The Martyring of Che Guevara

The 40th anniversary of the death of Che Guevara elicited considerable media attention, mostly about his iconic image captured on T-shirts throughout the world. There were the standard snarky asides that many young people wearing those T-shirts have scant notion of who Che was, but the journalists reporting the story seemed equally ignorant. Little was reported about Che's life and what led him to shun the comforts of a physician's lifestyle in Argentina to fight as a revolutionary in the rugged terrains of Cuba, the Congo and, finally, Bolivia--or why someone who claimed to be obsessed with helping the world's poor was executed, gangland style, on the order of a CIA agent.

One exception was the BBC, which bothered to send a reporter to Florida to interview Felix Rodriguez, the Cuban-born CIA agent who was part of a team of CIA operatives and Bolivian soldiers who captured Che. "Mr. Rodriguez ordered the soldier who pulled the trigger to aim carefully, to remain consistent with the Bolivian government's story that Che had been killed in action in a clash with the Bolivian army," said the BBC report. Che's hands were then cut off and put in formaldehyde to preserve his fingerprints.

In his interview with the BBC, Rodriguez claimed that the order to kill Che came from the Bolivian government, and that he went along: "I could have tried to falsify the command to the troops, and got Che to Panama as the U.S. government said they wanted," he recalled, but he didn't. Clearly, the U.S. government was not unhappy with Rodriguez's role in the bloody affair, for he went on, as he boasts, to train the Nicaraguan Contras and advise the repressive Argentine military government in the 1980s. He showed the BBC reporter his CIA medal for exceptional service along with a picture of him with the first President Bush in the White House. George H.W. Bush, it should be remembered, had been the head of the CIA during some of the years that Rodriguez worked there and was not put off by the man's past deeds, including his part in Che's assassination.

So, what's the big deal? Che was a Cuban Communist, and it's a good thing that folks like Bush and Rodriguez were able to defeat him before he spread his evil message further--right? False, on every count.

First off, he was either an Argentine Trotskyite or an anarchist, but Che was not a Communist in what we think of as the heavily entrenched, bureaucratized Cuban mold. Che was restless in post-revolutionary Cuba because his anarchist temperament caused him to bristle at the emerging bureaucracy. He was, like Trotsky in his dispute with Stalin, skeptical that the kind of socialism that truly served the poor could survive in just one country; hence, he died attempting to internationalize the struggle.

It also turned out that killing Che was a big mistake, as his message was spread more effectively by his execution than by his guerrilla activities, which were, after he left Cuba, quite pathetic. This is the case in Latin America, where political leaders he helped inspire are faring better than those coddled by the CIA. Daniel Ortega, whom the CIA worked so doggedly to overthrow, is the elected president of Nicaragua. Almost all of Latin America's leaders are leftists, some more moderate than Che (as in Brazil), and others as fiery as the guerrilla (in Venezuela), but all determinedly independent of yanqui control. Fortunately, they differ from Che in preferring the ballot to the gun. But all recognize that poverty remains the region's No. 1 problem and that the free-market model imposed by the United States hardly contains all the answers. Recall that the U.S. break with the Cuban revolution came before Castro's turn toward the Soviets, and that it was over his nationalization of American-owned business assets in Cuba ranging from Mafia-run casinos to the electric power grid.

These days, few politicians in the United States even seem to care about the subversive Cuban influences in our own backyard that once haunted them. The embargo on Cuba remains to mollify Florida's aging Cuban community, but what's important to Washington today is Mideast oil, not protecting the peasants of Bolivia from the likes of Che Guevara.

On Monday, Che's death was marked, in the Bolivian village where he was killed, by Bolivian President Evo Morales, who proclaimed his movement "100 percent Guevarist and socialist," which hardly registers as a propaganda success story for those favoring CIA assassinations. They turned a failed--and flawed--guerrilla fighter into an enduring symbol of resistance to oppression.

Originally posted at Truthdig.com

Comments

[selekta]

Mr. Scheer, thank you so much for providing some balance to Ridley's ridiculous piece on Che posted on HuffPo a few days back. I hope Mr. Ridley gets to read your article. Thank you again.

[TTigerX2]

Thank you for acknowledging Che's legend. Today Che's stature will outlive the memory of LBJ, the US president who ordered the assassination, and the stench of John Bolton, the failed UN Ambassador who most recently pushed for Cuba's invasion. Che is a totem of repute at a time when a sizeable deposit of oil is being explored by Russian engineers with Hugo Chavez money. New defence forces with Russian hardware and Migs provide Cuba a modern military capable of defending against another another US invasion. International tourism is booming, along with investment. More importantly Fidel Castro is still alive to celebrate the anniversary. Che's legacy has transcended political dogma. The one regret is not having him around to celebrate it with.

[normathumb]

I read Guevara's little treatise on guerilla warfare some thirty five years ago. One point I recall was that a guerilla band always avoids direct confrontation with the prevailing military force. Acts of the band are calculated to provoke over-reaction on the part of the ruling body. This is done to further alienate the "people" from their corrupt masters. As Bush swats flies with a nine pound hammer in Iraq, I think about Bin Laden on the Pakistan border. (Bush aint even swatting the fly that bit us.) Did he, (OBL),read Guevera's book? I am sure Bush didn't. He has certainly performed that little maxim to a T. OBL is still on the loose. Guevera's vision of a decentralized worldwide revolutionary movement, albeit an islamic movement, is on the rise. We are hamstrung in Iraq. We have exhausted our military. We have allowed the total corruption of our Constitution and the destruction of our international reputation as a nation of laws, justice and freedom. We have traded our birthright for a bowl of porridge. The old saying about, 'those who would trade freedom for security deserve neither' comes to mind.
Guevera's book used to be required reading at the war college. It looks like we have gotten away from that.

[mikeodd]

Its nice to see to see that forty years after his murder, Che still pisses off all the right people. I can only imagine that if he were alive today, he would deflect all praise and tell everyone to rock a Chairman Mao shirt instead.

[Lilrod]

Two very important historical corrections:

1.Castro established connections with the USSR prior to 1960. Prior to the US cutting off relations with Cuba

2.The number of people that were killed under the dictator Batista (and the entire revolution) were less than 4,000. The 20,000 figure was an invention promulgated by the editor of Bohemia Magazine (an early backer of the July 26th Revolution) who committed suicide in exile and left a letter of apology for helping in creating the myth of Fidel Castro as a liberator

[Misanthrope2]

I can't find any evidence to support your claims.

What is the source for your statements, please?

[lurxst]

Thanks for the post Robert. After I read Ridley's take on Che yesterday I was left feeling the need to rebut some of his statements, which seem culled directly from the U.S. and CIA "official" story. The man definitely had blood on his hands but that happens in most revolutions.

[Miamiman]

I can not believe that the left wing, supposed freedom loving people actually think Che was something good.

I guess that makes Bush good too. He helped the repressed women in Iraq and the Kurds up north. He came with the sword as some you said about Che..

History has a funny way of re-writing itself. I know many old timers here in Miami that were OPRESSED by Che in Cuba.

[clevelandchick]

Are you a tad learning challenged? Scheer never said Che was 'something good'. Geez, for once read the whole post through before commenting on it like a buffoon!

Scheer pointed out that attacking Che and his legacy served to make him a martyr. His whole point was the actions taken against the guy only served to elevate him after death. That neither side 'won' their case in the struggle.

Scheer didn't write one word in support of Guevara, he recounted the facts like a journalist should. You missed the point of the whole article. Take three minutes and actually read it, for your dignity's sake.

[ADVOCATE4ZPG]

No, but--like the 1960s' carryover pseudo-romantic he is--Scheer tries to molify the consequences of his actions and glorify a legacy that may not exist.... The success of a subsequently Marxist revolution in Cuba deeply frightened a United States confronted with an expansionist Soviet Union largely ALONE.....: Recall that the Hungarian uprising had just been recently crushed by the Soviet Union; a Marxist-inspired guerilla war was underway in Malaya; Ho Chi Minh had triumphed over the French; Communist parties were prominent in both Italy and France; Eastern Europe wasted under the boot of the Red Army; and the Korean War was a recent memory.

The taking down of Che Guevara was a waste of a potentially-productive doctor/reformer, but the actual consequences of his life were merely to expand the reach of silk-screening....

[LanceThruster]

Evo Morales seems to be making great progress for social and economic justice in Bolivia. I wonder how long it will be before his picture is on T-shirts from him being made a martyr because he cut into some corporatist's profit margin.

[Zapatista]

Great piece ... so glad you didn't fall for the Reich Wing myth of La Cabana fortress ...


-----> THE TRUTH ABOUT THOSE CHE HAD SHOT


One of the first tasks of the triumphant Cuban revolutionaries in 1959 was to establish justice for the thousands of Cuban families whose sons and daughters, mothers, fathers, and neighbors had been tortured and slaughtered on the streets and in the dungeons of the Dictator Batista's regime. The martyred dead numbered at least 20,000 in a country then of 6 million (the equivalent of over 650,000 dead in a country the size of the US at the time). Justice had already begun with the end of the regime as spontaneous retributions took place against known torturers and murderers whose cover and protection had vanished.

Che was assigned the task of establishing a just and fair but also transparent and certain justice and to bring the process under revolutionary control, ensuring due process, defense lawyers, and fair proceedings. This was done in an exemplary way. Popular, public tribunals were organized. Volumes of public testimony were given, with horrific testimony of the most vile tortures and bestial murder recorded and made public. Some 200 of the worst torturers and murderers of the US-backed Batista tyranny were shot by firing squads. No one has ever offered a shred of evidence that anyone innocent was executed.


... THE END


* Anything else is a lie spread by CIA killers, Miami ex Cuban Mafia, predatory plutocrats, and former Cuban Oligarchs.

[Issak]

This NY Jew, son of a socialist leftist mother and an unapologetic liberal- on the one hand praises Mr. Scheer's well reasoned and informed piece - while on the other, I'm often puzzled by positions such as yours....

You seem to assume that Castro's revolution -which clearly degenerated into a heavily entrenched, bureaucratized Cuban mold, as Mr. Scheer aptly points out - is somehow above reproach and free of criminality. And, that if someone criticizes it, well one must be CIA, exCuban mafia or worse!

Yours seems to be the kind of unmeasured ideological extremism -Aldoux Huxley warned about: the kind of ideology that spells -IDIOCY- Castro is far from being the ideal leader your rosy scenario paints- and his decades old rule should inform any reasonable person that a utopia it ain't.

I visited behind the iron curtain- and I can tell you- even those bureaucrats I ran into there- KGB some of them- did not have as pretty a picture as you from their reported first hand impressions of the place when they were there to train Cubans on this and that activity.

One can certainly must criticize the imbecilic policies toward that country- but one cannot turn a blind eye toward thugishness and brutality just because it does not seem to make good political book.

TIme to shed the political cobwebs tovaresh.

[MagisterLudi]

What matters is not what Che the man did, but whom his heroic revolutionary persona inspired.

Once the image is created the real live person (warts and all) is usually viewed with irritation and dismay.

Thats why when the heroes die young their image benefits enormously.

Probably if Jesus lived to be an old and "kvetchy" rabbi, there would be no Christianity.

[Zapatista]

Christ claims to have come to bring a sword for the oppressed ... and Che brought it !

[Boris]

When I was a college student, I noticed that the offspring of the Privileged used to wear MAO buttons just to freak the oldies out. In fact, most of those kids are probably Wall Street tycoons by now.

It is nothing but a sign of rebellion and such infatuation passes when the kids finally get a job.

Che was an interesting figure because he had more charisma, was better looking and more articulate(to the Spanish speakers) than Fidel.
The original poster was a great art piece and many kids put it in their dorm rooms to show they were independent of their parents politics.

I remember the sons and daughters of rich people leaving Mao buttons as tips for waitresses. Yeah...I bet that made a big impression.

[akoop]

When too few have too much and too many have too little, the seeds of revolution have not only been sown but are ready for the harvest.

Che Guevara was a modern day revolutionary that took advantage of the 'nothing to lose' attitude that develops when people find themselves oppressed and without hope.

One would think that world stability could be found if we just add a little Jesus Christ to Adam Smith.

If trade agreements and economic policies were actually mutually beneficial there would be fewer opportunities for Chavez, Morales, Ortega etc.

[Zapatista]

--------------------------------


Excellent Post ... Bravo


"Che was the most complete human being of our age."

~ Jean Paul Sartre



"It was like a Christ taken down from the Cross."

~ Peter Weiss



"If you tremble indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine."

~ Che Guevara




"At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality... We must strive every day so that this love of living humanity will be transformed into actual deeds, into acts that serve as examples, as a moving force."

~ Che Guevara




"And the wave of anger, of demands for justice, of claims for rights trampled underfoot, which is beginning to sweep the lands of Latin America, will not stop. That wave will swell with every passing day."

~ Che Guevara, speech to the United Nations General assembly -(December 11, 1964)


--------------------------------

HASTA LA VICTORIA SIEMPRE !

[chuckgraner]

che also said, "a band of illiterate Indians" when describing Mexicans.

che belittled blacks by saying, "The black is indolent and a dreamer; spending his meager wage on frivolity or drink; the European has a tradition of work and saving."

che also referred to Bolivian villagers as "animalitos" (little animals).

viva la robolucion!

[dictatortot]

Jesus' revolution was philosophical, Smith's was economic, and Che's was violent.

Amen to your point about adding "a little Jesus...to Adam Smith." Che can rot.

[Uneek4yu]

Thank you for giving more information on this killer. John Ridley's excellent post yesterday 10/9/07 indicated that while Che was commander of La Cabana fortress prison, he oversaw the execution of 500 men, women, and children. They were political dissidents, artists, intellectuals, homosexuals. This guy was no different than the current men in power. Past and present, human nature remains the same.

[Zapatista]

You use the word "Killer" like it is always a bad thing.

The only people he killed were people who deserved to be killed.


George Washington = Killer

King David of the Bible = Killer

Moses = attempted killing his own son

etc etc etc


Killing isn't the problem ... who you kill is.

[dreamer_marie]

First of all, that was Abraham, not Moses.
Second of all, how do you determine that someone deserves to be killed?

[timm0]

Seriously - has there ever been any intense meddling by the CIA in the affairs of a sovereign nation that has actually benefited the US as a whole? (Note that enrichment of a few groups or industries don't count.)

Have there been any that weren't unmitigated disasters?

[MWAnderson]

Thank you sir for giving us a far more balanced and intelligent piece on Che than what was presented by Mr. Ridley.

I suppose Ridley has had a little too much "Morning Joe" of late...his illogical and biased mindset is surely from such a tasteless influence....

[Zapatista]

----> Companies have tried to bury his meaning inside the images on T-shirts and profit from his heroism. But that is fine ... because some of those people wearing Che shirts will lead to themselves or others picking up a book of his work ¦ and then that will be one more person enlightened to his message.