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Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara
Che Guevara at the La Coubrememorial service. Taken byAlberto Kordaon
March 5, 1960
Date of birth:
June 14, 1928
[1]
Place of birth:
Rosario, Argentina
Date of death:
October 9, 1967 (aged 39)
Place of death:
La Higuera, Bolivia
Majororganizations:
26th of July Movement, United Party of theCuban Socialist Revolution,
[2]
  NationalLiberation Army (Bolivia)
Religion:
Atheist
[3]
 
Ernesto "Che" Guevara
(June 14,
[1]
1928 – October 9, 1967), commonly known as
CheGuevara
,
El Che
, or simply
Che
, was anArgentine Marxist revolutionary, politician, author,  physician, military theorist, andguerrillaleader. After his death, his stylized image became aubiquitouscountercultural symbol worldwide. As a young medical student, Guevara traveled throughoutLatin America and was transformed by the endemic povertyhe witnessed. His experiences and observations during these trips led him to
 
conclude that the region's ingrained economic inequalitieswere an intrinsic result of monopoly capitalism, neo-colonialism, andimperialism,with the only remedy beingworld revolution. This  belief prompted his involvement inGuatemala'ssocial reforms under PresidentJacobo Arbenz, whose eventualCIA-assisted overthrowsolidified Guevara's radical ideology.Later, inMexico, he metFidel Castroand joined his 26th of July Movement. In December 1956, he was among the revolutionaries who invaded Cuba under Castro's leadership with the intentionof overthrowing U.S.-backed Cubandictator  Fulgencio Batista.Guevara soon raise to  prominence among the insurgents, was promoted to
Comandante
, and played a pivotal role in thesuccessful guerrilla campaign that deposed Batista.
[4]
Following the Cuban revolution, Guevara reviewed the appeals of those convicted as war criminals during the revolutionary tribunals.
[5]
Later he served as minister of industry and president of the national bank, before traversing theglobe as a diplomat to meet an array of world leaders on behalf of Cuban socialism. He was also a prolific writer and diarist, composing a seminal manual on the theory and practice of guerrillawarfare, along with an acclaimed memoir about his motorcycle journey acrossSouth America. Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to incite revolutions first in an unsuccessful attempt inCongo-Kinshasaand then inBolivia, where he was captured with the help of the CIA and executed. Both notorious for his harsh discipline and revered for his unwavering dedication to hisrevolutionary doctrines, Guevara remains an admired, controversial, and significant historicalfigure. As a result of his death and romantic visage, along with his invocation to armedclassstruggleand desire to create the consciousness of a "new man" driven by "moral" rather than"material" incentives,
[6]
Guevara evolved into a quintessential icon of leftist-inspired movementsas well as a global merchandising sensation. He has been mostly venerated and occasionallyreviled ina multitudeof biographies, memoirs, books, essays, documentaries, songs, and films.
Time
magazine named him one of the100 most influentialpeople of the 20th century,
[7]
while anAlberto Kordaphotograph of him entitled
Guerrillero Heroico
(shown), was declared "the mostfamous photograph in the world."
[8]
Contents
 
Early life
Ernesto "Che" Guevara's birthplace, in Rosario, Argentina.
 
 
Ernesto Guevara was born on June 14, 1928
[1]
in Rosario,Argentina, the eldest of five children in a family of Spanish,BasqueandIrish descent.
[10]
Growing up in a family withleftist leanings, Guevara was introduced to a wide spectrum of political perspectives even as a boy. Growing up,his father, a supporter of Juan Peron and socialismoften had republicans from theSpanish Civil War in the Guevara home. This led to his later ideas of socialism.Though suffering from the crippling bouts of asthmathat were to afflict him throughout his life,he excelled as an athlete. He was an avidrugby unionplayer and earned himself the nickname"Fuser"—a contraction of 
 El Furibundo
(raging) and his mother's surname, de la Serna—for hisaggressive style of play.
[11]
His schoolmates also nicknamed him
"Chancho" 
("pig"), because herarely bathed, and proudly wore a "weekly shirt".
A teenage Ernesto (left) with his parents and siblings, ca.1944. Seated beside him, from left to right: Celia (mother), Celia (sister), Roberto,Juan Martín, Ernesto (father) and Ana María.
Guevara learned chessfrom his father and began  participating in local tournaments by age 12. During adolescence and throughout his life he was passionate about poetry, especially that of   Neruda,Keats,Machado,Lorca,Mistral, Vallejo, and Whitman.
[12]
 He could also reciteKipling's 
"If" 
andHernández's 
" Martín Fierro" 
frommemory.
[13]
The Guevara home contained more than 3,000 books, which allowed Guevara to bean enthusiastic and eclectic reader, with interests includingMarx,Faulkner ,Gide,Salgariand Verne.
[14]
He also enjoyed reading Nehru,Kafka, Camus, Lenin, andSartre; as well as France,  Engels,Wells, andFrost.
[15]
A 22 year old Guevara in 1951.
As he grew older, he developed an interest in the Latin American writersQuiroga,Alegria,Icaza, Dario, andAsturias.
[16]
 Many of these authors' ideas he would catalog in his own handwritten
“
The first thing to note is that in my son's veins flowed the blood of theIrish rebels,theSpanish conquistadoresand theArgentinean patriots. Evidently Che inherited some of the features of our restless ancestors. There was something in his naturewhich drew him to distant wanderings, dangerous adventures and new ideas.
”
— Ernesto GuevaraLynch, Che's Father 
[9]
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