At the end of 2014, the photo of a hero who was regarded as an idol by countless people was first exposed after being shot, which caused a great sensation around the world and shocked the hearts of countless people. In the photo, he is barefoot, his upper body is bare, there is a noticeable depression in his chest cavity, and his eyes are open. According to the executioner's recollection, he drank a lot of alcohol in order to strengthen his courage, but the scene of Che Guevara's death still made him tremble like a leaf and became a nightmare that lingered for life.
Photo of Che Guevara after his death
The hero who remained open-eyed after his sacrifice was the famous Latin American revolutionary leader Che Guevara. In his youth, he traveled to Various Latin American countries, witnessed the miserable life of the people at the bottom, and was determined to build a society in which everyone was equal, and has since embarked on the revolutionary road. He regarded Chairman Mao, the great leader of China, as a teacher, and together with Castro practiced guerrilla tactics again and again in Latin American soil and achieved great victories in the Cuban Revolution. In a high position, he abandoned honor and wealth and went to the jungles of a foreign country to fight a guerrilla battle, dying at the age of 39. The following is the story of the legendary hero Che Guevara.
Guevara was born on June 14, 1928 in Rosario, Argentina. His original name was Ernesto Guevara, and "Che" was a nickname given to him by cubans later, because this nickname was so intimate that he changed his name to Che Guevara. Guevara came from a wealthy family and received a good education from an early age, attending the University of Buenos Aires, specializing in medicine. But Che Guevara did not end up being a good doctor, and his journey of exploration around Latin America completely changed his mind.
Che Guevara was young
In December 1951, Che Guevara and his friends set off from Buenos Aires on a motorcycle along the Atlantic coast of Argentina, across the Andes into Chile, and then north through Peru and Colombia before reaching Gallasla.
Along the way, Che Guevara went deep into the mine to experience the heavy labor life of the miners, went to the leprosy hospital to sympathize with the suffering of the sick, and saw countless people struggling at the bottom. Those shocking images made Che Guevara understand that in order for the peoples of Latin America to live a good life, it is necessary to build a society without exploitation and oppression; as a doctor, he is powerless. In the Motorcycle Diary, he once wrote:
In those who can only see tomorrow at their farthest, we understand the great tragedy that hangs over the lives of the whole world. In those eyes that were about to sink was a desperate search for forgiveness and a desperate search for solace lost in emptiness.
Young Che Guevara with friends
Latin America is not a naturally barren land, on the contrary, it was once the world's largest mine, rubber and sugar exporter. Latin America is a place where blood vessels are cut, and since Columbus discovered the American continent, everything in this region has been converted first into European capital and then into American capital. Latin America's blood was continuously transported back to their countries by the colonizers, enabling them to complete the accumulation of capital, but Latin America became more and more barren and backward.
Che Guevara realized that Latin America's backwardness was not caused by defeat in competition, but by plunder by colonizers, and the only way to change the status quo of Latin American countries was to seek independence. Thus, Che Guevara understood his sacred responsibility to lead the peoples of Latin America in their struggle for national liberation. Later, Che Guevara participated in the land reform in Guatemala, which was directed at the American Fruit Union, but unfortunately failed.
In 1955, Guevara, already a little disheartened, met Fidel Castro in Mexico City. Fidel Castro was already a mature Marxist at the time, admiring Chairman Mao's "guerrilla tactics" across the ocean, and preparing for a return to Cuba for armed struggle. Che Guevara hit it off with Castro and quickly joined Castro's "726 Movement" organization, rekindling his fighting spirit. Later, they discovered a large ranch in Mexico as a training base for an expedition to Cuba in March of the following year, but the plan was postponed to the end of the year due to the arrests of Castro, Guevara and others.
Che Guevara and Castro
On November 25, 1956, 82 fighters of the "726 Movement" huddled on a small yacht and set off from the Mexican state of Veracruz, across the Gulf of Mexico, toward Cuba. After landing in a swamp in the southern province of Oriente in southern Cuba, Castro and Guevara and others were attacked by Batista's army, with only 12 surviving.
After a long and arduous trek, the surviving fighters reached the Maestra Mountains and established a guerrilla base. At this time, although this small team only had more than a dozen people and only two Thomson submachine guns, the spark could ignite the plains, and they would bring earth-shaking changes to Cuba. It is worth noting that Chairman Mao's military ideology provided valuable spiritual food for Cuban heroes.
Castro himself often read Chairman Mao's military work "On Protracted War" and printed Chairman Mao's relevant writings on guerrilla warfare and people's war into pamphlets for commanders and fighters to conscientiously study and comprehend. These valuable ideas from across the ocean had a profound impact on the Cuban Revolution, which was called "China's grain" by the rebels.
Castro
Faced with the enemy's tight siege, Castro and Guevara and others did not despair, but fully applied the tactics of "guerrilla warfare" and the idea of "protracted warfare". Under the guidance of the tactic of "the enemy advances and retreats, the enemy garrisons us, the enemy tires and I fight, and the enemy retreats and I chase", the rebel army was able to eliminate the living forces of batista's army, which was far more powerful than itself. The idea of protracted war made the rebels firm in their belief in victory, and the spirit of the Long March also amazed Castro and Guevara and others, bringing great spiritual strength to the rebel army.
After more than two years of bitter fighting, the rebel army defeated the dictator Batista, and the people's revolutionary war won a great victory. Guevara, Castro's most powerful assistant, became Cuba's second-largest leader, holding a number of key positions, such as director of the bureau of industry, minister of industry, and president of the National Bank.
Guevara
Three months after the triumph of the Cuban revolution, Xinhua news agencies Pang Bing'an and Kong Mai went to Havana to interview Guevara. Che Guevara, wearing a beret, beard, and long hair shawl, invited his Chinese friend into the study and said warmly:
We have great admiration for Comrade Mao Zedong, and as early as when we were fighting guerrilla warfare on Mount Maestra, we studied Comrade Mao Zedong's theory on guerrilla warfare. Mimeographed pamphlets published on the front lines were widely circulated among commanders and were called "grain from China," and we learned a lot. Comrade Mao Zedong has long ago made systematic scientific research and answers to many questions, and this has given us great help.
Later, under the influence of Chairman Mao's idea of guerrilla warfare, Che Guevara wrote "Guerrilla Warfare" and "Guerrilla Warfare: A Means" in combination with his own practical experience. In 1963, when a delegation led by Huang Zhiliang, a former Chinese ambassador to Venezuela, he asked Che Guevara for a copy of "Guerrilla Warfare" that he had signed. But unexpectedly, Che Guevara refused, saying: Chairman Mao is a master of guerrilla warfare, our teacher, I am just a primary school student, how can I take out my own work?
On September 28, 1960, China and Cuba established diplomatic relations, and Cuba became the first Latin American and Caribbean country to establish diplomatic relations with New China. More than a month later, Che Guevara led a delegation to visit China. On the afternoon of November 19, 1960, Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou received Che Guevara, and after a free conversation, they had dinner together.
At the beginning of the conversation, Che Guevara paid high tribute to Chairman Mao, saying: We have always admired Chairman Mao in the course of our struggle. Mao Zedong said to Che Guevara: You are Argentine. You are very resolute, and this is hope, and imperialism is difficult to deal with. You have influenced Latin America.
Che Guevara shook hands with Chairman Mao
Coincidentally, Chairman Mao happened to have read a Chinese summary of Che Guevara's new work, Notes on the Ideological Consciousness of the Cuban Revolution, not long ago, and agreed with Che Guevara's analysis. Chairman Mao said to Che Guevara: I agree with your opinion, your article may have an impact in Latin America. Moreover, Chairman Mao repeated to his face the views expressed in Che Guevara's article, such as that the people can defeat the reactionaries and that revolutionary work in Latin America is mainly in the countryside. In fact, many of these views are derived from Chairman Mao's own writings.
During this meeting, there was also an interesting little story between Che Guevara and Premier Zhou. After Che Guevara returned to Cuba, he also recalled the incident in a televised speech. At that time, Che Guevara wanted to write the sentence "Cuba thanks China for its selfless assistance" in the joint communiqué between China and Cuba. Because Cuba was under economic blockade imposed by the United States at the time, China stepped forward to provide many financial supports such as preferential trade, interest-free loans, and free material assistance.
Che Guevara shook hands with Premier Zhou
But Premier Zhou disagreed with the addition of this sentence, because he believed that aid between countries was mutually beneficial and mutually beneficial. In the end, Che Guevara did not "win" the week, and this sentence did not appear in the joint communiqué. When Che Guevara returned to China and talked about it, the Cuban people were all touched by China's deep friendship. It is said that to this day, many Cubans still think about this.
On that visit, Guevara also led a delegation to visit Xi'an, Shanghai and other places, and was deeply shocked by the meteorology of New China. After returning to Cuba, Che Guevara summed it up this way:
In this short trip to China, we saw huge bridges, huge metallurgical enterprises, and also small bearing factories and small hydroelectric power stations created through the wisdom of the people... It is unbelievable for a person who understands the various realities of the past in China, where everyone has clothes to wear, their own work and a noble spirit, and all people are concerned with production, increasing productivity and perfecting everything.
Che Guevara visits China
After Guevara returned to Cuba, he devoted himself to the journey of building a new Cuba. In addition to developing industry and improving the economy, Che Guevara also proposed the concept of the "new man", the core of which included the uncompromising system of exploitation and oppression, advocating noble moral characteristics such as altruism, internationalism, peer support, strict self-discipline, integrity and honesty. Che Guevara himself, on the other hand, has always been a great example of self-discipline and leading by example.
It may be difficult for many to imagine these real scenes: when building a new house in a poor neighborhood of Havana, he took part in all kinds of labor every day on the construction site like an ordinary laborer; Guevara, who held various important positions, worked more than two hundred and forty hours of compulsory labor every quarter; when he was president of the National Bank, Guevara often learned from economic experts like a student; and when he was minister of industry, in the face of the American blockade, Guevara personally led people to design and test sugarcane harvesters.
Regrettably, che Guevara's efforts, under the influence of a number of factors, have not made a prominent contribution to Cuba's economic construction. Che Guevara, on the other hand, had long wanted to leave Cuba and open up new ground in other unlibertified Latin American countries. There are three main reasons why Che Guevara is so anxious: first, because he suffers from severe asthma and is afraid that if he waits any longer, his body will not be able to adapt to the harsh guerrilla life; second, he has always been thinking of the suffering masses in Latin America and is ready to sacrifice his life for the liberation of any country; third, he has a great obsession with "guerrilla warfare" and has long wanted to realize greater ideals through it.
In April 1965, Che Guevara resigned from high-ranking official positions and resolutely left Cuba. Honor, fame, and wealth had always been like clouds to him, and if it weren't for Castro's repeated retention and persuasion, he would have left long ago. Che Guevara led a guerrilla group of Cubans to the Congo to support the revolutionary struggle of the Congolese people.
However, the indiscipline and internal strife of the local people made the uprising ultimately fail. Guevara, who suffered from severe asthma, wanted to stay in the Congolese jungle and fight until the last moment, setting an example for the revolution with his life. But after the bitter pleas of his comrades, Che Guevara finally left the Congo in frustration. After traveling to various places, Che Guevara secretly returned to Cuba and set out to form another guerrilla force.
In November 1966, 17 Cuban revolutionaries left Cuba with Che Guevara and secretly infiltrated Bolivia to form a guerrilla group. None of the 17 men had families and children, none of whom were over 35 years old, and they all left affectionate farewell letters to their relatives before leaving. Guevara established guerrilla bases in the mountains of southeastern Bolivia, gathering guerrillas from Cuba, Argentina, Peru and Bolivia in an attempt to overthrow the Bolivian dictatorship and then ignite the flames of revolution throughout Latin America.
In the jungles of Bolivia, Che Guevara led the rebel army in a nearly year-long battle against the dictator's army. In the process, Che Guevara launched several military operations, almost every time winning a complete victory, while his opponents never organized a decent counterattack. In Bolivia, although the peasants had not yet joined the guerrillas on a large scale, the struggle for Che Guevara created a general atmosphere of sympathy for the rebels. The victory of the rebel army seems to be just around the corner.
On the other hand, the rebel army led by Che Guevara was not in a good position. Because they have to face not only the powerful regular forces, but also the agents sent by the United States and the high bounties they offer. In addition, wounded guerrillas were easily lost in the jungle and were often separated from larger groups. Che Guevara himself suffered from severe asthma, and because of the lack of medicines, he had to endure great pain all day long. However, none of the sufferings defeated Che Guevara, and he always maintained a tenacious fighting spirit. He said:
Let us hold high the banner of struggle the great banner of the sacred cause of human liberation, so that the bloody sacrifices that can be inflicted under the banners of vietnam, Venezuela, Guatemala, Laos, Colombia, Bolivia , to name a few are just as honorable and desirable for anyone. Sprinkle every drop of blood on the land of a foreign country, and the latecomers will learn from it and apply it to the struggle of their own motherland.
Unfortunately, on September 26, 1967, the rebels were ambushed by the enemy in Igra. Che Guevara almost expected the enemy to lay an ambush there, but he finally decided to take the risk in order to rescue the critically ill doctors and other wounded. This was the first victory of the enemy, and the rebel army suffered heavy losses because of this defeat, and almost completely destroyed. Since then, the enemy has been shrinking the encirclement, and if Che Guevara had left the wounded, he would have had a good chance of breaking through, but he did not.
On the afternoon of 8 October, the remnants of the rebel army engaged in an encounter with a large number of enemies. The few remaining fighters in the entire guerrilla group fought valiantly against the enemy who besieged them until dusk, until they could no longer fight. Che Guevara was hit in both legs by a bullet during the battle and was unable to walk, but he kept fighting until the barrel of his M-2 rifle was scrapped by a bullet. The enemy eventually rushed to Che Guevara, and the heroic and fearless Che Guevara was unfortunately captured.
Che Guevara was captured
Che Guevara was taken to the village of Igra and held in a damp classroom. In that classroom, Guevara spent the last 20-odd hours of his life. He always maintained the tenacious will of the fighters, refusing to pay attention to any enemy who wanted to slip any information out of his mouth. It has been said that Che Guevara had begged the enemy for forgiveness, which is clearly a grossly malicious slander. If he was afraid of death, how could he abandon cuba's high position and go to the jungle to fight guerrilla warfare in the jungle that was in danger at any time?
After Che Guevara was captured, Bolivian President Barientos did not dare to take the initiative, and after consulting the United States, a decision was made to execute him on the spot as soon as possible. The day after his capture, Che Guevara was shot and killed the same day without any trial, at the age of 39. Before dying, Guevara stood tall in front of the executioner with trembling hands and shouted: Shoot, coward, you are going to kill a man. Later, the executioner recalled that many years later, the scene of Che Guevara's death still made him tremble like a leaf, becoming a nightmare that would last a lifetime.
The executioner fired 9 shots, piercing Che Guevara's chest, but Che Guevara never closed his eyes, his eyes wide open in anger, and he was blind. Che Guevara's body was first placed in a laundry room at a hospital and then secretly transferred. Before the transfer, agents made a guevara mask out of wax and brutally cut off Che Guevara's hands.
It wasn't until 30 years later that Che Guevara's body was found in Bolivia. Cuba held a state funeral for Che Guevara and laid his remains in the city of Santa Clara, a city he fought and liberated with his own hands. And bolivians who were once indifferent to Che Guevara finally understood many years later that Che Guevara had come to help them.
Statue of Che Guevara
Che Guevara fell on the road and did not live to the day when the ideal was realized, but he poured the ideal with his own blood, and he will always inspire future generations to fight for the ideal. At the same time, Che Guevara also set us a perfect personality example - hard and simple, not afraid of danger, strong will, full of compassion, always standing with the suffering, full of deep love for human beings. Che Guevara, always blood boiling, always with ideals, always on the road!