Ernesto Che Guevara Essay

Cuba “held an economical potential that attracted American business interests and a strategic significance for any Central American canal” (Goldfield, Abbott and Anderson, p 638). Cuban rebellion “erupted again in 1895 in a classic guerrilla war… [and] American economic interests were seriously affected” (book pg638). The Spaniards started confining the locals to concentration camps “where tens of thousands died of starvation and disease” (book pg 638). This gained a lot of publicity throughout America as journalist’s were reporting the harsh treatment, which helped persuade our nation to intervene. Furthermore, this led to growing tension between Spain and

During the 1950’s, Cuba was on the brink of revolution. The nation, which had suffered numerous corrupt and oppressive governmental regimes, fell victim to yet another when Fulgencio Batista seized power under a military coup in March of 1952. A cry for a just Cuba, that was economically, politically, and socially free continued to echo throughout the island. In 1959, a group of radical revolutionaries, under the leadership of Fidel Castro, overthrew the Batista dictatorship and put in place the political and social structures that exist in Cuba to this day.

After it became officially globally acknowledged that Cuba was in fact a communist state and was being led through a dictatorship run by Castro, it did not take long before powerful enemies and essential allies were formed. The act of seizing all foreign land with none or very little compensation was received with great hostility amongst those who lost in their property through this process, and probably the reaction that had the biggest impact on Cuba’s economy was that of the US. Castro’s communistic policies did not of course help calm this resentment and also took part in leading to the establishment of trade embargos with Cuba from the US. This meant that Cuba would now lose a very valuable buyer of their precious sugar, [5] but they did however gain another one, a powerful nation that shared quite similar Marxist ideals and were quick to form an alliance with the Cubans, the USSR.

Methods: This investigation will describe Che Guevara’s involvement in Latin American independence movements, focusing specifically on his involvement with Fidel Castro’s “26th of July” movement. His actions and words will be analyzed, and his conduct this period of political upheaval will be used as evidence in order to answer the investigative question.

For many Cubans the Batista government was simply a puppet regime with the puppet masters being wealthy Americans. This was because his economic policies favoured foreign investors and did little for the development of domestic industries, which resulted in the wealth of the country being concentrated in the hands of a wealthy whtite minority. Consequently, in the 1950s, this harsh regime caused political resistance to reach to its boiling point. In response to these high levels of frustration, Fidel Castro and a small rebel group led a successful revolutionary army into Havana in 1959. This was the first step on the road to a new era in the lives of many Cubans.

The U.S. and the presidency were embarrassed and Castro was made wary of future invasions because of this battle (Blight 126). This triggered a speech by Fidel Castro, on December 2, 1961, where he states that Cuba is adopting communism. As a counter, the U.S. imposed an embargo against Cuba only two months later.

“A revolution is not a bed of roses ... a revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past.” – Fidel Castro, 1961. This statement was certainly true for Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries during the Cuban Revolution, an armed revolt that took place between July 26th 1953 and January 1st 1959, which ended successfully. During this revolt, many of Fidel Castro’s fellow revolutionaries were killed in this process of violent revolution (My Life, p133, 2006). However, Castro and his accompanying revolutionaries, of which he was the leader, also caused their fair share of deaths using brutality in the name of revolution and political justice. Using various combat tactics, the most prominent being guerrilla warfare, the

* 1958 November 1 A Cuban aircraft en route from Miami to Havana is hijacked by militants but crashes. The hijackers were trying to land at Sierra Cristal in Eastern Cuba to deliver weapons to Raúl

The Cuban revolution took place in January of 1959 when the guerilla army under the control of Fidel Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista. Batista was supported by the United States but only because of the fact that he believed in a democratic run government. However, the president at the time, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, let the revolution play out because he believed that Batista was making Cuba an “embarrassing,” ally towards the United States, he would later realize that he made a

In my 27 years on this planet, I have heard little to nothing about the revolutionist and Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Of the small amount of conversation which has occurred in front of me, Castro was always described in a negative way. He was described as a cruel, selfish Communist dictator who is against the ideas and beliefs of my own country. For those reasons, I have never bothered educating myself about Castro and his life. Now that I am older, my education has presented the opportunity for me to get to know Castro and see things from his perspective, the non-American perspective. Because I am curious about Castro 's rise early life, rise to power, and accomplishments during his rule, I have

Cuban citizens were not allowed to speak up or go against Batista’s rules. In the Green Left Weekly, Jill Hickson in 1996 states that “He answered any opposition with assassination, breaking strikes with machine-gun fire, and using repression against the Cuban people” (No.239). He being Batista shows that Batista was oppressing the Cuban people by not allowing freedom of speech. Therefore, the solution for Batista had to be using violence. This evidence shows how cruel Batista was to the Cuban society. The violence Batista caused only resulted into oppression from the Cuban society. Fidel Castro one of the leaders of the revolution was not going to stand by Batista’s cruel rules. Castro attacked the Moncada army barracks in Santiago. According to Batista, Jerry A. Sierra states that “Batista sent General Martin Tamayo, the military commander of the district, a note ordering him to "kill ten rebels for every soldier killed" in the attack.” (paragraph#4). This evidence shows that Batista has caused people to rebel against him by not having freedom. Also Batista is not afraid to treat other to the point that he needs to kill. The social oppression in the Cuban Revolution relates to my social oppression in my life because both do not have freedom. In the Revolution Batista does not allow people to stand up for themselves or else they

Ernesto “Che” Guevara was a part of the 26th of July Movement in Cuba. He became a revolutionary leader who inspired many and brought the guerrilla to victory in 1959. He was a part of the eighty-two men who sailed on the Granma from Mexico to Cuba in December of 1956 (Staten 114). The biographical film, Che: Part One directed by Steven Soderbergh, shows the journey of Che and the guerrillas as they attempted to defeat Batista’s military. Che: Part One is not simply just a depiction of Che’s life, but it brings you right into the action of the armed struggle the guerrilla faced. The revolution shaped Che into the leader he became. He started out as a simple doctor who wanted to bring the people of Cuba what they deserved. Che went through changes as the periods of the revolution went on. He grew to be a leader that would bring his people to the victories they achieved. Throughout the portrayal of the revolution, it can be seen how Che changes and adapts based on what situation he is facing and how the movie shows it. The film goes back and forth between the times Che is in Cuba fighting and after he wins the revolution and talks about his experiences.

I decided to write this research paper because we were assigned to find an issue or subject within Latin America to write about. One of the most widely known and influential revolutionary figure in the history of Latin America is Ché Guevara. Ché knew how to use his intelligence and judgment in all the circumstances he encountered taking advantage of each moment as if it was a highly intensive chess game he was sincerely

Like the much used stencil of Guevara's determined visage, the general perception of his life is flat and two-dimensional. No where more so, it seems, then in the country richest in Guevara's history, Cuba. An article printed July 21st 1997 in Newsweek, entitled 'Return Of The Rebel', explored Cuban society in the wake of the long-awaited discovery of Guevara's skeleton in Bolivian town of Vallegrande. In it journalist Brook Lamer explains how 'the Cuban Government played a pivotal role in creating the Che mystique, and it is not about to let its franchise slip away'[2].

It is hard to travel anywhere in the world without seeing somewhere the iconic image of Che Guevara on a T-Shirt, souvenir, or poster. The original photographer, and the Irish artist who turned that photograph into a print, are virtually unknown. However, their image has been redistributed to the point where it can effectively be called an icon or a meme. There is no small amount of irony in the fact that an icon of communism has become an emblem of capitalism: as the image has been bought and sold countless times in countless countries around the world. The iconic image of Che Guevara has a hipster chic to it, but also political panache. To don the Che Guevara image means one does not agree with the establishment and is part of the 99%. However, Che Guevara is a controversial figure too. The image has been banned in some parts of the world, because Che was a radical revolutionary who was not against the use of armed uprisings in communist revolts. Therefore, the iconic Che Guevara image created first in Cuba and turned into pop art by an Irishman is a paradoxical and typically postmodern cultural meme.