"Until Victory, Always!!" - Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez
Ernesto Che Guevara... a political legend, a revolutionary leader, the representation of Anti-American imperialism. A brave fighter who fought for what he believed; However, he was also a bloody murderer who demanded worldwide revolution, even if it meant the death and misery of innocents.
It is amazing how thousands wear a shirt with the picture of this cold hearted killer. Today, over 40 years after his death, he is as famous as a Rock Star.
“In fact, if Christ himself stood in my way, I, like Nietzsche, would not hesitate to squish him like a worm” / Ernesto Che Guevara
After traveling through South America and experiencing some of the horrible things that still happen in everyday life in many South American countries, he decided that the only way things would change for the better was trough a Revolution.
In 1956, Guevara joined Fidel Castro's revolutionary 26th of July Movement, which seized power in Cuba in 1959. Fidel and Guevara fought a guerrilla war against Batistas government (Cuban government at the time) and defeated the US backed government. Castro marched into Havana on January 9,1959, and became Cuba's new leader.
During his first hundred days in office, Castro's government passed several new laws. Rents were cut by up to 50 per cent for low wage earners; property owned by Fulgencio Batista and his ministers was confiscated; the telephone company was nationalized and the rates were reduced by 50 per cent; land was redistributed amongst the peasants (including the land owned by the Castro family); separate facilities for blacks and whites (swimming pools, beaches, hotels, cemeteries etc.) were abolished. Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara were heroes; Cuba was now free of US Imperialism.
Che Guevara predicted that under Fidel's leadership Cuba would surpass the GDP per capita of the US by 1980.
In 1960 Guevara visited China and the Soviet Union. On his return he wrote two books Guerrilla Warfare and Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War. In these books he argued that it was possible to export Cuba's revolution to other South American countries .
Guevara, expanding Cubas revolution, fomented unrest in Argentina, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Haiti, Panama and Congo. However, every expedition led by Che was an abject failure.
Different tastes and opinions were not tolerated in Ernesto's revolution; nothing could stand in the way of the "guerrilleros". The revolution was more important than life itself.
Contrary opinions were silenced and any element considered "counter-revolutionary" had to be eliminated. Dissidents were placed on "labor camps" to be re-educated; others, were imprisoned or executed without trial. Che considered judicial review for executions was an archaic bourgeoisie detail.
Executions had to be public, to make an example of those who decided to be "anti-revolutionary". Those found guilty, were executed by a firing squad; afterwards, their families and friends were paraded in front of the bloody wall so the lesson would be learned. It is said that Guevara signed over 500 death warrants. How many others were killed without death warrants?
In 1967 he was captured and executed by the Bolivian Army with support of the CIA and the US Special Forces.
Today, Cuba's economy relies on oil shipments from Venezuela and its GDP per capita is almost non-existent.
"Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any enemy that falls in my hands! My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood. With the deaths of my enemies I prepare my being for the sacred fight and join the triumphant proletariat with a bestial howl!" // Ernesto Che Guevara
Next time you see somebody wearing a Che-Guevara T-Shirt, ask that person if he would wear a T-Shirt with the face of Hitler or Stalin.
