"Be realistic, demand the impossible!"
"I would rather die standing up to live life on my knees."
Every word of the above said statements is soaked in valor and fearlessness, in courage and hope. These lines are not excerpts of a war-fiction or from a novel; rather it is a true story of a person who stands to first of those few people whose words and act never differ to each other.
"Ernesto 'Che' Guevara" or some time called as 'El Che' was Argentine Revolutionary leader. He was born on 14th June 1928 in Rosario, Argentina, and was the eldest of five children. In his early days in spite of his asthma he excelled himself as an athlete, swimmer, enjoyed football, golf, and shooting and he also became an "untiring" cyclist. Because of all these restless activity his father once told that, "in my son's veins flowed the blood of the Irish rebels." After studying medicine at the University of Buenos Aires he worked as a doctor for some time. While he was in university, his nature compelled him to explore the world. To fulfill his wish he did two famous motorcycle journeys which changed his way to view himself and social condition of whole world. His first expedition in 1950 was a 4,500 Km trip through rural provinces of northern Argentina on a bicycle on which he installed a small motor. And his second journey in 1951 was a nine month 8,000 Km motorcycle trek through most of South America. His journey paved a path for a book and film named 'The Motorcycle Diaries'. A British politician George Galloway commented on Guevara motorcycle journey that, "A motorcycle journey the length of South America awakened him to the injustice of U.S. domination in the hemisphere, and to the suffering colonialism brought to its original inhabitants."
In words of Guevara,
"After graduation, due to special circumstances and perhaps also to my character, I began to travel throughout America, and I became acquainted with all of it. Except for Haiti and Santo Domingo, I have visited, to some extent, all the other Latin American countries. Because of the circumstances in which I traveled, first as a student and later as a doctor, I came into close contact with poverty, hunger and disease; with the inability to treat a child because of lack of money; with the stupefaction provoked by the continual hunger and punishment, to the point that a father can accept the loss of a son as an unimportant accident, as occurs often in the downtrodden classes of our American homeland. And I began to realize at that time that 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."
As Guevara remarked that during his motorcycle journey he came in close confrontation with poverty, hunger and disease inability to treat a child, because of lack of money these experiences, in order to "help these people", made him to enter in political arena of armed struggle. After this he left his glorious realm of medical and Guevara became politically active. He started his new innings in his native Argentina and then in Bolivia and Guatemala. During this crucial phase of his life, Guevara; in 1954, met Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro and his brother Raul Castro in Mexico and became an integral part of Fidel Castro's efforts to overthrow the General Fulgencio Batista government in Cuba. He became military advisor to Castro and led several guerrilla battles against Batista forces. Later, in Castro's government he became president of the Cuban national bank and then after three years, he was appointed minister of industry.
But as nature can't be changed, therefore, Guevara left this post to export the ideas of Cuba's revolution to world. Then after, in 1966, he became a guerrilla leader in Bolivia and began to try to incite people of Bolivia to rebel against their government. With a handful of guerrilla force to support his efforts, Guevara was captured and Rodriguez (a Cuban exile later turned CIA operative) was person, who interrogated him and ordered his execution in October, 1967. Rodriguez still possesses Guevara's Rolex watch that he took as a trophy.
Che Guevara before his death told his executioner, "I know you've come to kill me. Shoot me you coward! You are only going to kill a man!" He kept on biting one of his wrists to avoid crying out. Guevara was shot nine times. This included five times in his legs, once in the right shoulder and arm, once in the chest, and finally in the throat. His death always remains a historic, mystery and controversial event. His capture, killing, and burial are still the subject of intense public interest and discussion around the world. After his death, Guevara has become a legendary political figure. His name became a synonym of rebellion, revolution, and socialism; and a symbol of dare, courage, and passion. Since his death his life continues to attract great public interest and portrayed in numerous books and films. Guevara had authored two books Guerrilla Warfare and Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War.
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