Che Guevara

Che Guevara (Ernesto Guevara) , 1928-67, Cuban revolutionary and political leader, b. Argentina. Trained as a physician at the Univ. of Buenos Aires, he took part (1952) in riots against the dictator Juan Perón in Argentina, joined agitators in Bolivia, and worked in a leper colony. In 1953 he went to Guatemala, joined the leftist regime of Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, and when Arbenz was overthrown (1954) fled to Mexico, where he met Fidel Castro and other Cuban rebels. Guevara became Castro's chief lieutenant soon after the rebel invasion of Cuba in 1956, in which he proved to be a resourceful guerrilla leader. As president of the national bank after the fall (Jan., 1959) of Fulgencio Batista he was instrumental in cutting Cuba's traditional ties with the United States and in directing the flow of trade to the Communist bloc. He served (1961-65) as minister of industry. At heart a revolutionary rather than an administrator, he left Cuba in 1965 to foster revolutionary activity in the Congo and other countries. In 1967, directing an ineffective guerrilla movement in Bolivia, he was wounded, captured, and executed by government troops. Guevara wrote Guerrilla Warfare (1961), Man and Socialism in Cuba (1967), Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War (1968), and The African Dream (2001), a forthright account of the failed Congo rebellion.

Bibliography: See his diaries, ed. by R. Scheer (1968) and by D. James (1968); his speeches and writings, ed. by J. Gerassi (1968) and D. Deutschmann (1987); biography by J. L. Anderson (1997); D. James, Che Guevara (1969); M. Ebon, Che: The Making of a Legend (1969); L. J. González and G. A. Sánchez Salazar, The Great Rebel (tr. 1969); R. Harris, Death of a Revolutionary (1970); L. Sauvage, Che Guevara: The Failure of a Revolutionary (1974).

Guevara, Che (born Ernesto Guevara de la Serna) (1928–67) South American revolutionary and political leader. An Argentine by birth, he joined the pro-communist regime in Guatemala, and when this was overthrown (1954) he fled to Mexico. Here he met Fidel CASTRO and helped him prepare the GUERRILLA force which landed in Cuba in 1956. Shortly after Castro's victory Guevara was given a cabinet position and placed in charge of Cuban economic policy. He played a major role in the transfer of Cuba's traditional economic ties from the USA to the communist bloc. A guerrilla warfare strategist rather than an administrator, he moved to Bolivia (1967) in an attempt to persuade Bolivian peasants and tin-miners to take up arms against the military government. The attempt ended in failure as Guevara was captured and executed shortly thereafter. His remains were discovered in 1997 and returned to Cuba for a state funeral.