Tuesday, February 1, 2011

R as in Revolution - C as in Che

If you haven't read the story, or even a story, about Che Guevara I would urge you to do so. There was a time when Che Guevara was a dirty word, but as with most things time has a way of adding a patina to history. Che was a revolutionary but before that he was a human rights activist. Revolution is born out of frustration when the powers that be refuse to listen.

He was a physician and due to hard economic times, Che found it difficult to find an internship after graduating. Taking time off after school he traveled by motorcycle the length of South America with his friend, working for a period helping in a San Pablo leper colony in Peru. The longer he traveled the more he saw of the poverty and the economic despair that was crippling his people. He blamed many of these problems on the United States and its domination in the area.

The U.S. in the end would be his downfall, he died at the hands of the CIA on October 9, 1967 at age 39 in La Higuera, Boliva.

"Man truly achieves his full human condition when he produces without being compelled by the physical necessity of selling himself as a commodity."
                                                  — Che Guevara, Man and Socialism in Cuba
 ~ ~ ~
"I have yet to find a single credible source pointing to a case where Che executed 'an innocent'. Those persons executed by Guevara or on his orders were condemned for the usual crimes punishable by death at times of war or in its aftermath: desertion, treason or crimes such as rape, torture or murder. I should add that my research spanned five years, and included anti-Castro Cubans among the Cuban-American exile community in Miami and elsewhere."
Jon Lee Anderson, author of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life, PBS forum

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