News Guest Writer
Everyone has had some exposure to the character of Ernesto “Che” Guevara. His face is displayed on countless apparel, including a print by Andy Warhol, mentioned in many Hollywood creations, and proclaimed by devout communists/socialists and those who are ignorant of the true facts. An illusion of a hero has been created.
Many think of Guevara as a hero, a man who fought for the rights of the underprivileged. In truth, he began as a man of ideals whose vision of the world was opened with his travels, and became a cruel man who lived a life of absolute contradiction to his early beliefs. “Che,” which is slang for “friend” in his native Argentina, was actually a merciless killer and a heartless politician. He had profound hatred for his enemies and believed that the solution to political problems was simply annihilating all of those who stepped in his path to power. I can think of no reason as to why a person would support this despicable man in any way, whether it’s putting up a bust of him on a major square or simply wearing his t-shirt, except for total ignorance as to who Ernesto Guevara really was.
Hollywood has certainly not helped with the portrayal of this man. I was astounded when I sat through the new Jennifer Aniston movie, “Rumor Has It,” and listened to Kevin Costner, whom I had previously thought of as a respectable actor, speak wonders of the revolutionary spirit of el Che, comparing his desire (because it never actually succeeded) for social revolution to the “revolution of the Internet.” Perhaps even more disturbing was the beautifully done but completely misleading Motorcycle Diaries, which narrates the adventures of Guevara and his friend as they travel through South America in search of self-discovery. The film demonstrates Guevara’s realization as a young man of the social injustice in the continent. It gives no hint, however, of the monster that this once young idealist would later become.
From the beginning of his socialist career in the late ‘50’s, Guevara, without having any position of power, was already a despot. At this time, this Argentinean revolutionary was in Mexico, where he was receiving training for a revolt in Cuba led by the now-dictator Fidel Castro against the then-dictator Batista. Guevara would mock and ridicule his Cuban comrades’ accents, to which they responded by mocking his Argentinean accent and giving him the legendary nickname of ‘El Che.’ Once the fighting began in Cuba, Guevara became in charge of Columna #8 in Sierra Maestra, one of the most important factions of the guerrilla. According to accounts of men he commanded, Che wasn’t militarily apt enough to command Columna #8, yet he would not accept any type of criticism or aid in regards to tactics. During this time, Guevara would either personally murder or command to kill any citizen who stepped in his way. He once killed the owner of a farm that his regiment passed through, along with his wife and his three children. Guevara is held responsible for the death of at least a dozen men during his time in Sierra Maestra. Naturally, many of his regiment were astounded and disgusted by Che’s actions, but most were too afraid to defy him. After the victory of the Rebel Army over Batista, Castro put Guevara in charge of the “La Cabaña” concentration camp. Most of Batista’s military was sent to this camp and Che was in charge of deciding their destiny. He would make a list of the executions by firing squad for the next day before the tribunal had even met that night; no matter what, Guevara thought that every “counterrevolutionary” should die. In his “Message to the Tricontinental” in April 1967, Guevara stated his views on the implementation of justice when he advocated “hatred as an element of struggle. He advocated unbending hatred for the enemy, which pushes a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him into an effective, violent, selective, and cold-blooded killing machine.” For his four months at “La Cabaña,” Guevara is now held responsible for several hundred executions of men who had only wronged him by having different political views than his.
After his time in “La Cabaña,” Guevara became head of the National Bank of Cuba and of the Department of Industry and the National Institute of Agrarian Reform. With this position he proceeded to destroy the Cuban economy. The land reform decree, which was signed in Che’s house (an emigrant’s mansion that Che took over after the revolution), took the land away from the rich, but gave it to the bureaucrats, not the peasants. In this way, Guevara was preaching socialism and practicing every sort of ideal but his own.
It is easy to get lost in the myth of a good-looking, passionate man. It is absurd, though, that the adoration and publicity of Che continues, even now that all his atrocities are well known. Next time you see a person wearing a shirt with Che’s face, ask him if he knows who that person is. If the answer is yes, tell him that El Che would not even want him wearing that shirt because, in his own words, he “hated civilization.”
