Che Guevara and Fidel Castro Story life, latin american political leaders
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Che Guevara's Birthday
Che Guevara was born to Ernesto Guevara Lynch and Celia de la Serna y Llosa in Rosario, Argentina. -
Che Guevara's Birthday
Che Guevara was born to Ernesto Guevara Lynch and Celia de la Serna y Llosa in Rosario, Argentina -
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Guevara's education
He suffered from asthma since a young age, so most of his mid education was at home, with his mom. HE enjoyed reading, playing chess and swimming. -
Medicine School
Guevara entered the University of Buenos Aires to study medicine -
First trip to Rural Argentina
During the summer break from university, Che made a 4,500 km tour of rural Argentina. -
Travelling Across Latin America
Che took a year off study and, together with Alberto Granado, made an 8,000 km tour of much of South America. He visited Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama and Florida in the United States. He was angered by the poverty and poor working conditions of laborers and miners in South America. He considered their plight to be the result of capitalism where the wealthy exploited the poor. -
The return
Che returned to university and resumed his studies. -
Graduation
Che completed his medical degree and was a fully qualified doctor. -
Third Tour
Che Guevara left Argentina on another travelling tour of South and Central America. This time he visited Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador. -
Realization
As he travelled through Central America Guevara became further convinced of the exploitation of capitalism. Many of the inhabitants of these countries worked producing tropical fruits for the United Fruit Company. Che compared the poverty of the workers with the riches of the company and did not like what he saw. -
Guatemala
Guevara arrived in Guatemala where the President, Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán, who had been democratically elected, was trying to reduce poverty by redistributing land. He sought out Peruvian economist, Hilda Gadea Acosta, who was a member of the left wing American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA). -
Guatemala's coup
American forces invaded Guatemala and President Arbenz was forced to resign. Che vowed to fight with the revolutionaries for the overthrow of Arbenz’s successor, Armas, but he was frustrated by the groups inaction. -
Going to Mexico
Che Guevara and Hilda Gadea left Guatemala and went to Mexico. Che found a job as a doctor in a hospital in Mexico City. He continued to be moved by the plight of the poor. -
The Cubans
Nico Lopez introduced Guevara to Raul and Fidel Castro, leaders of the Cuban revolutionary movement known as the July 26 Movement, that was seeking to overthrow Batista’s government in Cuba. Guevara liked their ideas and decided to join the movement. -
Marriage
Guevara married Hilda Gadea who was pregnant. -
Summer
Che took part in the military training exercises of the 26th of July Movement, prior to mounting an invasion of Cuba. -
To Cuba
Che Guevara was one of eighty-two men who left Mexico in the yacht Granma bound for Cuba. -
First Attack
The group reached Cuba but were attacked by Batista’s forces soon after landing. Many men were killed but Guevara and the Castro brothers survived. They fled to the Cuban hills. -
Late Summer
Guevara took charge of organising supplies for the rebels hiding in the Cuban hills. He also organised medical clinics which benefited local people. However, he was also ruthless in executing anyone found informing or spying for Batista. -
Radio Rebel
Che Guevara set up a radio station, ‘Rebel Radio’ which broadcast news and information to the Cuban people. -
Battle of Las Mercedes
This was a ten-day battle planned by Batista to wipe out the rebels. He sent his Cuban army into the hills with orders to encircle the rebels. However, the Cuban army found fighting the rebels difficult since they knew the layout of the hills and used guerrilla tactics. The Cuban army accepted a cease fire and sent negotiators to Castro. While negotiations continued the rebel army retreated back into the hills. -
Aleida March
Che began a relationship with Aleida March, a Cuban revolutionary. They would later marry and have 3 kids. -
Progress
Che Guevara had successfully taken much of Las Villas province. He then led a sortie into the capital of the province, Santa Clara. Despite being outnumbered, Guevara successfully overthrew and occupied the city. On hearing the news Batista fled to the Dominican Republic. -
Revolution
The rebels entered the Cuban capital, Havana and began setting up a new government -
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Purge
Guevara and Raul Castro were given the task of purging the army and police of those that remained loyal to Batista. Most of those tried were found guilty and executed. The trials and executions were condemned worldwide. -
Cuban Citizen
Che Guevara was made a Cuban citizen. -
Agararian Reform Law
This law, written by Guevara, stated that farms should not exceed 1,000 acres. Any farms with more land would have land taken away and redistributed to the poor. The law also stated that foreigners were not allowed to own plantations in Cuba. -
Tours
Castro sent Che Guevara on a tour to negotiate trade deals. He visited Morocco, Sudan, Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Yugoslavia and Greece. While he was away Castro had made himself more powerful and distanced the influence of Guevara. -
Agararian Resentment
Land was being taken from landowners as set out in the Agrarian Reform Law, but landowners were not being compensated properly. This led to resentment and increased support for the anti-Communist movement. -
INRA
Che Guevara was appointed head of the Department of Industry of the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INRA) in Castro’s new government. It was his job to oversee the redistribution of land in Cuba including land owned by American companies. -
President of the Bank
Che Guevara was appointed President of the National Bank of Cuba. -
Spring
In retaliation for the seizure of American-owned land in Cuba, the United States reduced its imports of Cuban sugar. -
Explosion
A French freighter, La Coubre, with a cargo of munitions, exploded in the harbour at Havana. Castro blamed the explosion on the CIA and stepped up his programme to eliminate opponents of his regime -
Economic Aggression
Che Guevara spoke against the ‘economic aggression’ of the United States. -
Commuinist Tour
Che Guevara left Cuba to embark on a tour of other socialist countries including China, Russia and Czechoslovakia. -
Literacy Program
Guevara organized a move to improve the literacy of the peasant population by building more schools and training more teachers. -
Minister of Industry
Gave up his position as President of the Cuban Bank and became Minister for Industry. He supported nationalisation of industry and the Communist model of using individual production quotas for workers. Despite his best efforts, production fell. -
Bay of Pigs
A force of around 1400 Cuban exiles, who had fled to America following Fidel Castro’s takeover, invaded Cuba. They had been trained by the United States and believed that the Cuban people would rise up and support them and they would be able to topple Castro’s regime. The invaders were slaughtered by Castro’s forces. -
Soviet alliance
Following the Bay of Pigs invasion, Castro and Guevara forged stronger links with the Soviet Union. They requested that the Soviets station ballistic missiles on the island and Soviet leader, Khrushchev agreed. -
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Cuban Missile Crisis
A US spy plane discovered ballistic missiles in Cuba. The US put in place a naval blockade that would prevent Russia delivering components to complete the missiles. President Kennedy also hoped that the blockade would force Khrushchev to remove the missiles stationed on Cuba. After a 10 day stand off an agreement was reached. The Soviets would remove the missiles from Cuba and in return the US would remove missiles from Italy and Turkey. Che Guevara saw the Soviet backdown as a betrayal. -
Spreading Socialism
Guevara spent much time travelling around the world speaking about socialism and armed revolution. -
UN Speech
Che Guevara made a speech at the United Nations Assembly. He spoke about the link between armed revolution and true socialism and also denounced discrimination and segregation particularly in South Africa and the United States. -
Communist Asia
Che made a three-month tour visiting Communist China and North Korea as well as Arabia, Ireland and a number of African countries. -
To Africa
Guevara left Cuba for Africa and visited a number of countries including the Congo and Zaire where he hoped to bring about a Communist revolution. -
Resignation
Che Guevara returned to Cuba and resigned from government stating that he believed that his true calling was as a revolutionary and that he was determined to help bring about revolutions in other countries. -
Mike Hoare
In Africa Guevara had earned the reputation as a dangerous revolutionary. He was being tracked by mercenary fighter Mike Hoare and despite his best efforts to rouse the natives of the Belgian Congo, he had to admit defeat and sought refuge in the Tanzanian Cuban embassy. -
Back to Cuba
After visiting countries in Europe, Guevara returned to Cuba to visit Castro, his wife and children. -
Back on track
Che left Cuba and returned to South America travelling through Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil and finally Bolivia where he joined a revolutionary group. -
Attacking the Bolivian Army
Che Guevara led a successful attack on the Bolivian army. -
Confrontation in Bolivia
The Bolivian government managed to destroy a number of revolutionary groups. Guevara survived the attack. -
Last Stand
Bolivian forces attacked the remaining rebels and Guevara was injured and taken prisoner. -
Execution
Che Guevara was executed. He was shot a total of nine times before he died. -
REFERENCES
Castañeda, J. (1997). La vida en rojo. PenguinLibros. https://www.penguinlibros.com/es/biografias/4083-ebook-la-vida-en-rojo
Che Guevara 1928—1967 Timeline. (2020, December 27). Totally Timelines. https://www.totallytimelines.com/che-guevara-1928-1967/