What Did Machu Represent For Che Guevara?

What did Machu Picchu represent for Che Guevara?

Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara was born on June 14th 1928 in Rosario in Argentina. Guevara was a Revolutionary who believed, fought and died for the right of freedom, justice, and equal rights for both the rich and the poor. He was a man of many talents; a philanthropist, guerrilla war expert, and doctor. Then a budding medical student, Guevara departed for South America in 1952 with his close friend Alberto Granado. During his travels he found himself troubled by the hunger, disease and poverty in which he encountered in these countries; this was arguably the catalyst that encouraged him to annul what he perceived as exploitation of a capitalist nature of Latin America by the United States. It is important
He demonstrated his beliefs by battling alongside his good friend, Fidel Castro Ruz and other revolutionaries in the Cuban revolutionary war. This resulted in the overthrowing of infamous tyranny of Fulgencio Batista whose dynasty came to an end when he fled Havana on the 31st of December 1958 , this triumph crystalized Guevara’s political philosophy which was effectively the fact that he saw the many promoters of capitalism, such as France, Britain and especially the United States as ‘imperialist dogs’ who only exploited their people for profit and did not care about the consequences. It is important to consider the exact moment, which was the driving force behind Guevara’s sudden determination to change the dynamics of 20th century Latin America, and in this essay I am going to be illustrating just how the infamous 15th century Inca site, Machu Picchu, located 2,430m above sea level, affected, and possibly
Guevara, after hearing Granado’s theory, is rather bewildered by his proposition and simply replies; “Revolution without firing a shot? You’re crazy” This is an interesting point due to the fact that a few years after his experience at Machu Picchu, Che Guevara is influenced to join the revolutionary army, which was led by Fidel Castro and fight against the views of the dictator at the time; Fulgencio Batista. This famous quote by Che Guevara gives evidence to the fact that when Guevara and Granado visited the Incan relic of Machu Picchu, they were not only impressed with the brilliance of indigenous culture before European conquest tarnished it, but they also discovered the contrast between the harsh, exploited and distressed life of the Indians they saw still living in the area and the seemingly callous American tourists who gathered at Machu Picchu. Inspired by what he saw, when Guevara revolved back home to Argentina on July 31, 1952, he was a different man. He progressed with his medical studies and thus graduated in June 1953, barely passing his last exam before he was devising his next expedition through his strong beliefs of anti