Che Guevara was a Marxist social revolutionary from Argentina. His father was part Irish and his mother Basque.In 1948 he started studying medicine in college but two years later he decided to take a break from his studies to travel. He went on a 4,500 km solo trip through the rural areas of north Argentina on a bicycle that he installed an engine into. If that's not badass enough for you, the following year he went on an 8,000 km motorcycle trek but this time he brought along a friend who is relatively unimportant to this tale.
In Chile Guevara was horrified by the working conditions of copper miners and the poverty experienced by peasant farmers. He wrote an account of his journey entitled The Motorcycle Diaries which became a New York Times best seller and was made into a film in 2004. I now really want to both read and watch it.
Guevara was later a main player into the rise of Fidel Castro to power in Cuba. He became close friends with Castro and was the minister for industry during his rule. He joined Castro's revolutionary group and worked for equality among American classes. In 1965 Guevara travelled to Africa to share his knowledge of Guerilla warfare to the ongoing conflict in Congo.
On this day, October 9th, in 1967 while in Bolivia he was captured by the CIA and executed. His hands were cut off as proof of his death and he was buried in an unmarked grave. This was an attempt to suppress communism and socialism and to maintain a social hierarchy of class and race.
He's not a figure of perfection though. It's thought that as supreme prosecutor during Castro's reign he orchestrated the show trials and ordered the execution of hundreds of military leaders and civilians associated with the previous leader.
This has been history week and I have been you're educator Kate of Wednesday, known to some as Kate the Reliable but more commonly known as O Mighty Kate of the Mysterious and Far Off Land.
Remember you can trust me, I'm the reliable one.
MISSION............................................................COMPLETED
No comments:
Post a Comment