventually spread it throughout South America. His plans were doomed for failure, even his good friend Castro would not support him in his revolution. It ended in utter failure.

"Che Guevara." Contemporary Hispanic Biography. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2002. World History in Context. Web. 12 May 2014.
Marxism. (n.d.). Retrieved May 12, 2014, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Marxism
Richards, Michael. "Che Guevara." About.com 20th Century History. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2014.