· Young Ernesto Guevara
Ernesto Guevara de la Serna is born June 14, 1928 in Rosario,
one of the most
important cities in Argentina, in a well off family. A family
with aristocratic roots but socialistic ideas.
In 1937, Ernesto is 9 years old and goes to the third grade
of primary school; he follows up engagingly the Spanish Civil
war. On a map he indicates the military evolution.
In 1947, Ernesto Guevara meets the young Berta Gilda Infante,
also known as Tita. She is a member of the Argentine Communistic
Youth. They build up a profound friendship. Together they read
Marxist texts and discuss the actualities.
In 1948, Ernesto, who is 20 years old at that time, undergoes
an examination at the faculty of medicine at the University
of Buenos Aires. In March he passes for the examinations of
the first year, in June for those of the second year and in
December for those from the third year.
January 1 1950, Ernesto Guevara attempts his first voyage. He
traverses the northern provinces of Argentina on a bicycle on
which he adjusted a small motor. He arrives at San Francisco
del Chahar, near Córdoba, where his friend Alberto Granado
runs the dispensary of the leper-centre. With the patients he
has long conversations about their disease.
He continues his university studies and is above all interested
in the scientific research for allergies, asthma, leprosy and
nutritive theory.
While he is studying, he works as a male nurse on trading and
petroleum ships of the Argentine national shipping-company.
Like that he travels from the south of Argentina to Brazil,
Venezuela and Trinidad.
· A journey through Latin America
In October he decides to make his first trip through Latin-America.
Together with Alberto Granado he leaves in January 1952 on an
old 'Norton' 500-cc motorbike.
In Valparaiso Chile he writes in his diary: "We are
looking for the bottom part of the town. We talk to many beggars.
Our noses inhale attentively the misery."
About Chile he writes: "The most important effort that
needs to be done is to get rid of the uncomfortable 'Yankee-friend'.
It is especially at this moment an immense task, because of
the great amount of dollars they have invested here and the
convenience of using economical pressure whenever they believe
their interests are being threatened."
On March 24 they arrive at the Peruvian Tacna. After a discussion
about the poverty in the region, he refers in his notes to the
words of José Marti: "I want to link my destiny
to that of the poor of this world."
On May 1 they arrive in Lima. Che meets doctor Hugo Pesce, a
Peruvian scientist, and director of the national leprosy program
and an important Marxist. They discuss several nights until
the morning comes. Year's later Che puts that these conversations
were very important for the change in his attitude towards life
and the society.
On May 17 he leaves for the leper-centre of San Pablo in the
Peruvian Amazon forest. He arrives on June 7. During his visit
to this place, he complaints about the miserable way that the
people of that region and the sick have to live. There were
no clothes, almost no food and no medication. After working
there for a few weeks, he leaves for Leticia, Colombia via the
Amazon River.
July 17 he arrives in Caracas. There he decides to go back to
Buenos Aires to finish his studies in medical science. He travels
with a cargo-plane via Miami, where the technical problems with
the aeroplane give him a delay of one month. To survive, he
works as a waiter and he washes dishes in a bar. On regular
base he is apprehended and questioned by the police. They ask
him if he, his mother or father are communist. He is back in
Buenos Aires on August 31.
· On his way to the revolution
Che Guevara finished his studies early 1953. He gets summoned
for military duty but he was rejected. On July 7 he goes by
slow train to La Paz, Bolivia, 6000km further. Che arrives at
Panama late October. He is indignant about the submissive attitude
of the Panamese leaders towards the U.S. In Costa Rica he learns
about the domination of United Fruit and the exploitation and
of the misery that is the result of it. In a letter to his aunt
Beatriz he writes: "In El Paso I traversed the vast
domains of United Fruit. Once more I was able to convince myself
how criminal the capitalistic octopuses are. On a picture of
our old and bewailed comrade Stalin, I swore not to rest before
these capitalistic octopuses are destroyed. In Guatemala I want
to get perfect in becoming an authentic revolutionary."
Via Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador, Che arrives late December
at Guatemala where Jacobo Arbenz leads a revolutionary process.
In a letter to his mother he writes: "I've finally
reached my aim . . . If everything goes well, I think I will
stay here for about 2 years."
·
1954
June 14-16. Che sees how North American Aeroplanes fly over
Guatemala and bomb down the military installations and the poor
popular quarters. He writes: "This incident has united
all Guatemalese with their government and with all who, just
like me, were attracted by Guatemala." The U.S. chooses
Castillo Armas as 'leader' of the coup.
June 18, 1954. He lives to see de coup d'état against
the Arbenz government, planned and executed by the U.S. He transports
weapons and tries to assemble some youths to fight; he helps
to bring political leaders in safety. On June 20 Che writes
to his mother: "These attacks, together with the lies of
the international press, have woken the indifferent. A combative
climate rules. I have applied as a voluntary for the medical
help services and I have registered in the youth-brigade to
get a military education and to go there where necessary."
On June 26 the national radio declares the resignation of president
Arbenz and the exile of almost all-political leaders and their
families. This causes a great commotion with the revolutionary
people. Che puts it like this: "In Guatemala it was
necessary to fight but almost no one fought. Resistance had
to be put up and almost no one wanted to do it."
Repression breaks loose. Latin-American embassies are getting
filled with political refugees. Che is indicated as a dangerous
Argentine communist and may not remain in Guatemala.
· 1955
 |
| Add caption |
Early 1955 Che Guevara finds work as a doctor in the "Hospital
Central" of Mexico City.
In June he meets Raul Castro. They become friends. On July 8
Fidel Castro arrives in the Mexican capital. About their first
meeting Che said: "I've met him during one of the cool
nights in Mexico and I remember that our first conversation
was about international politics."
That same night - towards morning - I was one of the future
participants of the expedition with the Granma." Fidel
Castro about that meeting: "He knew much about the
Marxism-Leninism, self-thought, very eager to learn, he was
a convinced. When we met Che he was already an educated revolutionary."
· 1956
On June 24, the Mexican police have arrested Che together with
Cuban comrades.
On July 3 the press agency UPI notifies: "The Argentine
doctor Guevara will be deported to his land of origin, because
of his presumed participation of the failed conspiracy against
the Cuban government of Fulgencio Batista." The Mexican
ex-president Lázaro Cárdenas interferes to defend
the Cuban revolutionaries. Late July the last, among them Che
Guevara, are released. They continue their revolutionary activities
in clandestinely.
· With Fidel Castro to Cuba
November 25: the yacht Granma leaves in a stormy night with
on board 82 man from the mouth of the river Tuxpán in
Mexico.
On December 2 they landed in Los Cayelos, at the East Coast.
The next day the Cuban and Latin-American newspapers announced
about the expedition: " . . . Fidel Castro, Ernesto
Guevara, Raul Castro and all other members of the expedition
have perished . . ." Their arrival is noticed and
they get hunted. The group splits. On December 5 in Alegría
del Pino, Che gets ambushed. Later on he writes about this:
"I've got wounded in my neck. I stayed alive thanks
to my luck of a cat. A box of bullets I was carrying close to
my chest stopped a bullet of a machine gun and it ricochets
up to my neck."
With the help of other he could escape in the sugarcane fields.
In these circumstances Che had to make the, so often told about,
choice between his duty as a doctor and his duty as a revolutionary
soldier. To escape he had to choose between a backpack filled
with medications and a crate of bullets. It was impossible to
take them both. Che takes the crate with bullets and hurries
into the sugarcane. Later they leave a great deal of their cargo
with a farmer. On December 21 Che's group arrives at a coffee
plantation where Fidel is already waiting for a couple of days.
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