Will the real Che Guevara please stand up?

NOTE: I am a not a Cuban American but after the Andy Garcia film “The Lost City”
my daughter asked me to write this article for her friends at college. Since that
time it has been posted in several Cuban restaurants around the U.S. This is a
commentary article. All facts are sourced in the article or at the end of the
piece.

A search for his name in Google produces 1,120,000 hits. His image is tattooed to
the belly of Mike Tyson, and he frequents the t-shirts and hats of college
students and celebrities.

However, most people do not know the real Che Guevara. This article will explain
why I believe that when people wear his image they are wearing the image of a
sociopathic serial killer not a revolutionary.

Why He Became Famous

In 1952, former Cuban president Fulgencio Batista was third in the race for
president and decided to hold a coup. By the way, he had done this earlier in 1933
and was elected the first time by forming a political alliance with the Cuban
Communist Party, sound familiar?

In 1953 a young attorney named Fidel Castro, tried to oust Batista but he and his
group failed after which he was arrested and jailed. After two years, Batista
freed Castro. That same year Castro meets Che Guevara and Che joined Castro’s 26th
of July Movement.

In 1956 Castro and his 26th of July Movement launched another attack and was
beaten by Batista’s troops…again. Castro moved to the mountains for three years.
In 1958, several groups [not affiliated with Castro], tried to bring down Batista,
along with Castor’s crew.

Eventually Batista realized that the gig was over for him and he fled Cuba on New
Year's Day 1959.

After the revolution's success, the 26th of July Movement was joined with other
bodies to form the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution, which in turn
became the Communist Party of Cuba in 1965.

So who was Che Guevara?

•His full legal name was Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna. He was of Spanish-
Irish descent.

•In 1928, he was born into an aristocratic and politically Marxist family in
Rosario Argentina. As a boy he played rugby and was nicknamed the “The Raging"
because he was extremely aggressive.

•In 1948 Guevara entered the University of Buenos Aires to study medicine. There
is no evidence that he graduated with a medical degree. In fact the only medical
job he had was that of a medical assistant and his efforts to get an internship as
a doctor were not successful.

•1956 he married his first wife Hilda Gadea, an exiled Peruvian Marxist. They had
one child. Later in 1959 he decided to divorce Gadea and marry a Cuban, Aleida
Marsh. They had four children. In 1964 this loyal father had an extramarital
affair with Lilia Rosa López, and they had a son Omar Pérez. His closest friends
described Che as a father using one word …absent. In reality he was – like all
political extremists – obsessed with his cause and his personal pleasure instead
of the well being of his family.

But many people see Che Guevara as a liberator as a social savior. He was far from
that. When Guevara met Castro and joined forces with him Cuba needed saving….or
did it?

Facts from a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

report on Cuba released in 1957:

·"One feature of the Cuban social structure is a large middle class”.

·"Cuban workers are more unionized (proportional to the population) than U.S.
workers.

·The average wage for an 8 hour day in Cuba in 1957 is higher than for
workers in Belgium, Denmark, France and Germany.

·Cuban labor receives 66.6 per cent of gross national income. In the U.S. the
figure is 70 per cent, in Switzerland 64 per cent. 44 per cent of Cubans are
covered by Social legislation, a higher percentage then in the U.S."

·In 1958 Cuba had a higher per-capita income than Austria and Japan. Cuban
industrial workers had the 8th highest wages in the world. In the 1950's Cuban
stevedores earned more per hour than their counterparts in New Orleans and San
Francisco.

·Cuba had established an 8 hour work-day in 1933 -- five years before FDR's New
Dealers got around to it. Add to this: one months paid vacation.

·Cuba, a country 71% white in 1957, was completely desegregated 30 years before
the U.S.

·In 1958 Cuba had more female college graduates per capita than the U.S.

In reality the Cuban people had lost control of their government when Batista
seized power in 1952. When the Castro / Che team took over the country was
thriving economically and in some ways socially but it had lost its direction.
History has shown that when liberal democracies lose their direction there is
always an opportunist ready and waiting to take over.

But maybe with all of his faults Che was a kind man, a loving man, think again! In
his article “The Killing Machine”, Alvaro Vargas Llosa details the violent side of
Guevara.

· In April 1967, speaking from experience, he summed up his homicidal idea of

justice in his "Message to the Tricontinental": "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."

· "I feel my nostrils dilate savoring the acrid smell of gunpowder and blood of
the enemy,"

· Guevara's disposition when he traveled with Castro from Mexico to Cuba aboard
the Granma is captured in a phrase in a letter to his wife that he penned on
January 28, 1957, not long after disembarking, which was published in her book
Ernesto: A Memoir of Che Guevara in Sierra Maestra: "Here in the Cuban jungle,
alive and bloodthirsty."

· In January 1957, as his diary from the Sierra Maestra indicates, Guevara shot
Eutimio Guerra because he suspected him of passing on information: "I ended the
problem with a .32 caliber pistol, in the right side of his brain.... His
belongings were now mine."

· Later he shot Aristidio, a peasant who expressed the desire to leave whenever
the rebels moved on. While he wondered whether this particular victim "was really
guilty enough to deserve death," he had no qualms about ordering the death of
Echevarría, a brother of one of his comrades, because of unspecified crimes: "He
had to pay the price." At other times he would simulate executions without
carrying them out, as a method of psychological torture.

· Instruction given to his underlings, "If in doubt, kill him".

· José Vilasuso, a lawyer and a professor at Universidad Interamericana de Bayamón

in Puerto Rico, who belonged to the body in charge of the summary judicial process
at La Cabaña [the prison Castor put Che in charge of], told me recently that Che
was in charge of the Comisión Depuradora. The process followed the law of the
Sierra: there was a military court and Che's guidelines to us were that we should
act with conviction, meaning that they were all murderers and the revolutionary
way to proceed was to be implacable. My direct superior was Miguel Duque Estrada.
My duty was to legalize the files before they were sent on to the Ministry.
Executions took place from Monday to Friday, in the middle of the night, just
after the sentence was given and automatically confirmed by the appellate body. On
the most gruesome night I remember, seven men were executed.

· Javier Arzuaga, the Basque chaplain who gave comfort to those sentenced to die
and personally witnessed dozens of executions, spoke to me recently from his home
in Puerto Rico. A former Catholic priest, now seventy-five, who describes himself
as "closer to Leonardo Boff and Liberation Theology than to the former Cardinal
Ratzinger," he recalls that there were about eight hundred prisoners in a space
fit for no more than three hundred: former Batista military and police personnel,
some journalists, a few businessmen and merchants. The revolutionary tribunal was
made of militiamen. Che Guevara presided over the appellate court. He never
overturned a sentence. I would visit those on death row at the galera de la
muerte. A rumor went around that I hypnotized prisoners because many remained
calm, so Che ordered that I be present at the executions. After I left in May,
they executed many more, but I personally witnessed fifty-five executions. There
was an American, Herman Marks, apparently a former convict. We called him "the
butcher" because he enjoyed giving the order to shoot. I pleaded many times with
Che on behalf of prisoners. I remember especially the case of Ariel Lima, a young
boy. Che did not budge. Nor did Fidel, whom I visited. I became so traumatized
that at the end of May 1959 I was ordered to leave the parish of Casa Blanca,
where La Cabaña was located and where I had held Mass for three years. I went to
Mexico for treatment. The day I left, Che told me we had both tried to bring one
another to each other's side and had failed. His last words were: "When we take
our masks off, we will be enemies."

· Che set up the first forced labor camp, Guanahacabibes, in 1960. This camp was
the precursor to the eventual systematic confinement, starting in 1965 in the
province of Camagüey, of dissidents, homosexuals, AIDS victims, Catholics, Afro-
Cuban priests, and other such scum, under the banner of Unidades Militares de
Ayuda a la Producción, or Military Units to Help Production. Herded into buses and
trucks, the "unfit" would be transported at gunpoint into concentration camps
organized on the Guanahacabibes mold. Some would never return; others would be
raped, beaten, or mutilated; and most would be traumatized for life, as Néstor
Almendros's wrenching documentary Improper Conduct showed the world a couple of
decades ago.

But maybe the people of Cuba today are benefiting from his reforms and economic
genius. According to Ernesto Betancourt his deputy at the Cuban National Bank
where he was put in charge by Castro, " Che was ignorant of the most elementary
economic principles”.

Today Cuba is a mess.

1.Water and sewer pipeline networks are in shambles.

2.Only 62% of Cubans have access to clean water.
3.Cuba is lacking 1.6 million housing units.
4.Cuban schools rely on 18 year old high school graduates as their primary
teachers.
5.Cuba, with the governments blessing, has become a major sex tourism destination
and is a source country for women and children trafficked for exploitation.
6.AIDS victims are imprisoned in locked compounds and not allowed out.

This article is dedicated to the men, women and children killed by Che Guevara.

14 executed by Che in the Sierra Maestra during the anti-Batista guerrilla

struggle (1957-1958):

1. ARISTIDIO 2. MANUEL CAPITÁN 3. JUAN CHANG 4. “BISCO” ECHEVARRÍA 5.

ECHEVARRÍA BROTHER #1

6. ECHEVARRÍA BROTHER #2 7. EUTIMIO GUERRA 8. DIONISIO LEBRIGIO 9. JUAN

LEBRIGIO 10. “EL NEGRO” NÁPOLES

11. “CHICHO” OSORIO 12. ONE UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER (“EL MAESTRO) 13.-14. 2
UNIDENTIFIED PEASANTS

10 executed in Santa Clara at Che’s orders in only two days (January 1959):

1. RAMÓN ALBA 2. JOSÉ BARROSO 3. JOAQUÍN CASILLAS 4. FÉLIX CRUZ 5. ALEJANDRO

GARCÍA OLAYÓN

6. HÉCTOR MIRABAL 7. J. MIRABAL 8. FÉLIX MONTANO 9. CORNELIO ROJAS 10. VILALLA

156 executed at La Cabaña Fortress prison at Che Guevara’s orders:

1. VILAU ABREU 2. HUMBERTO AGUIAR 3. GERMÁN AGUIRRE 4. PELAYO ALAYÓN 5. JOSÉ

LUIS ALFARO

6. PEDRO ALFARO 7. MARIANO ALONSO 8. JOSÉ ALVARO 9. ANIELLA 10. MARIO ARES
POLO

11. JOSÉ RAMÓN BACALLAO 12. CEVERINO BARRIOS 13. EUGENIO BÉCQUER 14. FRANCISCO
BÉCQUER

15. RAMÓN BISCET 16. ROBERTO CALZADILLA 17. EUFEMIO CANO 18. JUAN CAPOTE FIALLO

19. ANTONIO CARRALERO 20. GERTRUDIS CASTELLANOS 21. JOSÉ CASTAÑO QUEVEDO 22.
RAÚL CASTAÑO
23. EUFEMIO CHALA 24. JOSÉ CHAMACE 25. JOSÉ CHAMIZO 26. RAÚL CLAUSELL 27. ÁNGEL
CLAUSELL

28. DEMETRIO CLAUSELL 29. JOSÉ CLAUSELL 30. ELOY CONTRERAS 31. ALBERTO CORBO
32. EMILIO CRUZ

33. JUAN FELIPE CRUZ 34. ORESTES CRUZ 35. HUMBERTO CUEVAS 36. CUNY 37. ANTONIO
DE BECHE

38. MATEO DELGADO 39. ARMANDO DELGADO 40. RAMÓN DESPAIGNE 41. JOSÉ DÍAZ CABEZAS

42. ANTONIO DUARTE 43. RAMÓN FERNÁNDEZ OJEDA 44. RUDY FERNÁNDEZ 45. FERRÁN
ALFONSO

46. SALVADOR FERRERO 47. VICTOR FIGUEREDO 48. EDUARDO FORTE 49. UGARDE GALÁN

50. RAFAEL GARCÍA MUÑIZ 51. ADALBERTO GARCÍA 52. ALBERTO GARCÍA 53. JACINTO
GARCÍA

54. EVELIO GASPAR 55. ARMADA GIL Y DIEZ CABEZAS 56. JOSÉ GONZÁLEZ MALAGÓN 57.
EVARISTO GONZÁLEZ

58. EZEQUIEL GONZÁLEZ 59. SECUNDINO GONZÁLEZ 60. RICARDO GRAO 61. BONIFACIO
GRASSO

62. RICARDO JOSÉ GRAU 63. OSCAR GUERRA 64. JULIÁN HERNÁNDEZ 65. FRANCISCO
HERNÁNDEZ LEYVA

66. ANTONIO HERNÁNDEZ 67. GERARDO HERNÁNDEZ 68. OLEGARIO HERNÁNDEZ 69. SECUNDINO
HERNÁNDEZ

70. JESÚS INSUA 71. ENRIQUE IZQUIERDO 72. OSMÍN JORRÍN 73. SILVINO JUNCO 74.
ENRIQUE LA ROSA

75. IGNACIO LASAPARLA 76. JESÚS LAZO 77. ARIEL LIMA LAGO 78. RAÚL LÓPEZ VIDAL
79. ARMANDO MAS

80. ENERLIO MATA 81. ELPIDIO MEDEROS 82. JOSÉ MEDINAS 83. JOSÉ MESA 84. FIDEL
MESQUÍA

85. JUAN MILIÁN 86. FRANCISCO MIRABAL 87. LUIS MIRABAL 88. ERNESTO MORALES 89.
PEDRO MOREJÓN

90. DR. CARLOS MUIÑO, MD. 91. CÉSAR NECOLARDES ROJAS 92. VICTOR NECOLARDES ROJAS
93. JOSÉ NUÑEZ

94. VITERBO O'RREILLY 95. FÉLIX OVIEDO 96. MANUEL PANEQUE 97. PEDRO PEDROSO 98.
RAFAEL PEDROSO

99. DIEGO PÉREZ CUESTA 100. JUAN PÉREZ 101. DIEGO PÉREZ CRELA 102. JOSÉ POZO
103. EMILIO PUEBLA

104. ALFREDO PUPO 105. SECUNDINO RAMÍREZ 106. RAMÓN RAMOS 107. PABLO RAVELO
108. RUBÉN REY

109. MARIO RISQUELME 110. FERNANDO RIVERA 111. PABLO RIVERA 112. MANUEL
RODRÍGUEZ

113. MARCOS RODRÍGUEZ 114. NEMESIO RODRÍGUEZ 115. PABLO RODRÍGUEZ 116. RICARDO
RODRÍGUEZ

117. JOSÉ SALDARA 118. PEDRO SANTANA 119. SERGIO SIERRA 120. JUAN SILVA 121.
FAUSTO SILVA

122. ELPIDIO SOLER 123. JESÚS SOSA BLANCO 124. RENATO SOSA 125. SERGIO SOSA
126. PEDRO SOTO

127. OSCAR SUÁREZ 128. RAFAEL TARRAGO 129. TEODORO TELLEZ CISNEROS 130.
FRANCISCO TELLEZ

131. JOSÉ TIN 132. FRANCISCO TRAVIESO 133. LEONARDO TRUJILLO 134. TRUJILLO 135.
LUPE VALDÉS BARBOSA

136. MARCELINO VALDÉS 137. ANTONIO VALENTÍN 138. MANUEL VÁZQUEZ 139. SERGIO
VÁZQUEZ 140. VERDECIA

141. DÁMASO ZAYAS

*15 additional executions were reported by The New York Times (on 2/6/59, 2/8/59,
3/16/59, and 4/2/59),

but names are unknown.

References:

1. State Department on Repression in Cuba, Fact Sheet Released by the Bureau of

Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor and the Bureau of Public Affairs
Washington, DC December 15, 2003

2. The Killing Machine, Alvaro Vargas Llosa, The New Republic, 7/11/2005

3. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization) report on Cuba, 1957

4. CAFC.gov U.S. Department of State July 2006

5. FREE SOCIETY PROJECT, INC. http://www.cubaarchive.org/