Che Guevara was one of history’s most controversial figures.
Depending upon your political leanings, Ernesto “Che” Guevara was a hero, saint, murderer, or monster. Guevara was one of the most polarizing people in all of human history. His life, death, and legacy still spark controversy more than half a century after his execution.
Born to a middle-class family in Argentina, Ernesto Guevara showed an exceptional intellect from a young age.
The eldest of five children, Guevara was born in Rosario, Argentina, in 1928. As a child, Guevara suffered from crippling asthma yet still managed to excel as an athlete. He competed in rugby, golf, shooting, and cycling and was an accomplished chess player.
Much of Guevara’s youth was spent reading.
His childhood home contained more than 3,000 books and Guevara read widely. He was known to quote both Kipling and Jose Hernandez extensively. Eclectic authors such as Aristotle, Freud, Faulkner, Bertrand Russell, Sartre, Verne, Kafka, Camus, and Jack London occupied his mind during his formative years.
Che Guevara originally studied medicine before turning to communist revolution.
In 1948 Che Guevara began medical school.
Guevara’s travels through impoverished areas in the midst of his medical training shaped his worldview.
Two years later he took a sabbatical to make a 2,800-mile trek through rural Argentina on a motorized bicycle he crafted himself. After exposure to the widespread poverty of peasant life, he began a revolutionary quest that would make him a worldwide icon and ultimately cost him his life.
Along the way, Che Guevara became a counterculture icon.
His nickname “Che” had unusual origins. “Che” is a multipurpose discourse marker among Argentines in much the same way “Eh” is to Canadians. In the early 1950’s Guevara’s acquaintances began referring to him by that term as he used it extensively.
The Physician Becomes a Revolutionary
Guevara traveled widely as a physician until a chance meeting led him down a different path.
After medical school Guevara traveled widely through South and Central America, becoming ever more obsessed with the plight of the poor. He saw the oppression of large capitalistic corporations visited upon the peasant class and grew increasingly convinced that violence was the proper response. In 1955 he met Raul and Fidel Castro.
Che Guevara and Fidel Castro became inextricably linked over a common revolutionary cause.
Though originally from Argentina, Che Guevara found in the Cuban revolution his life’s calling.
Fidel and Che developed what has been called a revolutionary friendship and resolved to overthrow the corrupt dictatorial Cuban government of Fulgencio Batista. In the struggle for Cuban independence, Che Guevara found his ultimate cause. In the teachings of Karl Marx, Guevara saw the path to revolution.
Guevara felt that Marxist dogma was the key to the liberation of the masses.
“The merit of Marx is that he suddenly produces a qualitative change in the history of social thought. He interprets history, understands its dynamic, predicts the future, but in addition to predicting it (which would satisfy his scientific obligation), he expresses a revolutionary concept: the world must not only be interpreted, it must be transformed. Man ceases to be the slave and tool of his environment and converts himself into the architect of his own destiny.”
— Che Guevara, Notes for the Study of the Ideology of the Cuban, October 1960
Guevara was many things, but he was not stupid.
The Revolutionary Becomes a Killer
Che Guevara was an adroit tactical leader whose battlefield acumen was grudgingly admired.
Guevara initially joined Castro’s guerilla band as a medic but soon found that he had a gift for insurgency warfare. In the sundry engagements that would follow, Guevara earned the grudging respect of his adversaries. CIA analysis described his tactical acumen as brilliant. As is so frequently the case with Marxist ideologues, however, Guevara’s pursuit of his revolutionary goals was soaked in blood.
Despite his altruistic claims, Che Guevara shed a veritable river of blood.
Guevara enforced ruthless discipline against those he suspected of being deserters, informers, or spies. In one instance a peasant guide named, Eutimio Guerra, admitted accepting 10,000 pesos in return for identifying Castro’s irregular troops to the Cuban air force. In response to the condemned man’s request to “end his life quickly,” Guevara stepped from the group and shot him in the head.
A compulsive diarist, Guevara later described the scene thusly, “The situation was uncomfortable for the people and for Eutimio so I ended the problem giving him a shot with a .32 pistol in the right side of the brain, with exit orifice in the right temporal lobe.” The dry matter-of-fact technical tone lends insight into the true mindset of this alpha revolutionary.
Guevara led the revolutionary advance into Havana.
In the final phase of the fighting, Guevara arrived in Havana six days prior to Castro himself.
Che Guevara suddenly became a powerful force in the young communist Cuban government.
After Castro’s forces successfully overthrew the Batista regime, Guevara found himself the second in command of a new Cuban communist government. One of his newfound roles was to adjudicate the fates of those deemed responsible for atrocities under the previous administration.
Guevara’s purging of the Batista government led to large-scale executions.
The subsequent mass executions, usually by firing squad, left Guevara hard and cold. He described himself this way, “If the only way to defend the revolution was to execute its enemies, he would not be swayed by humanitarian or political arguments.”
Most of the deaths overseen by Guevara were by firing squad.
He went on to say in a letter, “The executions by firing squads are not only a necessity for the people of Cuba but also an imposition of the people.”
A Meteoric Rise to Fame
Guevara’s travels took him around the globe. Here he meets Mao Zedong.
Guevara subsequently traveled the world as an emissary of Cuba’s newfound communist ideals. Along the way, he gained international notoriety. Upon his return to Cuba, he assumed responsibility for training the new communist Cuban military. Though he did not participate in the action himself, it was his troops that repulsed the CIA-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion.
Che Guevara was instrumental in developing strong ties between the Soviet Union and Cuba.
Guevara was the primary catalyst behind the robust relationship between Cuba and the Soviet Union. He helped orchestrate the deployment of nuclear weapons that sparked the Cuban Missile Crisis. He viewed the removal of these weapons by the Soviets as a betrayal and in subsequent years frequently denounced both the USSR and the USA with comparable venom.
Guevara met revolutionaries, philosophers, and dignitaries around the world.
Guevara addressed the United Nations and met with the likes of American Senator Eugene McCarthy and Malcolm X. He survived two assassination attempts by Cuban exiles while in New York City.
Guevara advised communist insurgents fighting in the Belgian Congo.
Che later advised communist troops in combat in the Congo.
Guevara’s actions in the Congo brought him up against Mad Mike Hoare and the famed mercenary unit the Wild Geese.
While in the Congo he faced the mercenary unit 5 Commando led by the legendary Soldier of Fortune Mad Mike Hoare.
The Capture and Execution of Che Guevara
Guevara’s attempted communist insurgency in Bolivia failed to develop much popular support. This photo was taken in Bolivia mere days before his death.
In 1967 Guevara was fighting alongside communist insurgents against Bolivian government forces. Unbeknownst to Guevara, CIA Special Activities Division paramilitary operatives supported by US Army Special Forces as well as a battalion of US Army Rangers were deployed hunting him. Unable to raise significant popular support and ruthlessly harried by the Bolivian army, Guevara’s small band was ambushed. Guevara was subsequently captured.
Despite American objections, the Bolivian President ordered Guevara executed.
On October 9, 1967, the Bolivian President Rene Barrientos ordered Guevara executed. An alcoholic Bolivian Army Sergeant named Mario Teran entered the hut where Guevara was being held and loosed two bursts from a fully automatic M2 Carbine.
Che Guevara was gunned down at close range by a Bolivian sergeant wielding an American M2 Carbine.
Guevara was hit nine times–five in the legs, once in the right shoulder and again in the right arm. He was also hit in the chest and the throat. He bled out in short order.
The Gun
The M1 Carbine was the most produced American small arm of World War 2.
The M2 Carbine was an evolutionary development of the WW2-vintage M1 Carbine. The M1 was initially designed in a mere thirteen days. The original design spawned from efforts by Ed Browning, brother of famed gun designer John Moses Browning.
The subsequent selective fire M2 Carbine saw widespread service during the Korean War.
The M1 Carbine was intended to replace the handgun as a Personal Defense Weapon of sorts by troops like artillerymen and truck drivers for whom direct contact with the enemy was not a regular part of their mission.
Winston Churchill was an avid shooter and admired the nimble little Carbine.
At the apogee of production, US industry was turning out 65,000 Carbines a day. Final production numbers topped six million.
The most obvious external evidence of the M2 Carbine’s selective fire mechanism is the selector lever at the left front aspect of the receiver. The forward position is full auto.
At the very end of the war, the military produced a selective fire conversion kit that could be installed on existing Carbines by unit armorers.
The M1 Carbine can be converted to selective fire solely by dropping in parts.
This kit consisted of nine parts that could be fitted into a semi-auto Carbine. The M1 Carbine is one of the only weapons in widespread circulation in America that can be converted to full auto solely by exchanging parts. Possession of all nine parts, even without a host Carbine, is considered possession of a machine gun.
The M2 Carbine saw extensive use with friendly forces during the Vietnam War.
The M2 Carbine cycles at around 750 rounds per minute and is an effective close combat tool. The modest recoil impulse of the .30 carbine cartridge makes the gun controllable and later 30-round magazines offer plenty of on tap firepower.
The Carbine was thrown together over a very brief development period but went on to become one of the most successful American combat weapons ever produced.
A friend who served as an Infantry officer during the Korean War told me that the M2 Carbine was not considered as reliable as was the M1 Garand or the Grease Gun.
Ruminations
Che Guevara remains an integral part of Cuban revolutionary fervor even today.
In the years since his death, communist revolutionaries and radical misguided youth have deified Che Guevara. Cuban schoolchildren begin their daily pledge of allegiance with, “We will be like Che.”
This image of Che Guevara has achieved legendary status as a revolutionary icon.
This iconic Alberto Kordo photograph of Guevara, taken at the memorial service for victims of the La Coubre explosion in 1960, has been described as the most famous photograph ever taken.
Che Guevara’s likeness has been paradoxically commercialized around the world.
The fact that Che’s likeness has been reproduced on everything from coffee mugs to political banners to bikini swimsuits is an ironic legacy for a man who devoted his life to the fight against consumer capitalism.
This memorial in Guevara’s hometown is venerated. Locals actually pray to Che.
To Bolivian peasants, Che Guevara is Saint Ernesto.
Communism ultimately claimed far more innocent life than did the Nazis.
Among Cuban exiles in America, Guevara is referred to as the “Butcher of La Cabana.”
Che Guevara was killed at age 39 yet continues to be a polarizing figure even half a century later.
An unrepentant killer, Che Guevara had a brief but enigmatic life.
Technical Specifications
M2 Carbine
| Caliber | 7.62x33mm/.30 Carbine |
| Weight | 5.2 lbs Empty |
| Length | 35.6 inches |
| Barrel Length | 18 inches |
| Action | Gas-Operated Short-Stroke Piston |
| Rate of Fire | 750 Rounds per Minute |
| Feed Mechanism | 15 and 30-round Box Magazines |
| Sights | Adjustable Aperture Rear/Wing-Protected Front Post |
***Shop GunsAmerica for your next M2 Carbine***
Che’s weapon of choice was the full-auto M2 Carbine. But the Bolivian Army used semi-auto M1 Carbines.
So maybe they used his own gun to execute him… ?
After her much publicized visit to Cuba, America’s favorite Back Stabbing Communist Sympathizer…Hanoi Jane Fonda stated that her “#1 Fantasy was to Have Sex with Che Guevara”! That always struck me funny after hearing that Che stated his “#1 Fantasy was to Drop Nuclear Bombs on the USA & Kill every Man, Woman & Child”, which I imagine included Hanoi Jane! Another funny side note to the Che T-Shirt Hoop-La, was seeing it worn by Colin Kaepernick, who claims to want only Peace-Love & Equality, but who’s own Actions & Asinine Associations with groups like BLM & ANTIFA (can you say Soros and Obama?) and his conversion to the Muslim Faith, point to just the opposite…HATE!
It is ordinary that great heroic men, Odysseus for example, kill other men. But there are also greedy and corrupt murderers.
Everybody knows which is which.
Viva Che. Good pictures, thanks…I saved the best. Heroes, like surgeons, cut out the bad stuff. It’s bloody.
Oh yeah, the designation “M2” also applies to a browning .50 MG – so when they plan to supply the fellas with ammo, how would they avoid errors? (this is criticism, avoid ambiguity)
And also the m1 carbine is a pretty but ineffective gun. According to my ROTC instructors (circa 1962) the .30 cal carbine round was legal, which the .223 M16 round was not – the design being in violation of the laws of war as it sought successfully to tumble and deliberately create terrible wounds in the body, while the .30 round would simply go though and leave a far less lethal wound. The switch to the .223 was in the works…for ‘Nam.
Was the murdering in ‘Nam somehow better than the killing Che did? If so, kindly explain how that is.
I clearly remember some news broadcasts at the time of the Communist takeover of Cuba. They showed people lined up in front of a trench being systematically shot either in the head or by firing squad. Even as a kid I knew evil. I also knew Batista was a dictator. I knew some people in the 60s who escaped Cuba.. Their description of what happened to family and friends was more than chilling. Communism/socialism(ie Bernie Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez) is without a doubt evil and the people that support it want to be the ones that are just a little more equal than the rest of the animals on the farm
Before executing a Batista official, Che often shot the son in front of the father. He was a racist, murderous commie. Cuba remains the most racist nation in the western hemisphere.
The M-1 Carbine was also a replacement for the 1911 .45 for junior officers in the field.
And Capitalism never killed anybody, right…?
Don’t be impertinent , comrade commissar !
Everyone knows it is more merciful to end the suffering of
rabid dogs , when encountered .
Be thankful capitalism only kills it’s enemies, because in Che’s world you might be put against the wall next.
‘This true , Beachhawk . Commissar Mike is what was coined as
the ” useful idiot ” . After communism’s enemies are eliminated ,
the useful idiots are the next ones shot in the back of the neck ,
and thrown into the same hole .
Can you dig it , man ?
For Freedom or Communism, pick the one that benefits everyone/everybody/anybody wanting to come to the United States of America?
This piece of subhuman garbage was, according to his father, a psychopathic killer! He was in fact a Socialist/Communist whose death did Not happen soon enough!
He was NOT and is NOT a hero!
Looks like you forgot some of the fact about che
1959 Executions at La Cabaña Fortress Prison
Ché was in command at La Cabaña until November 26, 1959, although he traveled overseas from June 4th to September 8th. Reportedly, he signed execution orders carried out after 11/26/1959, cases that also appear below in a separate list. Executions in 1959 for which no month or day is available may have and probably did take place during Guevara’s command.
“Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any enemy that falls in my hands! My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood. With the deaths of my enemies I prepare my being for the sacred fight and join the triumphant proletariat with a bestial howl!”
“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. This is what our soldiers must become …” ché Guevara
Che is what every communist should strive to be….. Dead.
” … The M2 Carbine was an evolutionary development of the WW2-vintage M1 Carbine. …” With all due respect to the learned author I was under the impression that the M1 Carbine was in fact originally conceived and planned as a selective fire weapon. However for multiple reasons it again, originally went into production as a semi automatic carbine and was later as clearly pointed out in the (excellent) article modified into a selective fire weapon. Any clarification will be appreciated as I am no authority in the history of firearms. Thank you.
Che never worked a day in his life yet he claimed to be for a “people’s revolution” . Read the vile things he said about blacks and Mexicans then read about the concentration camps he set up in Cuba in the early 1960s for gays. Thousands of them died in the labor camps under the hot Cuba sun while morons in the USA and Europe thought of him as their “hero.” and maybe you will change your tune. A Che T shirt is as evil as a swastika.
In the late ‘60s it was my privilege to serve under a great soldier, MAJ Ed Fricke (now deceased). He was XO Chilton’s team that trained the Bolivian airborne battalion that put an end to “Sweet Che”.
I never got the full story, and I never will, since Ed is no longer with us, but I know he was there at the end, and that Che cried like a baby.
It is a shame that American heroes like Ed are forgotten, while a monster like Che is glorified.
I would argue with the author that Che was not stupid. Che’s reflections on Marx assumes Marx “interpreted history, understood it’s dynamic and predicted it’s future”. Surely the musings of a stupid person. Marx must have had at least a subconscious inkling that his socialist model was antithesis to the human spirit, thus society’s transformation to socialism must be forced at the point of a gun. Not only did Marx not understand human nature, but he did not understand socialism is and was doomed to failure as a unworkable model. His predictions of the future did not include the total collapse of the Marxist economic model forcing the break up of the Soviet union and the adoption of capitalism by Russia, Viet Nam and others. People will always work for their own self benefit, not some “glorious society”. They work to feed their families and they want economic freedom.
Much like today’s Democrats, people like Che cannot deal with the reality and the hardships of life. They adopt socialism as a religion by suppressing rational thought and ignore any understanding regarding the creation of wealth. This is what stupid people do. They adopt fantasies in place of a pragmatic acceptance of the struggle for survival. Just because someone has a high intelligence, or is well read, does not mean they are not stupid. Obviously Marx was stupid as well as his followers such as Che!
This Venezuelan prick was instrumental in destroying thousands of lives, plus dismantling the opportunity for a small ignorant country like Cuba to have a chance in the capitalist world we have come to embrace, it’s a damn shame he was assassinated with an M1, I would have loved to see him perish by removing body parts with a rusty vise grip pliers, along with his communist counterparts, pricks like this is why this country needs to cherish its 2nd amendment, it’s what keeps these pricks from gaining ground.
Che is now a good communist.
I lived (until age 13) in “Che’s” and the Castro brothers “worker’s paradise” so I grew up with the true stories about “El Che” that one day will come to light. One example is that of the crying elderly mother that went to see him at “La Cabana” prison where he was keeper and executioner of suspected ‘counter revolutionaries’ to plea for her teenage son arrested on mere ‘suspicion’ of being a “counter revolutionary” (anyone not in agreement with the ‘revolution’, or as we refer to… the “ROB-OLUTION” given the fact that they stole all private property and destroyed the second most prosperous economy in the Americas) “Che” listened to her and told her to “come back in the morning and he would release her son to her…” When she left thinking that she had saved her son “Che” had him stood against the wall and executed. He ‘kept his promise’ and gave her the dead body the next morning.
What your story misses is that “El Che” was not only a hardened communist but a devout ‘MAOIST’ (a fan of the Chinese communist model and Chairman Mao). During the first couple of years after they came into power the Castros received heavy military aide (weapons and training) from both China and the USSR; I remember seeing hundreds of Chinese communist (and Russian) troops doing calisthenics among wooden crates full of weapons and ammunition on the street outside of the abandoned mansions (abandoned by the well to do who left for the U.S. after the fall of Batista or shortly after) which they had turned into makeshift barracks.
“Che” tried to persuade the Castros to go with China and the USSR essentially outspent them. “Che” started ‘bad mouthing’ the Russians and that caused the friction with their new “sponsor” that led to “Che’s” departure for Africa (Fidel told him he ‘had to go’) and subsequently to Bolivia after his African adventure turned into a disaster. Risking offense to the memory of ‘rabid dogs’ … “Che” was shot like the ‘rabid dog’ he was and to my pride and that of millions of exiled Cubans his capture was the work of Cuban exile and CIA officer Felix Rodriguez.
A word of warning to all who read this, heed the word of those who have gone through ‘Socialism’ and don’t fall for the ‘siren songs’ of this new wave of Liberals turned ‘Progressive’ turned ‘Social-Democrats’ in the american Democrat Party… the ‘siren songs’ put you to sleep and by the time you wake up it is too late. All you have to do is read a little history… it has never worked even at its Russian birthplace where it ruled absolute for over 70 years; the last time I visited Key West there was no line of American “rafters” (‘balseros’ for those of you that speak Spanish) waiting to row their way to the ‘tropical communist paradise’ 90 miles south.
By the way, when I was undergoing communist indoctrination 50 years ago it was emphatically explained to me and my fellow ‘students’ that “Socialism is only the PATH to COMMUNISM…” Not every one in Russia or Cuba was or is a card carrying member member of the Communist party and U.S.S.R. stood for ‘Union of Soviet SOCIALIST Republics’… the Castros have always referred to their regime as the “SOCIALIST Republic of Cuba”. On another note NEVER GIVE UP YOUR GUNS!, the day the Second Amendment is gone the Constitution will not be worth the paper it is written on.
Very well said and 100% right on.
I, as a direct descendant of an American revolutionary war veteran who risked everything for the cause of freedom would like to let you know you are welcome here in America as a fellow lover of the God given right to freedom and sincerely hope you can return, if only just for a visit to a free Cuba someday!!! From one Frank to another, welcome to the USA Mr. Gonzalez!!!!!!!
Thank you for your kind comments. I have been a U.S. citizen for 43 years and this is my country now. I am an ex-police officer and the proud father of a first generation American and U.S. Army veteran of the war in Afghanistan. I am grandfather to two gorgeous granddaughters and father-in-law to an also first generation American of Venezuelan parents.
As my parents and grandparents use to say “no one really appreciates what they have until they lose it”. I lost an entire family to the Socialist/Communist dogma and I will go to my grave doing my best to preserve the freedoms we enjoy in this country and warning those that are tempted by their ‘siren songs’
Well said, sir. Every single word true!
Thank you Frank for your thoughts. The Democratic Party is working towards communism at a frenetic pace. That is why they are pushing the abolition of our 2nd amendment rights. They working to get our right to a trial with gun forfeiture laws and attacking freedom of speech in our universities. The Democratic Party is for open borders and dividing the country with racism.
Pulling into a truck stop in west Texas at sunrise I went inside for a cup of coffee. Inside were a group of oilfield workers, hispanic for the most part.One was wearing that goofy Che t-shirt. “Puta” -“Che!” giving him the thumbs down. Yeah an altercation started. Had me a new souvenir to clean my boots with.Dont wear that shirt in MY country.
From one truck driver to another, here’s a BIG atta boy to you hand!!!
Che can hang with JFk in the here after, both killed over cigar-land. Obama likes cigars too.
I thought that it was comrade Clinton that liked cigars …
Fantastic article on the M2 Carbine and insight into the ruthlessness of Communism. It’s a shame that Che has now become an icon to so many Leftists in this country.
The only good part the M2 played in regards Che’was in shooting him as the mass murdering psychopath who stated how he loved killing people esp trusting friend- + in the back…
Amen , sir .
Che was a coward , deviant , degenerate and generally pathetic . The
communists are the enemy of my blood , and I will oppose them with
every fiber of my being .
The M-1 / M-2 carbine was an excellent weapon , within it’s limitations ,
and you are more than correct that its use in this situation was good use
of it .
It breaks my heart to see how our youths have been led to believe , by their
” teachers ” no less , that he was some sort of ” hero ” . I am unable to
fathom it !
Che’ + Commies all – as having any outward appeal is equal to chocolate coating a fresh dog turd…
Final analysis is it’s an antiChrist instrument- Satanic to its core + falls into the Globalist purpose + construct- to institute a new world order under a one world Godless government of tyrant elitist’s.
ie = totally evil in its premises-
See Venzuala’s waltz w/socialism live on today’s news as it unfolds.
I was quite pleased when I learn they severed his head for display.
A simple reminder is communism is for the people not for the communist. Take a look at that picture of Karl Marx. He is obese, wearing a fine suit, sporting a long necklace while sitting in a very fancy chair. Meanwhile the people suffer
This series of articles is the makings of a book, please?
My Dad had an M1 30 carbine and used it on our ranch to shoot varmits rattle snakes etc. he shot the head off a six footer from about ten ft. on one occasion. He said in the Pacific during WWII that was one of the firearms front line troops wanted. The picture of Che shot dead lying on a morticians embalming table wouldn’t make much of a T-shirt, but its how a lot of people like to remember him. Cubans have had one slave master or another for the last 300 years, something for them to think about as they ride to work at the collective in the back of a cattle hauler pulled by a tractor.
I think it would make a fine T-shirt. Maybe I’ll have some made up.
Che’s face on toilet paper might be a better seller