World remembers Che Guevara today

Today is the 49th anniversary of the death of Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara, writers, authors and politicians around the world look to remember this extraordinary man, who died on the Bolivian battlefield in 1967.

Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara was born in Rosario, Argentina 1928. As a medical student with a desire to travel he undertook two trips across Latin America armed with his medical kit and trusty motorcycle: ‘La Poderosa’.

Alongside Fidel Castro, Che was a driving force behind the Cuban revolution, aiming to abolish an outdated class system which dominated the island and create a new, fairer Cuba.

Che traveled through lush pampa grassland, steek mountain passes and even passed through the Peruvian Amazon into Venezuela, but it was during this trip that the sheer poverty and lack of basic healthcare that the young doctor uncovered inspired him to make a change.

Inspired by Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz’s anti-U.S. policies, Che’s political ideologies were solidified. A chance meeting with Fidel Castro in Mexico City saw the Argentine head to Cuba as part of the 26th of July movement against then president Fulgencio Batista.

Following six years of fighting, Batista was finally outed in 1959, replaced by a revolutionary socialist state.

After the revolution, Che became a key figure in Cuban politics, backing a successful literacy campaign and agrarian land reform while serving as minister of industries.

He also trained Cuba’s military forces against the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, a failed CIA attempt to infiltrate Cuba.

A talented author and poet, Che was even inspired to put pen to paper and publish a novel about his earlier motorcycle trips.

Guevara’s decision to leave Cuba in 1965 resulted in his death, after capture in the remote Bolivian highlands saw him executed by the CIA.

Source: Wikipedia