Che Guevarra Maturski

7/30/2019 Che Guevarra Maturski

1/18

GIMNAZIJA LJUBUKI KOLSKA GODINA 2008./2009.

MATURALNI RAD

Ernesto Che Guevara

MENTORICA: UENICA:

Prof.Marija Vasilj Nikolina Herceg


2/18

LJUBUKI, SVIBANJ 2009.

Contents

...................................................................................................................................................2

1 Childhood................................................................................................................................3

2 The expedition of the rebellious ones.....................................................................................6

2.1. Travel to North..........................................................................................................................6

2.2 Encounter with Fidel Castro....................................................................................................10

2.3 Cuba in the target.....................................................................................................................10

2.4 The minister vanished from the Cuba.....................................................................................11

3 A murder of a man who wanted to change the world..........................................................14

3.1 One epilogue after another.......................................................................................................143.2 Why we wear Che.....................................................................................................................15

2


3/18

1 Childhood

Ernesto Guevara was born on 14 of June 1928 in Argentina, Rosario town. His father

was Ernesto Guevara Lincho, an architect and a powerful man. His father and grandfather had

some of their forefathers' Irish rebellious blood. In his childhood Ernesto Guevara was very

sensitive and tender young man. He had asthma, which will be his companion for a lifetime.

When he was two years old his family moved to Buenos Aires looking for a better climate for

their kid with asthma, but soon they found a new place to live in the inner part of Argentina.

His family was well-off and had aristocratic roots, but they were filled with socialistic ideas.

Despite his asthma condition, Ernesto was deeply involved in numerous athletics activities,

especially rugby. Che's father played a crucial role in the development of his son's athletic

interest; however outside of those activities, his father was rather aloof and distant. Although

he bear his father's name, his mother had the dominant influence on him throughout his life,

but especially in his youth. In fact, the relationship shared between them was stronger than

that shared by any of the other children; perhaps due to his illness: there is nothing like a

mother's anguish and guilt to create a boundless devotion in her child. She would often read to

him; and teach him French among other things; during the time he spent indoors because of

his illness. He easily adopted his parents' liberal attitudes. He was a good student, but he

was avoiding religion classes, he had a gift for others such as math, physics and chemistry.He

was an avid rugby union player and earned himself the nickname "Fuser"a contraction of

El Furibundo (raging) and his mother's surname, de la Sernafor his aggressive style of play.

His schoolmates also nicknamed him "Chancho"("pig"), because he rarely had a bath, and

proudly wore a "weekly shirt. He read a lot; Jules Verne, Aleksandre Dumas, Viktor Hugo,

Neruda, and later he studied Freud's psychoanalyses and became a big fan of political books.

Sigmund Freud's ideas fascinated him as he quoted him on a variety of topics from dreams

and libido to narcissism and the Oedipus complex. His favorite subjects in school included

philosophy, mathematics, engineering, political science, and sociology. In his later teens he

developed interests in photography and archeology. . By his college, his parents were

separated, though still married, and Che became to come into his own. He worked part time

jobs while he was in school to help pay for his needs. When he was 23 he went to medicalschool; a decision probably based on his desire to find a cure for himself, but more likely to

3


4/18

find a cure for his mother's malignant cancer which she developed at least two years before

this decision. Before graduation he and his best friend Albert Granados, took a trip by

motorbikes throughout South America. Guevara and Granado left Buenos Aires in January

1952, Norton 500, dubbed La Poderosa ("The Mighty One"), (a version of Don Quijotes

Rocinante). They desired to explore the South America they only knew from books. By

journey's end (by motorcycle, steamship, raft, horse, bus, and hitchhiking) they traveled for a

symbolic nine months covering more than 8,000 miles across places such as the Andes, the

Atacama Desert and the Amazon River. In the bestselling memoir, Guevara details his

adventure, as well as his observations on the life of the impoverished indigenous peasantry

throughout. It is said that he cried when he saw the brutal inhumanity of the treatment of

lepers in San Pablo Leprosarium, located along the Amazon River. There was no freedom

anywhere, not enough bread. His experiences across the continent greatly shaped his

perception, and changed the direction of his life.The trip made one thing clear to Che; he did

not want to become a middle-class practitioner. Soon he and his friend had to take separate

ways. Granados got a job in a laboratory for studying causes of leper, and Guevara had to

return to Buenos Aires when he soon graduated.

Figure 1: Ernesto in days when he was student

Ernesto was in his fourth year of medical school, when, citing his own communist

threat Peron began crashing down on the left. During the purge his friend Fernando Barralwas arrested for communist agitation and held in the police custody for seven months. He was

4


5/18

a Spanish republican exile whose father, a famous sculptor, had been killed while defending

Madrid. Except for rare encounters, Ernesto and his friend hadn't had many contacts since

then. By his early twenties, Ernesto stood out socially as an attractive oddball whom others

found difficult to categorize. Indeed he defied definition. Eccentric in his appearance, he was

nonetheless oblivious to ridicule. At the time when the youths from his social class dressed

impeccably in ties, blazers, pressed slacks and polished shoes to avoid the dreaded stigma of

being misidentified as a working-class immigrant's son, he wore grimy windbreakers and odd-

fitting, old-fashioned shoes that he bought at remainder sales. By his early twenties, Ernesto

had perfected this untended image.

5


6/18

2 The expedition of the rebellious ones

2.1. Travel to North

Travelling throughout South America Guevara and the 29-year-old Granado soon set

off from their hometown of Alta Gracia astride a 1939 Norton 500 cc motorcycle they named

La Poderosa II ("The Mighty One, the Second") with the idea of spending a few weeks

volunteering at the San Pablo Leper colony in Peru on the banks of the Amazon River. The

journey took Guevara through Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela,

Panama, and to Miami, before returning to Argentina. The first stop: Miramar, Argentina, a

small resort where Guevara's girlfriend, Chichina, was spending the summer with her upper-

class family. Two days stretched into eight, and upon leaving, Chichina gave Guevara $15

(US) to buy her a swimsuit if they made it to the U.S. Guevara swore to her that he would

starve rather than spend the money on anything else; however, he later gave it away to a poor

peasant couple in need of it. The two men crossed into Chile on February 14. At one pointthey introduced themselves as internationally renowned leprosy experts to a local newspaper,

which wrote a glowing story about them. The travelers later used the press clipping as a way

to score meals and other favors with locals along the way. A reference to his experience in

Chile, Guevara also writes: "The most important effort that needs to be done is to get rid of

the uncomfortable 'Yankee-friend'. It is especially at this moment an immense task, because of

the great amount of dollars they have invested here and the convenience of using economical

pressure whenever they believe their interests are being threatened."

Unable to get a boat to Easter Island as they intended, they headed north, where

Guevara's political consciousness began to stir as he and Granado moved into mining country.

They visited Chuquicamata copper mine, the world's largest open-pit mine and the primary

source of Chile's wealth. While getting a tour of the mine he asked how many men died in its

creation. At the time it was run by U.S. mining monopolies of Anaconda and Kennecott and

thus was viewed by many as a symbol of "imperialist gringo domination". A meeting with a

homeless communist couple in search of mining work made a particularly strong impression

6


7/18

on Guevara, who wrote: "By the light of the single candle ... the contracted features of the

worker gave off a mysterious and tragic air ... the couple, frozen stiff in the desert night,

hugging one another, were a live representation of the proletariat of any part of the world,"

In reference to the oppression against the Communist party in Chile, which at the time

was outlawed, Guevara pontificated: "Its a great pity, that they repress people like this.

Apart from whether collectivism, the communist vermin, is a danger to decent life, the

communism gnawing at his entrails was no more than a natural longing for something better,

a protest against persistent hunger transformed into a love for this strange doctrine, whose

essence he could never grasp but whose translation, 'bread for the poor,' was something he

understood and, more importantly, that filled him with hope. Needless to say, workers at

Chuquicamata were in a living Hell.

In Peru, Guevara was impressed by the old Inca civilization, forced to ride in trucks

with Indians and animals after "The Mighty One" broke down. As a result he begins to

develop a fraternity with the indigenous campesinos. In March 1952 they both arrived at the

Peruvian Tacna. After a discussion about the poverty in the region, Guevara refers in his notes

to the words of Cuban poet Jos Marti: "I want to link my destiny to that of the poor of this

world." In May they arrived in Lima, Peru and during this time Guevara met doctor Hugo

Pesce, a Peruvian scientist, director of the national leprosy program, and an important local

Marxist. They discuss several nights until the early morning and years later Che identified

these conversations as being very important for his evolution in attitude towards life and

society. In May, Guevara and Granado leave for the leper-centre of San Pablo in the Peruvian

Amazon Rainforest, arriving there in June. During his stay Guevara complains about the

miserable way the people and sick of that region have to live. Guevara also swam once from

the side of the Amazon River where the doctors stayed, to the other side of the river where the

leper patients lived, a considerable distance of two and a half miles. He describes how there

were no clothes, almost no food, and no medication. After giving consultations and treating

patients for a few weeks, Guevara and Granado leave for Leticia, Colombia via the Amazon

River.They survived eating bananas and due to the little money that their temporary projectspeople offered them. They decide to depart to rbenz's Guatemala to have contact with a

social left revolution". Before taking the steam to Central America a bet comes up in which

Ernesto beats his friends, according to Rojo's account. He assures that he has two months

without changing the trousers and that these can be maintained in foot, full with dirt. In front

7


8/18

of the boys, Ernesto is stripped and literally poses in soil the pledge that remains in fact taut

before everybody amazement.

While visiting Bogot, Colombia he wrote a letter to his mother on July 6, 1952. In the

letter he describes the conditions under the right-wing government of Conservative Laurean

Gmez as the following: "There is more repression of individual freedom here than in any

country we've been to, the police patrol the streets carrying rifles and demand your papers

every few minutes."He also goes on to describe the atmosphere as "tense"and "suffocating"

even hypothesizing that "a revolution may be brewing." Guevara was correct in his

prognostication, as a military coup in 1953 would take place, bringing General Gustavo Rojas

to power.

Later that month Guevara arrived in Caracas, Venezuela and from there decide to

return back to Buenos Aires to finish his studies in medical science. However, prior to his

return, he travels by cargo-plane to Miami, where the airplane's technical problems delay him

one month. To survive, he works as a waiter and washes dishes in a Miami bar.

Although he admits throughout that as a Vagabond traveler he can only see things at

surface level, he does attempt to delve beneath the sheen of the places he visits. On one

occasion he goes to see a woman dying of tuberculosis, leaving appalled by the failings of the

public health system. This experience leads him to ruminate the following reflection: "How

long this present order, based on the absurd idea of caste, will last is not within my means to

answer, but its time that those who govern spent less time publicizing their own virtues and

more money, much more money, funding socially useful works." Witnessing the widespread

endemic poverty, oppression and disenfranchisement throughout Latin America, and

influenced by his readings of Marxist literature, Guevara later decided that the only solution

for the region's structural inequalities was armed revolution. His travels and readingsthroughout this journey also lead him to view Latin America not as a group of separate

nations, but as a single entity requiring a continent-wide strategy for liberation from what he

viewed as imperialist and neo-colonial domination. His conception of a borderless, united,

Hispanic-America sharing a common 'mestizo' bond, was a theme that would prominently

recur during his later activities and transformation from Ernesto the traveler, into Che

Guevara the iconic revolutionary. Later in one Ecuadorian port he encountered a passionate

antiperonistic lawyer Ricardo Roco, who persuaded him to change his life decision, whycuring leper on human bodies when there's enough lepers on human souls, in society, in life.

8


9/18

He told him if he really felt a revolutionary spirit inside, he should've got that chance and

taken a risk. Guatemala - a big revolution in a small country. Granados, his fallow, had had

waited him for a long time, because Guevara had to answer his call and join the revolution.

He first came to Guatemala to be a witness of breaking the revolution. The county

couldn't handle anticommunist visit of John Foster Dulls and home treason of Castillo Armas.

Guevara established a new detachment of people who were meant to defend endangered

revolution. He wanted from Guatemalan army to let him go to the front, but indeed there was

no front at all because they were defeated in a very short notice. Guevara got injured while

trying to break the invasion. He also wanted to cure the leper but they didn't allow him

because his doctor's license was invalid. His only achievement in that year was that he got

married with Peruan girl called Hilda Galea who was also attracted by Guatemalan hope.

Figure 1: Che Guevara with his daughter

Ernesto then went to Bolivia during the National Revolution, then to Guatemala

during the socialist Arbenz presidency where he refused to join the communist party, even

though he was by now a Marxist, which meant losing a chance of government medical

appointment. Ernesto also saw the CIA at work in counterrevolution and was confirmed in his

view that Revolution could be made only by an armed insurrection. When Arbenz fell Ernesto

went to Mexico City where he worked in the General Hospital.

9


10/18

2.2 Encounter with Fidel Castro

Also in Guatemala he meets his first Cubans, also exiles, but veterans of armed

resistance against Cuba's dictator, Fulgencio Batista. The Cubans are Antonio Lopez, Mario

Dalmau, Dario Lopez and Armando Arencibia. When he was staying in Mexico City Che

became friends with Raul Castro who introduced him one day with his brother Fidel. They

talked for 8 hours and in the dawn, Ernesto was dreaming his dream, he was to become the

spark of Latino American fire. In Mexico City he earned that nickname Che- by whom he

became so famous, it means-hey, you!

Figure 2: Encounter with Fidel Castro

2.3 Cuba in the target

The United States supplied Batista with planes, ships and tanks, but the advantage of

using the latest technology, such as napalm, failed to win the victory against the guerrillas. In

10


11/18

March 1958, President Dwight Eisenhower, disillusioned with Batista's performance,

suggested he held elections. This he did, but the people showed their dissatisfaction with his

government by refusing to vote. Over 75 per cent of the voters in the capital Havana

boycotted the polls. In some areas, such as Santiago, it was as high as 98 per cent. It's been

months and months after that and new guerillas were getting ready for the new rebellious

movements. November 25th, about 80 people headed east towards Orient province, South-east

of Cuba. The beginning was miserable. The dictator of Cuba was informed about Guerrillas

arrival. While a small column was passing through sugar cane fields, Batista's planes were

flying above and kept them away from the main target. First Batista's bullets hit Guevara in

the neck and breast, and while he was suffering from bad injuries, in that exact moment he

was remembering Jack London's novel and tried to die on feet, just as the main propagandist.

He needn't because his friends saved him and the wounds healed pretty quickly. Later he said

that sometimes a defeat brings a lot more experience than the victory itself. On January 1st

1959'dictator runs from Cuba and two colonies of Guerrillas entered Havana. Among them

there was Che. Castro's 3,000 guerrillas have defeated 30,000 soldiers from a strong

professional army.

In two years of guerrilla school Ernesto did a lot of work to train the new guerrilla

unites. In the beginning, he taught them how to use weapon properly, he cured ill guerrillas,he was a commandant next to Fidel, of the first two unites, he made a first radio station, and

all of that he wrote in his diary which has become the main source of Cuban unite chronicles.

In the last offensive he penetrated in the Las Villas province, in the centre of Cuba and

captured Santa Clara in one of the most famous and most bitter battle of Cuban uprising.

Guevara succeeded what he always wished for; an armed revolution finally beat the

imperialism.

2.4 The minister vanished from the Cuba

A revolutionary must do what is necessary with a lot of patience - that's Che's main rule. He

accomplished a lot since moving to Cuba. He invested some of the money he received as the

director of the national bank to create a new order of army called Barbudos. In 1961'he was

declared as a minister of industry (the story tells that this was based on misunderstanding,because once, in one meeting Castro asked the audience - WHO OF YOU THINKS HE'S AN

11


12/18

ECONOMIST - but Guevara heard different-who of you thinks he's a communist-so he raised

his hand and very surprised, got this title of an ambassador. In this position, he travelled the

world as an ambassador for Cuba. At home, he carried out plans for the land redistribution

and the nationalization of industry.

Figure 2: Che Guevara smoking

His entire outfit hasn't changed even when he got this title; he had, in his closet, two

olive uniforms, two pairs of boots, one beret, one jacket and a few shirts. On October 1965'

minister disappeared from the face of the earth. To his fallow F. Castro he left a note about

the reason why he did it. I feel I accomplished everything that linked me to Cuban revolution,

so I say goodbye to you, to your people, that has become my people also. On the new

battlegrounds I will carry the faith you gave me...the feeling that Im doing the most sacred

duties of all: to fight imperialism wherever it is. I free Cuba from all responsibilities towards

me...when I die my last thought will be of you and Cuban people.

12


13/18

Figure 3: Ernesto Che Guevara

After vanishing from Cuba, Ernesto came to Bolivia and spent a few years there.

Where he was, or what he did in the meanwhile, is unknown. Because of many reasons,

Bolivia seemed to him as a pretty fertile round to start a revolution. Her southeast was a place

where guerrillas could attack and easily disappear afterwards. The CIA and American spy

military force got a task to forbid Che to repeat the Sierra Maestra mission. He was the

main mission in CIA's occupation. His file was the thickest and psychoanalysts worked

through his whole life to get to know his next step.

13


14/18

3 A murder of a man who wanted to change the world

On October 8th in the Huro barrier, the last seventeen guerrillas fought against

American rangers that surrounded them. Che was on the front and he started to shoot but got

shot in his leg. The battle took about 5 hours, the guerrillas tried to defeat the enemy and save

their leader. That bullet he received took Che Guevara into enemies hands. One of his friends

later said that he would have rather died than got in that position. Famous guerrillas were now

called Igueras, a small village. How did his last hours of life look like is not familiar, the only

witnesses are the ones that cannot tell the truth or just don't want to. A commandant called

Capitan Gary Salmon, who became famous for capturing Che, took emergency call to the

USA and La Paz. Ernesto Che Guevara died on October 9 th.It became clear that even when he

died Che was a threat to his enemies because he was the man who spread rebellion all over

the world. And that could be the main reason why the place of Che's grave is unknown to

people. How the murder has been done, we could only assume. Some people say that captain

Prado shot Che itself, some say that Mario Terrano shot him, because he called him a coward.

They say his last words were-goodbye my kids, goodbye my lovely wife, my brother Fidel.-

3.1 One epilogue after another

The effort to destroy everything connected to Che, the body, the work, his meaning

couldn't be paid. Dead, he turned into a legend. Rivalry towards wounded Che even helped to

turn him into the most famous rebel ever existed. His name became a catchword to many

rebellious people all around the world, an inspiration of movements for freedom, etc. His

images of the knight without flaws, hypnotic look of his deep green eyes, visionary peace and

inquietude in the same measure, made movies, novels, poems that will last forever. His defeat

turned into victory because in this fast, speed time, which we will always have is our dreams,

and that's why he'll always be a hero. For him, an armed revolution was his only way to

achieve impossible, because he felt the suffer of his people. He refused to combine ways to

make things easier, varieties such as parliament and army, political and military, coalitional

and avant-garde, his passion just wasn't made to adjust, and rebellion was his way to work

things through. He used to say that the revolution was his Rocinanta. But he never thought

that, as Cervantes, tried to fight against windmills, he just thought that noble enthusiasm was

the power of history. Che Guevara is that kind of a person whose delusions are pretty and

14


15/18

whose mistakes are respected. Human spirit's size is measured in how much it dares to dream,

how it fights, and even though it gets defeated by the destiny or others, it overcomes the

death, its human limit, injustice. In his last note Che said-if I die one day, let it be known that

I measured the scope of my achievements and that I see myself as an ordinary soldier...many

people will die because of their mistakes; others will die in the fight that will come soon, but

just out of those battles will rise some new fighters and heroes.

3.2 Why we wear Che

There are a lot of Che Guevara t-shirts out there, but there are perhaps even more

reasons why people wear them. There are those who have seen the image and simply like it

and want to wear it. There are also people who wear them because people they admire, such

as professors, boss, or parents wear them. Some wear Che Guevara t-shirts to express part of

their own political ideas. Others wear them specifically because they admired some of the

things Che Guevara did his political and military carrier.

15


16/18

Figure 4: Che Guevara with his military force

The t-shirts have become to many people a symbol of their own rebellious nature. To

some people, a Che Guevara t-shirt is a symbol of rebellion against the constraints of thegovernment, of society or of whatever it is they feel is too constraining.

Some people feel that being passionate about politics or military actions is an

important part of life, and that attracts them to the symbol of Che Guevara. He is seen by

many to be a symbol of an overriding passion for change that can change the way whole

governments and armies operate.

For some, the look of military style is what is appealing. Camouflage and CheGuevara t-shirts appeals to them for the image it conveys. The classic Che Guevara image is

16


17/18

one in which he is wearing a military hat and coat. Someone wearing a similar outfit may

enjoy a Che Guevara t-shirt because it fits into that image with its military style.

Other people are opposed to specific types of political parties or types of government.

These may include conservative politics or communism in general. Some use it as a symbol of

fighting against the ruling classes that they perceive as oppressing the poorer classes. The

struggle of one class against another is one that interests many people in learning more about

Che Guevara and wearing t-shirts that feature him.

In most cases, it is used as a symbol of revolution, rebellion and being true to your

own vision. While not everyone who wears these t-shirts agrees with everything that Che

Guevara stood for, for many its not about anything that he did specifically. For them, itsmore about symbolizing living life on their own terms rather than simply doing what they are

told to do feeling true passion for a cause.

A Che Guevara t-shirt doesnt have to be worn to symbolize anything that other people

wear it to symbolize. If it appeals to someone, it can be worn for whatever reason has drawn

them to it. It can be about politics, the military, fashion, passion or rebellion. It can be worn

for a combination or some or all of these reasons. Whatever the reason, a Che Guevara t-shirt

does stir up passions in those who are for or against him and what he stood for. And for many,

thats exactly what they want to accomplish.

Figure 5: Legendary Ernesto Che Guevara

17


18/18

Literature:

[1] Book: Che Guevara:A revolutionary life

[2] Web source: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/COLDguevara.htm

[3] Web source: http://members.tripod.com/~Mictlantecuhtli/Chei/Chei.html

[4] Book: ore Radenkovi:Portreti savremenih linosti

18
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/COLDguevara.htmhttp://members.tripod.com/~Mictlantecuhtli/Chei/Chei.htmlhttp://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/COLDguevara.htmhttp://members.tripod.com/~Mictlantecuhtli/Chei/Chei.html

Che Guevarra Maturski

Documents

Transcript of Che Guevarra Maturski