Today marks an anniversary. Not necessarily a world changing one, but important none the less.
Today, 9 October, marks the 57th anniversary of the death of one Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna Lynch. You probably know him by his nickname: Che.
Guevara rose to prominence as a member of Fidel Castro’s revolutionary army. He earned a reputation for brutality as Castro’s 2nd in command. He frequently summarily executed both prisoners and his own men, sometimes for the smallest transgressions.
After the revolution, Guevara was named commandante of the prison at La Cabana fortress. This was where former Batista officials were held. Che participated in the torture and execution of several hundred Cubans held in that prison.
He was, among other things, a notorious bigot and racist. He said “Blacks have a lack of affinity with bathing” and “The black is indolent and a dreamer; spending his meager wage on frivolity or drink.” Mexicans are “a band of illiterate Indians.” He rounded up homosexuals and put them in camps, one of which had a sign reading “Work will make you a Man”.
In the early 1960’s, Che had a falling out with the monstrous Castro brothers and dropped out of public life in Cuba. He turned up in the Congo on 25 April 1965, attempting to bring his brand of revolution to Africa. That was a complete failure. The Mobutu government, supported by Mad Mike Harare, white merc, and the CIA stymied Guevara at every turn.
On 20 November 1965, suffering from dysentery and acute asthma, and disheartened after seven months of defeats and inactivity, Guevara left Congo with the six Cuban survivors of his 12-man column.
Late 1966 sees Che start what would be his last adventure. In November of that year, he entered Bolivia at La Paz and travelled to the southern parts of that country to foment a communist revolution. After 11 months of trying to convince the campesinos to join his army, he had almost no recruits. His abrasive style caused many of the farmers to actively inform on him to the Bolivian military. This fact ultimately lead to his capture.
On 7 October, a local farmer told the Bolivian Army the location of Guevara’s camp. Two companies of Bolivian SF surrounded the camp and assaulted it in the early morning of 8 October. Guevara was captured and most of his ‘revolutionaries’ were killed.
The next day the President of Bolivia, Rene Barrientos, ordered the execution of Guevara. He was executed by a 27 year old Bolivian sergeant, Mario Teran. Guevara’s last words were these:
“I know you’ve come to kill me. Shoot, coward! You are only going to kill a man!”
In all, Guevara was shot nine times by Terán. This included five times in his legs, once in the right shoulder and arm, and once in the chest and throat. Guevara was pronounced dead at 1:10 pm local time 9 October 1967.
After his execution, Guevara’s body was lashed to the landing skids of a helicopter and flown to nearby Vallegrande, where photographs were taken of him lying on a concrete slab in the laundry room of the Nuestra Señora de Malta, including this one, which happens to be my favorite.
As I said in the title, good riddance to bad rubbish.