Ché

Hasta La Victoria Siempre. Portrait of a revolutionary as a young man--that is what it is like to talk about Ché in Cuba. He is frozen forever in youth by his early death. He is the John F. Kennedy of Cuba, a man lionized as a hero and unscathed by a legacy as an older man. Castro may have sent him out of Cuba, but on some level he must envy the uncomplicated admiration he enjoys. In Cuba, Ché is more the man of The Motorcycle Diaries, the young idealist, rather than what American youth have made him out as, an icon of the counterculture, or a motivator for change--which carries the rallying cry of: Ché, Suburban White Kids Unite. The Cuban Ché is the idealism of shared property and a shared destiny.

As depicted in The Motorcycle Diaries, Ché traveled throughout rural Latin America and his world view was transformed by the endemic poverty he witnessed. And throughout the lands he traveled through, not much has changed for many people. His experiences and observations during these trips led him to conclude that the region's ingrained economic inequalities were an intrinsic result of capitalism, monopolies, neo-colonialism, and imperialism--while not exactly true, he was definitely onto something. He saw the only remedy being revolution by the people, who would take over and run the place in lieu of the evicted capitalists. This belief prompted his involvement in Guatemala's social reforms under President Jacobo Arbenz, whose eventual CIA-assisted overthrow solidified Ché's radical ideology.

Later, while living in Mexico City, he met Raúl and Fidel Castro, joined their 26th of July Movement. He traveled to Cuba aboard the yacht, Granma, with the intention of overthrowing U.S.-backed Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Cuba under Batista was a government that was available to the highest bidder, and in the late 1950's, that role belonged to the American mob. They brought gambling, wanton behavior, and live sex shows--not the best part of what America has to offer, and not popular with the locals. Guevara soon rose to prominence among the insurgents, was promoted to second-in-command, and played a pivotal role in the successful two year guerrilla campaign that deposed the Batista regime.
There are postcards all over Cuba depicting the icons of the revolution--the Castro brothers, Ché, and Camilo Cienfuegos. They are all young and optimistic. They look fantastic. Unfortunately there was not a nation builder amongst them. One joke I heard about how Ché became the head of the Ministry of Finance was that when Fidel asked if any one was a good economist, Ché volunteered, only to learn later that when he heard 'good communist' and raised his hand, he was getting into unknown territory. And no one who was better suited to the job appeared.