Who was Che Guevara and why do some people seem to like him?

Answer 1

gee, answering this makes me feel old because to have asked this question, you must have been too young to experience the psychedelic 60's.

in a nutshell: he was an integral part of the cadre which toppled the corrupt batista regime in cuba. his partners as revolutionary leaders were fidel castro 9el presidente of cuba to this day) and famed song writer/revolutionary jose marti.

marti was best known for a lovely, somewhat haunting song entitled: "guantanamera," which contains one of the most socio-economic and politically astute lines ever written in music which, translated from spanish, is: "with the poor people of the world, i will share my fate."

that line sums up the socio-economic and political philosophy of che, fidel, jose and all of their followers. they were weary of seeing huge economic disparities, which caused great suffering. florida, particularly miami, is full of ex-pat cubans who are extremely resentful that the revolution occurred but that's because they were the richest people in a lop-sided society. they didn't like having their plantations, etcetera, taken away from them.

at any rate, another reason many people like che is ecause he was assassinated. i have seen photos of him just after he was killed and his body was riddled with bullets. an extremely sad ending, to say the least.

so, if you enjoy the likes of tainted and twisted and omitted facts ala rush limbaugh and his ilk, you will loathe che, just on principle.

if, however, you find you have any semblance of a social conscience, you may wish to look into che's life and times at greater depth.

hope this helps,


puffnagel "-)

Answer 2

Ernesto was an Argentine born doctor and revolutionary who assisted Fidel Castro int eh overthrow of the Batista government, i believe he was minister of the interior for some time but grew restless and did not concur with all of Fidel's ideals so he left to fight in Angola and later Bolivia where he was captured and executed in 68? check wikipedia ont eh date. he was a Marxist. he is so popular due to the prominent picture of him that can be found on many a pogues tshirt or poster in their bedroom. he has been romanticized by the media and every faux bohemian who wants to be cool attempts an association with him

Answer 3

Oh man. Where to begin? Argentinian born doctor-turned right hand man to Fidel Castro. Later on they had a falling out and Che (real name Ernesto, was murdered (US CIA?). Check out wikipedia or rent Motorcycle Diaries for stories of his earlier life. People like him because people love revolutionaries and because he was a pretty cool one for a personal friend of a communist dictator.

Answer 4

Ernesto Guevara de la Serna was the symbol of revolution for the youth movement during the sixties and early seventies. With the Viet Nam War ready to tear the country apart, we had revolutionaries, hippies and the establishment; the establishment made him a house hold word by expressing their hatred and fear while the rest selected him as the icon for the unrest, communism and revolution.

After the over throw of the Batista government (January 1959) Castro announced he was a communist and that began the invisible war with American. We have had a 47 year blockade of Cuba. This should show the world that such actions are worthless, but it is an easy way to look like you are doing something. We know it only hurts the old, sick and children but the many thousands of Cuban exiles insist we continue the blockade.

Castro seemed glad or even obliged to accept aid from the Soviet Union while Che was more a Maoist and followed the Chinese ideas. It goes with out saying this upset the Russians and Castro.

Che had come to view the Northern Hemisphere, led by the U.S. in the West and the Soviet Union in the East, as the exploiter of the Southern Hemisphere. He strongly supported Communist North Vietnam in the Vietnam War, and urged the peoples of other developing countries to take up arms and create "many Vietnams" If the Soviets and Castro were not upset before they certainly were after hearing this statement.

In 1965, Guevara made public his disappointments in Algiers and described the Kremlin as "an accomplice of imperialism". Guevara's dismissal from the ministry followed immediately on his return from Algiers. 1966. Soon afterwards Che dropped out of sight. He visited several sites but showed up in Bolivia. Castro revealed an undated letter purportedly written to him by Guevara some months earlier in which Guevara reaffirmed his enduring solidarity with the Cuban Revolution but declared his intention to leave Cuba to fight abroad for the cause of the revolution. He explained, "Other nations of the world summon my modest efforts”, and that he had therefore decided to go and fight as a guerrilla "on new battlefields". In the letter Guevara announced his resignation from all his positions in the government, in the party, and in the Army, and renounced his Cuban citizenship, which had been granted to him in 1959 in recognition of his efforts on behalf of the revolution

His disappearance was variously attributed to the relative failure of the industrialization scheme he had advocated while minister of industry, to pressure exerted on Castro by Soviet officials disapproving of Guevara's pro-Chinese Communist bent as the Sino-Soviet split grew more pronounced, and to serious differences between Guevara and the Cuban leadership regarding Cuba's economic development and ideological line. Others suggested that Castro had grown increasingly wary of Guevara's popularity and considered him a potential threat. Castro's critics sometimes say his explanations for Guevara's disappearance have always been suspect, and many found it surprising that Guevara never announced his intentions publicly, but only through an undated and uncharacteristically obsequious letter to Castro.
In 1966, Guevara turned up incognito in Bolivia where he trained and led a guerrilla war in the Santa Cruz region. In his manual Guerrilla Warfare, Guevara had stressed that the guerrilla fighter needs full help from the people of the area, it is an indispensable condition, but Guevara failed to win the support of the peasants and his group was surrounded near Vallegrande by American-trained Bolivian troops. "The decisive moment in a man's life is when he decides to confront death," Guevara once said. "If he confronts it, he will be a hero whether he succeeds or not. He can be a good or a bad politician, but if he does not confront death he will never be more than a politician." After Guevara was captured, Captain Gary Prado Salmón put a security around him to be sure that nothing happened. Guevara told him, "don't worry, captain, don't worry. This is the end. It's finished." (from the document film 'Red Chapters,' 1999) .Guevara was shot in a schoolhouse in La Higuera on October 9, 1967, by Warrant Officer Mario Terán of the Bolivian Rangers at the request of Colonel Zenteno. Terán was half-drunk, celebrating his birthday. Guevara's last words were: "Shoot, coward you are only going to kill a man." In order to make a positive fingerprint comparison with records in Argentina, Guevara's hand were sawed off and put into a flask of formaldehyde. They were later returned to Cuba. Guevara's corpse was buried in a ditch at the end of the runway site of Vallegrande's new airport. "Che considered himself a soldier of this revolution, with absolutely no concern about surviving it," said Fidel Castro later in Che: A Memoir.

In 1997, the body of Che was recovered in Bolivia after Jon Lee Anderson (who was working on Guevara's biography) received information on its whereabouts. The remains were then flown back to Cuba.

Che Guevara has become a cultural symbol for people all over world. Che is an icon for anyone who stands up against oppression of any form. Today, it has become cool to own a part of Che. It could be in the form of a T-shirt, cap, football or bumper car sticker. Not many people understand or even attempt to understand what he stood for but they know that being part of the Che cult is the thing to do

You might enjoy and help you understand better if watch “Motorcycle Diary” and “Che”.

God Bless You and Our Southern People.

Answer 5

He was a very good looking, charismatic cuban rebel. He was murdered by the cuban government.

Answer 6

See: http://www.bartleby.com/65/gu/GuevaraC.html