Guevara, Ernesto

(full name, Guevara de la Serna; also called Che). Born June 14, 1928, in Rosario, Argentina; died Oct. 8 (?), 1967, near Higueras, Bolivia. Latin American revolutionary; one of the leaders of the Cuban Revolution of 1959; major.

The son of an architect, Guevara was a doctor by profession. During Perón’s rule he was forced to emigrate from Argentina (1952). Guevara met F. Castro Ruz in Mexico in 1955, and from that time he bound his life to the Cuban people’s struggle for freedom. In December 1956 he landed with a revolutionary detachment in Oriente Province, Cuba. In 1957 he was appointed commander of a partisan column. In December 1958, Guevara’s column liberated the province of Las Villas, inflicted a decisive defeat on the troops of the dictator Batista in the city of Santa Clara, and, with C. Cienfuegos’ column, victoriously entered Havana.

After the victory of the Cuban Revolution of 1959, Guevara actively participated in building socialism in Cuba. He was appointed chief of the garrison of the La Cabana fortress in Havana and director of the country’s Administration of Industrial Development. From November 1959 to February 1961 he was president of the National Bank of Cuba. In February 1961 he became minister of industry. Guevara was a leader of the July 26 Movement and later a member of the National Leadership of the United Party of the Socialist Revolution.

In April 1965, Guevara sent a letter to Castro on his decision to continue fighting in the revolutionary movement in some other country of the world, and he left Cuba. In November 1966 he arrived in Bolivia to organize the partisan movement. In October 1967 the partisan detachment he had created was surrounded and destroyed by government troops, who enjoyed extensive US support in this operation. Guevara was wounded, taken prisoner, and killed.