Ernesto "Che" Guevara: A Quick Look
There seems to be a common thread among the immigration protestors - Che Guevara. A symbol of revolutionary movements, the face of the socialist who once wrote "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" adorns the t-shirts and placards of countless protestors and bystanders.
So, even though I'm sure all these people know who they're choosing to represent their cause, a quick look at some aspects of his life couldn't hurt. Right?
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The one job Guevara excelled at was when he was commander of La Cabana prison, Havana's equivalent of Moscow's notorious Lubyanka. He liked overseeing executions and personally administering the coup de grace. Pierre San Martin, an inmate of La Cabana who made it out alive, gave the tenor of Guevara's administration in an article published in El Nuevo Herald from December 28, 1997. A 14-year-old boy, badly beat up, was brought to the prison. When those in his cell asked why he was there, he explained that he had tried to protect his father, who was being taken to the firing squad. Che's guards soon returned and led the boy from the cell. "Then we spotted him, strutting around the blood-drenched execution yard with his hands on his waist and barking orders - Che Guevara himself," Mr. San Martin recalled. "'Kneel down!' Che barked at the boy. "'Assassins!' we screamed from our window. "'I said: KNEEL DOWN!' Che barked again. "The boy stared Che resolutely in the face. 'If you're going to kill me,' he yelled, 'you'll have to do it while I'm standing! Men die standing!' "Then we saw Che unholstering his pistol. He put the barrel to the back of the boy's neck and blasted. The shot almost decapitated the young boy." |
http://www.futurodecuba.org/an_icon_of_evil_.htm
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In his trenchant short study, Che Guevara, the British historian Andrew Sinclair concludes that, during the guerrilla war, Che 'discovered a cold ruthlessness in his nature. Spilling blood was necessary for the cause. Within two years, he would order the death of several hundred Batista partisans at La Cabana, one of the mass killings of the Cuban Revolution.' Later too, after the botched Bay of Pigs invasion by anti-Communist Cuban exiles, all the survivors were summarily shot. |
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,1258340,00.html
For a different take on the man, visit www.che-mart.com (remember to bring your sense of humor).