Argentinean revolutionary who led guerrilla groups with the aid of Fidel Castro in their attempt to spread communism in South America and Africa. He has been immortalized in posters, books and plays as an egalitarian hero of the Communist movement.
Guevara grew up in a unconventional leftist upper middle-class Argentine family. As a student, he wandered around Latin America as a Beatnik. In the country of Guatemala, he watched the U.S. backed forces overthrow the mildly left-wing Arbenz government. It was this action that fueled Guevara’s political and social radicalization. In Mexico, he met and joined Fidel and Raul Castro. In 1956, he joined Castro as a charismatic medical doctor in the militia. Guevarra fought with military courage and discipline and soon Castro put him in charge of his own troops.
Guevara won a decisive victory in a fearful 45-day long march into the strategic town of Santa Clara. In Cuba, he ran the Central Bank and the Industry Ministry with revolutionary zeal. Guevarra believed the workers would want to build an industrial nation by moral, not monetary incentives. In 1961, he wrote his book, “Guerilla Warfare.”
The relationship between Castro and Guevara became strained. Guevara did not approve of Castro allowing Cuba to become a part of the Soviet bloc. Cuba was relegated to the same role it played for the U.S. but now for Russia, as the supplier of sugar. In 1965, Castro sent Guevarra to agitate revolutions abroad by sending him with 120 Cuban soldiers to the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika in the Congo to aid Congolese rebel leaders. The expedition was a failure and Guevara returned to Cuba. In late 1966, Guevara was sent to southeastern Bolivia with a small group of volunteers. Bolivian peasants would not participate with Guevara’s men and the Bolivian Communist Party was unhappy with Guevara’s presence. The peasants aided the Bolivian Army in capturing Guevarra and he was executed by shooting on 10/09/1967 near Higueras, Bolivia. He was 39.
Link to Wikipedia biography