This image is one of the most famous photographs ever taken. It has become a symbol of resistance and rebellion the world over. Che Guevara, a Marxist guerilla fighter in Castro's army that took over Cuba in 1959, has become an iconic figure. Sartre called him "the most complete human being of our age." College students have placed posters of his image on their dorm room walls for decades. Revolutionaries still place his image on banners as they protest government repression.A great deal of his life is shrouded in mystery and myth. But one thing is quite clear...Che was a cold blooded murderer.
I am reading the most authoritative biography ever written about Che authorized by his family, widow, and the Cuban government. It is far from hagiography. It exposes Che's darker side along with his more "heroic" attributes.
It's Che's paradox that makes him an intriguing figure. Here is a man, a graduate of medical school, who gave up a comfortable upper-class lifestyle to fight in the horrid conditions of the jungle...battling severe asthma the entire time. Once successful in his Cuban revolution Che gave up his position of power to go back to the jungles of Africa and later Bolivia to fight for revolution. He gave up material comforts and power time and time again to live a life of sacrifice and hardship.
Along the way he used his medical expertise to treat enemy prisoners and save the lives of thousands of peasants. He tirelessly fought for the rights of the poor and displaced.
But he also was Castro's personal executioner. He personally shot traitors in the head with his own pistol. He executed, without trial, thousands who opposed Castro's new regime. He believed that the freedom of press was ridiculous and dangerous. He murdered and rampaged as a bloody butcher.
But he also wrote poetry and verse and showed great sensitivity toward the downtrodden. He also had a voracious sexual appetite who often took advantage of the peasant servants in his parent's employ while he was a teenager.
Such contradictions are fascinating...and frustrating. Che cannot be looked to as a hero in my opinion. I can never admire someone who resorted to violence and quashed personal freedoms in the way that he did. The only thing to possibly admire is that he was a man who actually lived his convictions which was to free the masses. Even that can be questioned. But I agree with Camus when he said "an end that requires unjust means is an unjust end."
