Che Guevara - Hero or Villain

Che Guevara: Hero or Villain / Ivan Garcia
Posted on July 18, 2013

The life of Ernesto Guevara de la Serna is most like a legend. The truth
is simmered over a slow flame along with countless inaccuracies. Since
the date of his birth until the date of his death in the Bolivian
village of La Higuera, mix-ups abound.

According to the official Cuban historiography, Ernesto Guevara, alias
Che, was born on 14 June of 1928 in Rosario, Argentina, and was
assassinated on 8 December of 1967 in Bolivia.

The American biographer and journalist John Lee Anderson offers another
version, by pointing out that the date listed on Che's birth certificate
is false. He alleges that the reason must have been to cover up the
pregnancy of Celia de la Serna, Che's mother. At the time of her
marriage to Ernesto Guevara Lynch on 10 December of 1927, she was three
months pregnant.

Anderson's version is supported by the Argentine biographer Julia
Constenla, to whom Celia personally confirmed Che Guevara's true birth
date and the circumstances of her pre-marital pregnancy.

As far as the official Cuban media are concerned, Che was born a month
later. As such, the 85th Anniversary of his birth was celebrated last
Friday, 14 June. Surrounding his death, another curious bit arises.

In Cuba's elementary and high schools it is taught that Che was
assassinated on 8 October of 1967 in the Bolivian hamlet of La Higuera.
Scholarly texts highlight that he could have been captured in Quebrada
del Yuro, after being injured in the leg due to an automatic rifle
malfunction.

The Castros regime loves epic odes. They speak little of how José Martí
died in an absurd skirmish dressed like a wedding guest and trotting
along on a white horse. A perfect target for the colonial Spanish army.

When a security guard at the Peruvian embassy, Pedro Ortiz Cabrera, died
on 1 March of 1980, the official Cuban press blamed the driver of the
bus that crashed violently against the embassy gates with the intention
of requesting asylum.

It was never mentioned that the true cause was the 'friendly fire' of
his own comrades. During the United States occupation of Grenada in
1983, the Cuban media got ridiculous.

In a fervent paean of praise, in the best North Korean style, an
official announcement told us that the valiant Cuban collaborators who
defended the airport they were building in Granada died embracing the
Cuban flag in battle against the U.S. 82nd Division.

A few days later it became known that there was no such fight. Nor did
anyone die gripping the national flag: the supposed officer in command
of the troops ran away and requested asylum in the embassy of the
erstwhile USSR.

Thus, historians should read the official versions of the "legendary
guerrilla expedition in Congo or Bolivia" led by Che with a magnifying
glass.

Ernesto Guevara has as many followers as he has detractors. To the
extent that in May of 1968 in Paris, disgruntled students utilized his
image as the guardian of their protests. His photo (taken by Alberto
Korda in March of 1960 in the port of Havana, at the site of the
explosion of a Belgian freighter that was transporting light arms) has
been seen around the world.

Che has become a marketing icon. The "disgraceful capitalists" that he
so hated sell countless products with his image. And his relatives in
Havana collect copyright royalties.

Guevara, also nicknamed el Chancho ("the pig") for his scruffiness and
lack of personal hygiene, which gave him the air of a Buenos Aires
hippy, was the archetype exalted dogmatist. His motorcycle tour
throughout various countries of the Southern Cone and Guatemala, defined
his harsh, gloomy, and ascetic character. His trip etched into his mind
a one-way theory: the only way to be sovereign in Latin America was
through armed struggle.

And by November of 1956, when he joined 81 Cuban expeditionaries on
their voyage on the Granma yacht, he was a convinced communist.

He became a commander in Fidel Castro's rebel army thanks to his
temerity in battle and his discipline under the threat of atomic bombs.
There are various documented witness accounts of his exaggerated
disposition toward violence during that era.

He was a soulless tyrant during many executions. He pulled the trigger
without regret against those he considered enemies and traitors of the
cause. Once the revolution triumphed, Che Guevara took control of La
Cabaña, a military fortress adjacent to Havana Bay.

One of the first measures undertaken by the new government was to
establish a judicial committee, charged with investigating citizens who
were associated with the Batista dictatorship, supposed war criminals,
and nascent political opponents.

Between January and April of 1959, approximately one thousand persons –
other sources cite several thousands – were sentenced to death or
lengthy prison terms in summary trials without due legal process.

The figures of those executed by firing squad vary. Between 550 and
3,000. In his post as military chief of La Cabaña, Che was responsible
for the trials and executions. He expressed his opinion on the
executions publicly before the United Nations on 11 December of 1964:

"We have to say here that which is a known truth, that we have expressed
always before the world: executions, yes, we have executed; we execute
and will continue to execute as long as it is necessary. Our struggle is
a struggle to the death. We know what the result of a defeat would be,
and the gusanos* also must know what the result of the defeat in Cuba is
today."

Guevara was assigned various ministerial portfolios. His performance was
dismal. He was convinced that, in order to eradicate the "bourgeoisie
vices inherited from the old society", a "New Man" must be forged.

That is, the prototype of a robot made of flesh and bone, obedient to
orders from above, focused on his work like a slave, and barely given to
rumba and alcohol. Of course, with a license to kill "Yankees in any
corner of the world".

From his posts among sectors of the Cuban economy, Che launched the
confiscation of national and foreign businesses, central planning, and
"volunteer" labor. He internationalized the armed struggle. From the
Congo in Africa to an uprising in Salta, Argentina, and the failed
rebellion in Bolivia.

Personalities from diverse ideological and professional backgrounds have
expressed their admiration for Che, like Domingo Perón and Jean Paul
Sartre; the soccer players Diego Armando Maradona, Leo Messi, and
Thierry Henry; the boxer Mike Tyson; the musician Carlos Santana, the
actor Pierre Richard; the writer Gabriel García Márquez; the Chechen
leader Shamil Basayev; the rock group Rage Against the Machine; the
Sandinista leader Edén Pastora and presidents Evo Morales and Rafael Correa.

His motto, "Ever onward to victory" was used as a crutch by the deceased
Venezuelan head of state Hugo Chávez.

Among progressives and subversives of half the world, with a discourse
that favors the poor against gringo hegemony, there is never a lack of
someone with a tee-shirt or a protest sign with his image.

Perhaps Che Guevara's greatest achievement was that he risked his own
hide to demonstrate his truths. The shadows of his personality are
better forgotten.

Iván García

Translated by: Yoyi el Monaguillo

30 June 2013

Source: "Che Guevara: Hero or Villain / Ivan Garcia | Translating Cuba"
- http://translatingcuba.com/che-guevara-hero-or-villain-ivan-garcia/