Che Guevara: Iconic Image and the Complex Duality
I visited the beautiful city of Recife in the North Eastern coastal Brazilian state of Pernambuco. Aside from the beautiful coast, delicious coxinhas, and friendly people — I noticed Che Guevara’s image more often than I was accustomed to in recent years. On our last evening in the city, we ordered take out from a local cafe that was adorned with Che Guevara photographs and a small dedicated shrine. We asked the owner, a friendly gentleman in his mid-40s, of his reasons for the choice of decor — and he simply stated that “Ché was a brave revolutionary.” Curiosity got the best of me and we briefly discussed what is unofficially referred to as — the hidden, darker side of Guevara’s legacy. He appeared to be unaware of the detailed past of the icon, but ultimately stated that, “life is complicated. The world is complicated. Che was complicated.”
This brief, yet insightful conversation inspired me to do a little digging in order to possibly clear some misconceptions and provide a balanced perspective.
To give you a brief background — Ernesto “Che” Guevara (14 June 1928 — 9 October 1967) was an Argentine Marxist icon, political strategist, physician, author, poet, guerilla leader, and diplomat. During his famous motorcycle ride, he became aware of the disparities that plagued Latin America and eventually decided to begin his life-long fight against capitalist exploitation.
Guevara met his first wife, Hilda Gadea, in Guatemala — who introduced him to Marxism. Later in Mexico, Guevara met Raul and Fidel Castro, joined their 26th of July Movement and sailed to Cuba with the intention of overthrowing U.S. backed Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. He played a pivotal role in the victorious two-year guerrilla campaign that deposed the Batista regime, earning him his military reputation. Interestingly enough, Guevara’s career aside this victory was lackluster — with his last mission in Bolivia resulting in his 1967 capture and death.
The tactics of Fidel Castro and Ché Guevara fell in line with classic guerilla doctrine as outlined by Mao Zedong in his book: “On Guerilla Warfare” — defining a methodology where enemies are provoked to using fear and terror in the form of reprisals, and “the guerilla fighters” then use contrasting behavior to build their image as “The Good Guys.”
Guevara became a ubiquitous countercultural symbol of rebellion almost by accident. His face was immortalized in Alberto Korda’s iconic 1960 photograph, Guerrillero Heroico (pictured above). Steve Meltzer, from Image Source describes the photograph in his 2013 article as follows:
His beret links him to the common man, and his faraway look is not unlike that in depictions of the Buddha or Christ.
Since the photograph had no copyright protection — it was eventually reproduced, reimagined, and repurposed by different artists after Guevara’s death.
The image is arguably one of the most recognized photos on earth — reproduced more than the Mona Lisa. His face has adorned the dorm-room walls, and the chests of “woke” young people around the world for decades as a status of social consciousness and rebellion against the status quo. His image had a huge resurgence in the mid-nineties around the 30th anniversary of his death, as books and TV bought him back to the public conscience — resurfacing the mythos.
There is an interesting article in Smithsonian Magazine about the complex and serendipitous journey of the photograph itself. I definitely recommend the read.
THE “DARK SIDE” OF GUEVARA
Guevara is considered by many as a revolutionary — one with brave and honorable intentions. As with many things, however, there is a complexity that is far less traveled.
In more recent years, there has been a movement to reveal details of Guevara’s life (both factual and fabricated), that critics claim have been swept under the rug.
There are three common arguments that have been appearing repeatedly in forums, articles, YouTube videos, and publications.
CHE GUEVARA WAS A MASS MURDERER
It is evident by our past and current history, that there is inevitable bloodshed in war and revolutions. There are, however, articles comparing him to Hitler with claims that he enjoyed killing small children. From my research, I didn’t find specific proof of such claims. It is true, however, that Che Guevara did put to death hundreds of the oposition without Mercy — often being the judge, jury, and sometimes the executioner.
Che was quoted in 1962 by the editor of the RevolucÍon, Carlos Franqui, as saying:
We executed many people by firing squad without knowing if they were fully guilty. At times, the Revolution cannot stop to conduct much investigation; it has the obligation to triumph.
CubaArchive.Org has the list of reported executions, both direct and ones ordered by Guevara.
The exact number of Guevara’s victims is unknown, although he acknowledged ordering many executions. All were carried out without due process of law.
Guevara’s early writings give us a glimpse into his mind, with a tone revealing troubling anger and disdane toward imperialist and capitalist ideologies. The following quote is heavily used to question his intentions and/or mental state.
Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any enemy that falls in my hands! My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood. With the deaths of my enemies I prepare my being for the sacred fight and join the triumphant proletariat with a bestial howl!
Hatred as an element of struggle; unbending hatred for the enemy, which pushes a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him into an effective, violent, selective, and cold-blooded killing machine. This is what our soldiers must become …
Guevara was a writer and a poet, so the previous example can be argued as being raw artistic expression. Below is example letter written by Guevara to his parents in March 1965:
Dear old folks:
Once again I feel beneath my heels the ribs of Rocinante*. Once more, I’m on the road with my shield on my arm. Almost ten years ago I wrote you another farewell letter. As I recall, I lamented not being a better soilder and a better doctor. The latter no longer interests me; I am not such a bad soilder. Nothing has changed in essence, except that I am much more consious.
My Marxism has taken root and become purified. I believe in armed struggle as the only solution for those peoples who fight to free themselves, and I am consistent with my beliefs. Many will call me an adventurer, and that I am….only one of a different sort: one who risks his skin to prove his truths. It is possible that this may be the end. I don’t seek it, but it’s within the logical relms of probailities. If it should be so, I send you a final embrace. I have loved you very much, only I have not known how to express my affection. I am extremly rigid in my actions, and I think that sometimes you did not understand me. Nevertheless, please believe me today.
Now a willpower that I have polished with an artist’s delight will sustain some shaky legs and some weary lungs. I will do it. Give a thought once in awhile to this little soilder of fortune of the twentieth century.
A kiss to Celia, to Roberto, Juán Martín and Patotín, to Beatriz, to everybody. For you, a big hug from your obstinate and prodigal son,
Ernesto
This preceeding letter gives the reader a glimpse into a more vulnerable side of Guevara, which is neither a legend nor a monster — but a man.
He’s not off the hook, yet.
On Nov. 17, 1962, J. Edgar Hoovers’ FBI cracked a terrorist plot by Castro-Cuban agents that targeted multiple shopping centers and Grand Central Station with a dozen incendiary devices and 500 kilos of TNT to be set-off the day after Thanksgiving. Guevara’s involvement is unclear, but likely. After the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the withdrawal of Soviet missiles from Cuba, Guevara revealed his opinion on the matter to London’s Daily Worker:
If the missiles had remained we would have used them against the very heart of the United States, including New York. We must never establish a peaceful coexistence.
In a society that breathed and bled capitalism, Guevara idealized the idea of a socialist world where citizens work for the good of society rather than for personal profit — A socially just world. As virtuous as his intentions were early in his journey, it somehow got lost in translation early on in the process, and resorted to extremist ideologists used by some extremist groups today. Ultimately, his efforts unintentionally paved the foundation to a new dictatorship, arguably far removed from his idealized Cuba. The period in which Guevara was in charge of most of the Cuban economy saw the near-collapse of sugar production, the failure of industrialization, the introduction of rationing, and a pre-cursor of what eventually will be described as a prison-like communist island for millions — all this in what had once been Latin America’s fourth most economically successful country before the Batista dictatorship.
CHE GUEVARA WAS A RACIST
Based on his quotes, Che Guevara — without a doubt — held racist views at some point in his early life. A well-to-do upbringing in 1930s Argentina, where most citizens are of European descent is likely to breed a certain level of ignorance in regards to the perception of other races and ethnicities. Overtime and through his journey, Guevara’s views appeared to change. In his 1964 address to the United Nations, Guevara said the following:
The final hour of colonialism has struck, and millions of inhabitants of Africa, Asia and Latin America rise to meet a new life and demand their unrestricted right to self-determination.”
…
We speak out to put the world on guard against what is happening in South Africa. The brutal policy of apartheid is applied before the eyes of the nations of the world. The peoples of Africa are compelled to endure the fact that on the African continent the superiority of one race over another remains official policy, and that in the name of this racial superiority murder is committed with impunity. Can the United Nations do nothing to stop this?
…
“Those who kill their own children and discriminate daily against them because of the color of their skin; those who let the murderers of blacks remain free, protecting them, and furthermore punishing the black population because they demand their legitimate rights as free men — how can those who do this consider themselves guardians of freedom? The government of the United States is not the champion of freedom, but rather the perpetrator of exploitation and oppression against the peoples of the world and against a large part of its own population.”
In 1959, Guevara pushed for the racial integration of schools and universities, beaches and other public facilities in Cuba — years before they were racially integrated in the southern United States.
Che’s friend and personal bodyguard from 1959 till his death in 1967 was Harry “Pombo” Villegas, who was Afro-Cuban. Pombo accompanied Che everywhere in Cuba, then to the Congo and to Bolivia, where he escaped the final battle where Che was captured. He speaks fondly of Guevara in his memoir:
‘Pombo: A Man of Che’s Guerrilla, With Che Guevara in Bolivia 1966–68′
CHE GUEVARA WAS HOMOPHOBIC
Guevara lived in a world were there was absolutely no protection for homosexuals and homosexuality was considered a mental illness. In his 2001 book, Before Night Falls, Cuban gay writer Reinaldo Arenas wrote:
The decade of the sixties … was precisely when all the new laws against homosexuals came into being, when the persecution started and concentration camps were opened, when the sexual act became taboo while the ‘new man’ was being proclaimed and masculinity was being exalted.
In his 2002 article, Gay Rights and Wrongs in Cuba, Peter Tatcher adds:
In the name of the new socialist morality, homosexuality was declared illegal in Cuba and typically punishable by four years’ imprisonment. Parents were required to prevent their children from engaging in homosexual activities and to report those who did to the authorities. Failure to inform on a gay child was a crime against the revolution.
Official homophobia led, in the mid-1960s, to the mass round-up of gay people, without charge or trial. Many were seized in night-time swoops and incarcerated in forced-labour camps for “re-education” and “rehabilitation”. A few disappeared and never returned.
One gay man recalls: “We were taken to Camagüey, at the other end of the island. It was a camp surrounded with barbed wire, with watchtowers manned by guards with machine guns.”
The camp inmates included not just homosexuals, but also criminals, students, Catholics and political dissidents. They were set to work at 3 a.m., cutting sugar cane with machetes. It was backbreaking labour on meagre food rations. The gay prisoners were often beaten, and occasionally raped, by criminal gangs in the camps. Some gays were killed; others committed suicide.
In a 2010 interview with La Jornada, Fidel Castro claimed sole responsibility for the homosexual witch hunt in post-revolutionary Cuba. By the time the camps were implemented and new policies were in place in 1965, Guevara had already set off on his last missions overseas leading to his capture and death in 1967. It isn’t clear if he did have a hand in the development of the camps. In any case, anti-gay sentiments were fairly universal in Cuban culture and around the world — so it is very likely that Guevara held those views as well.
Conclusion
Che Guevara was an idealist and revolutionary who has been idolized around the world for an idea that has been lost in translation and a photograph. Guevara abandoned what could have been a comfortable, quiet, and wealthy life in Argentina as a physician to fight the capitalist and imperialist effects on the poor around the world. He helped promote literacy and education in Cuba and tended to the sick after the revolution, so it’s easy to understand why he is idolized by many.
On the other hand, Guevara is also known for his extreme tactics, poor goal execution, and vocal anti-Western sentiment. By making himself an adversary to imperialism and capitalism, he consequently became an adversary to Western powers — that have thrived on the basis of Imperialism, and have amassed great wealth through capitalist ideas at the cost of the poor and disenfranchised.
Who was Che Guevara?
A flawed and complicated man who lived and died for his convictions. A man whom inadvertently became a pop icon posthumously through a photograph that until this day incites strong and diverse emotions, thoughts, and ideas. A man who’s image ironically succumbed to the very pressures of capitalism he died fighting against and consequently redefined his legacy to the very core.
Was Che Guevara right or wrong?
In a simple world the answer would be simple, but in the end — the answer is complicated. Che Guevara was a complicated man with a complicated life, living in a complicated world.
