Guevara: fiend, not folk hero
Ben Duffy, Collegian columnist
Issue date: 10/17/07 Section: Editorial / Opinion
Ernesto "Che" Guevara was executed 40 years ago last week by U.S.-backed Bolivian soldiers in the South American jungle. The anniversary of his death has been marked by fawning journalism that has failed to exhibit Che's true legacy.
A Reuters video notes that, "Four decades after his death, Che Guevara remains the poster-boy of communist Cuba, where he joined Fidel Castro in the guerrilla uprising that ousted a U.S.-backed dictator in 1959."
Nowhere in the video does it note that he went on to become the handmaiden of another dictator named Fidel Castro. Even the assertion that Castro's foe, Fulgencia Batista, was a "U.S. backed-dictator" is more complicated than Reuters portrays it. In 1958, at the height of the Cuban Revolution, the U.S. government stopped supplying Batista with arms.
Che was Fidel's right-hand man, but Castro was not the only dictator that Guevara gushed over. His inspirations included Josef Stalin and North Korea's Kim Il-Sung.
As a young man, Che traveled to Guatemala just as communist forces were "nationalizing" the property of ranchers and farmers. Before departing for Guatemala, Che wrote, "I have sworn before a picture of the old and mourned comrade Stalin that I won't rest until I see these capitalist octopuses annihilated."
Did Che keep a picture of Josef Stalin at home? Che's idolatry is bad enough, but it's even worse that Stalin was its object. Che once signed a letter to his aunt as "Stalin II," and even placed flowers on Stalin's tomb when visiting the USSR in 1960. If Che wanted to follow in the footsteps of his hero, he succeeded brilliantly.
He proclaimed to the press that his ideal societal model was Kim Il-Sung's North Korea. North Korea has been arguably the most unlivable spot on earth since the end of World War II. Guevara traveled there in 1965, saw the brutality and poverty with his own eyes, and then made it his goal to import that system to Latin America. As a champion of the poor, Che aspired to emulate a society that truly benefits its poorest inhabitants -anyone not named Kim Jong-il or Kim Il-Sung.
A Reuters video notes that, "Four decades after his death, Che Guevara remains the poster-boy of communist Cuba, where he joined Fidel Castro in the guerrilla uprising that ousted a U.S.-backed dictator in 1959."
Nowhere in the video does it note that he went on to become the handmaiden of another dictator named Fidel Castro. Even the assertion that Castro's foe, Fulgencia Batista, was a "U.S. backed-dictator" is more complicated than Reuters portrays it. In 1958, at the height of the Cuban Revolution, the U.S. government stopped supplying Batista with arms.
Che was Fidel's right-hand man, but Castro was not the only dictator that Guevara gushed over. His inspirations included Josef Stalin and North Korea's Kim Il-Sung.
As a young man, Che traveled to Guatemala just as communist forces were "nationalizing" the property of ranchers and farmers. Before departing for Guatemala, Che wrote, "I have sworn before a picture of the old and mourned comrade Stalin that I won't rest until I see these capitalist octopuses annihilated."
Did Che keep a picture of Josef Stalin at home? Che's idolatry is bad enough, but it's even worse that Stalin was its object. Che once signed a letter to his aunt as "Stalin II," and even placed flowers on Stalin's tomb when visiting the USSR in 1960. If Che wanted to follow in the footsteps of his hero, he succeeded brilliantly.
He proclaimed to the press that his ideal societal model was Kim Il-Sung's North Korea. North Korea has been arguably the most unlivable spot on earth since the end of World War II. Guevara traveled there in 1965, saw the brutality and poverty with his own eyes, and then made it his goal to import that system to Latin America. As a champion of the poor, Che aspired to emulate a society that truly benefits its poorest inhabitants -anyone not named Kim Jong-il or Kim Il-Sung.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
dayan jayatilleka
posted 10/17/07 @ 5:05 AM EST
The author of this demonological diatribe has spun the following quote. "To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary...These procedures are an archaic bourgeois detail. (Continued…)
Frank Calderon
posted 10/17/07 @ 7:41 AM EST
Beautiful piece! I mentioned it on my blog, Castro Death Watch. About time people get a chance to see the truth about Che "The Butcher of La Cabana" Guevara. (Continued…)
Post a Comment