Biography of Che Guevara
Ernesto (Che) Guevara was born on June 14, 1928, in Rosario, Argentina, in 1928. He studied medicine at the University of Buenos Aires and subsequently worked as a doctor. He travelled as a medical doctor throughout Latin America and while in Guatemala during 1954, he witnessed the socialist government of President Jacobo Arbenz overthrown by an American backed military coup. He was transformed by what he saw, and so decided to join the Cuban revolutionary, Fidel Castro, in Mexico as part of the July 26 Movement. The group invaded Cuba with plans to overthrow the U.S. Backed Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Guevara subsequently rose to prominence among the insurgents, and was promoted to second in command; he played a pivotal role in the successful two year guerilla campaign that deposed the Batista regime.
After the Cuban revolution, Guevara took on a number of key roles in the new government formed. He reviewed the appeals for those convicted as war criminals during the revolutionary tribunals, and instituted agrarian reform as minister of industries. He did this, while at the same time, serving as both national bank president and instructional director for Cuba’s armed forces, and traversing the globe as a diplomat on behalf of Cuban socialism. The positions he held, allowed him to play a central role in training the militia forces who repelled the Bay of Pigs Invasion and in bringing to Cuba the Soviet nuclear-armed ballistic missiles which precipitated the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
In addition to being involved in government and military dealings, Che was a prolific writer and diarist, composing a seminal manual on guerilla warfare. He also penned the best selling memoir about his youthful motorcycle journey across South America. In 1965, Guevara left Cuba to incite revolutions, first in Congo-Kinshasa where he was unsuccessful and later in Bolivia, where was captured by the CIA-assisted Bolivian forces and executed.
Today, Guevara is a revered and reviled historical and pop cultural icon. His legacy is immortalised in a multitude of biographies, memoirs, essays, documentaries, songs and films. He was named one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century by Time magazine. The photograph Che,shot by Alberto Korda was published in the same issue of Time magazine, with the title: “Guerrillero Heroico.” The magazine declared it the “most famous photograph in the world.” Since his death, his stylised visage has become a ubiquitous countercultural symbol and global insignia within popular culture. His life and legacy still remain a contentious issue. The contradictions of his ethos at various points in his life have created a complex character of unending duality.