Che Guevara Before Cuba

Early History of the Revolutionary Leader Before Castro and Cuba

Feb 18, 2009

Che Guevara made history when he led a group of revolutionary forces that helped topple the Batista regime in Cuba. But what shaped this man who would shape history?

Ernesto Guevara was born May 14, 1928 (although his birth certificate states June 14 to avoid a scandal for his mother) in Rosario, Argentina to a middle class family. He was the eldest of five children. His father was well-to-do thanks to his mother’s money, but had a definite socialist leaning in his thoughts and actions, and throughout Che’s early years he was surrounded by his fathers left-thinking friends and associates.

Che attended the Buenos Aires University and graduated with a degree in medicine. It was during his time there that he became involved in revolutionary politics, spending time reading Marxist literature and the writings of Argentinean leader Juan Peron.

After graduation, Che spent several years traveling. He saw much of Latin America, traveling throughout Central and South America. He worked as a Doctor, or did odd jobs when no medicinal jobs were available, while sharpening his political views. He traveled to Guatemala in 1953, and It was here he got the nickname “Che,” an Argentinean diminutive for “pal” or “guy” that he was often heard using. It was also here that Che met his first wife Hilda Gadea. They would have one child together.

While in Guatemala, Che would witness the United States CIA intervention in the Populist government of Jacobo Arbenz. The Arbenz government was a socialist government with a populist platform that advocated land and education reform. This US intervention would shape his anti-US views, and push his political stance farther into populist territory. When describing his views on his travels and how they shaped him, Che stated to the Cuban Militia on August, 19, 1960:

" I began to travel throughout America … I came into close contact with poverty, hunger and disease...I began to realize…there were things that were almost as important to me as becoming famous for making a significant contribution to medical science: I wanted to help those people."

With the fall of the Arbenz government, Che fled to Mexico. Despite his wish to help, Che was again forced to take odd jobs including work as a photographer and researcher. Here in Mexico, though, through contacts made in Guatemala, he would meet up with Cuban exiles including Fidel Castro, and find his destiny as a revolutionary leader

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