What does Che mean, who is the famous revolutionary who got this name?

June 14, 1928 - October 9, 1967 He was the eldest of 5 children of a family of Spanish and Irish descent.

Patrick Lynch, the ancestor of Che Guevara, whose ancestry is based on the Basques (autonomous people living in the north of Spain and the southwest of France), was born in Galway, Ireland in 1715, and left his country for Bilboa, Spain. Then he moved to Argentina. Ernesto Guevara's grandfather, Francisco Lynch, was born in 1817, and his grandmother, Ana Lynch, was born in 1868.

Che's father, Ernesto Guevara Lynch, who was born in 1900 and is a graduate engineer, married Celia de la Serna y Llosa, of Irish and Spanish descent, when he was 27 years old. Apart from their first child, Ernesto, the couple had 2 more boys and 2 girls.

Che, who had his first asthma attack when he was only 2 years old, would live with this disease throughout his life. The family settled in Buenos Aires when he was 3 years old, and they moved to Cordoba due to the health status of their children who had progressed.

The family, whose financial situation deteriorated over time, sent Ernesto to Dean Funes high school, which is affiliated with the ministry of education. While English was taught at school, Ernesto was also learning French from his mother.

On the other hand, although he had numerous asthma attacks throughout his childhood, his illness did not prevent him from doing sports.

He even became a good athlete and rugby player. He loved rugby so much that he was nicknamed "Fuser", which means "furious, angry" due to his aggressive playing style during the period he was involved in this sport.

Childhood Period

Besides sports, he was also interested in chess. At the age of 12, he participated in many tournaments related to the game, which he learned from his father. When he was a teenager, he became interested in poetry and literature.

His interest in Pablo Neruda's poetry was known, and he never lost his interest in poetry and wrote poetry throughout his life. Besides Neruda, he read the books of many authors such as the famous French poet Baudelaire, Jules Verne and Jack London.

He was also keen on reading and research. It is also known that at the age of 14, he read Bertnard Russell, who wrote theses on social philosophy with Sigmund Freud. In his late adolescence, he was interested in photography and archeology.

Youth Period

His family, whose financial situation deteriorated further, moved back to Buenos Aires in 1944. Che later enrolled in medical school here. He was working at the same time while continuing his education, which he started in 1948. During his first years at the University of Buenos Aires, he traveled to the northern and western parts of Argentina.

He studied leprosy and tropical diseases in the surrounding villages. In 1951, he went on a motorcycle trip that would be the turning point of his life. He started to travel to South America with his friend Alberto Granado and took a break from his education for a year for this trip.

The couple embarked on this journey on a 500 cc 1939 Norton brand motorcycle, and they called their two-wheeled vehicle “La Poderosa II” which means “Strong II”.

Che in Argentina

His notes (Notas de Viaje), in which he describes his experiences during his journey, were adapted for the big screen in 2004 under the name Diorios de motocicleta (The Motorcycle Diary).

Ernesto, who saw sickness, hunger and weakness during his travels and was influenced by Marxism, came to the conclusion that a radical change, namely a revolution, was necessary to eliminate this inequality. This trip, in which the seeds of his revolutionary personality were planted, put into his mind the thought necessary for Ernesto to become a world-renowned leader.

He completed his trip and returned to Argentina. He completed his education in March 1953 and received his diploma on 12 June. However, it is not known exactly whether he received the necessary training to be a specialist doctor.

After receiving his diploma, he left for Venezuela to work in a leprosy colony, and at the same time he stopped by Peru.

He was arrested in Peru because of a review he had published earlier. After his release from prison, he stayed in Ecuador for a few days, where he met lawyer Ricardo Rojo, who would become another turning point in his life. Because Ricardo Rojo is known as the person who made him go to Guatemala, where he would meet Fidel Castro.

In a letter to his aunt, he explained that he settled in Guatemala to do everything necessary to become a true revolutionary. And, according to Jon Lee Anderson, author of the book "Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life", which chronicles the life of the Argentine revolutionary, his political affiliation here was Hilda Gadea, a Peruvian socialist.

While in Guatemala, he met many Cuban exiles and Fidel Castro's brother, Raul Castro. When it became dangerous for him to stay here, he went to Mexico. He was introduced to Fidel Castro and his friends by Raul Castro in Mexico on July 8, 1955, and took his place in the revolutionaries group there.

Although it was decided that Guevara, who joined the 26th of July Movement, which was founded to overthrow Fulgencio Batista, to be the doctor of the group, he attended all military trainings with other members. Meanwhile, Hilda Gadea, whose relationship still continues, had returned from Guatemala and informed Ernesto that she was pregnant.

The couple, who got married in a short time (August 18, 1955), had a daughter named Hilda Beatriz in February 1956.

Then, on November 25, 1956, he boarded the yacht Granma, which was used to transport the fighters of the Cuban Revolution, and fought for the revolution until the end of the war. As soon as the ship landed, it was attacked by Batista's soldiers, and half of those who joined the movement were killed either there or shortly after capture.

And according to his own words, Ernesto, who bent down to pick up the ammo dropped by a comrade during the conflict, turned into a warrior by getting rid of his doctor identity at that moment. He fled to the mountains with his surviving friends. He was seen as a leader by his comrades for his courage and military prowess. Others feared him for his cruelty.

The revolutionary who executed many informants and fugitives during the guerrilla war; He led the suicide squad in the Santa Clara attack at the end of 1958.

Cuban President Batista, who gradually lost his power, learned of the secret meetings between his last generals and Castro and fled to the Dominican Republic on the first day of 1959.

After the victorious revolution, Major Che was appointed commander of Havana's la Cabana Fortress. On February 7, 1959, he has officially declared a Cuban citizen. Shortly after that, he divorced Hilda Gadea and married Aleida March, a member of the 26th of July Movement.

The couple would later have 2 boys and 2 girls. In October of the same year, he was appointed as the head of the National Institute of Agrarian Reform, and in November he was declared the President of the Cuban Central Bank.

He had signed the coins under his pseudonym and had a picture of a peasant harvesting sugarcane printed.

Although he continued to support other revolutionary movements from afar during this period, all movements ended in failure. He assisted victims in the 1960 gunship explosion called La Coubre.

The world-famous photograph was taken by Alberto Korda at the commemoration ceremony after the explosion, in which more than 100 people lost their lives. There is still no clear information about whether the La Coubre explosion was an accident or sabotage.

However, rumor has it that this ship, carrying 76 tons of ammunition, was sabotaged by William Alexander Morgan, an anti-Batista agent in the CIA. In 1961, he was appointed head of the ministry of industry established by the government, became one of the leading figures of the country and made socialism prominent in Cuba.

In the same year, he became the head of a unit in the west of the country with the order of Castro in the Bay of Pigs Invasion, where he was wounded in the face. However, he said the wound was caused by the firing of his own gun.

The revolutionary, who played one of the key roles in the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, went to the United Nations in 1964 as the head of the Cuban delegation. He also participated in the program called Face the Nation, which was broadcast on CBS channel. And he became a revolutionary leader recognized by the whole world.

Then he went on a trip that would last 3 months. Famous name for traveling around countries such as Algeria, Ghana and China; He made his last appearance on the international stage with his speech in Algeria on February 24, 1965.

The most influential words in his speech; He said that a country's victory and defeat against imperialism were his own victories and defeats. He returned to Cuba on March 14. Here he was received with a simple ceremony, and in April he resigned both his duties and Cuban citizenship.

In his farewell letter to Castro, he wrote that he had gone to fight for the revolution. On October 3, 1965, Fidel Castro read his farewell letter to the Cuban People. The whereabouts of Che, who disappeared during this time, is unknown. But there are various rumors on the subject.

One of them is that the revolutionary who supported the Chinese Communist Party disturbed the USSR and Fidel Castro was oppressed because of him. Another rumor is that Fidel Castro was uncomfortable with Che being more popular than himself.

There has been a lot of speculation about the departure of the revolution because the disappearance of the second important name of the revolution as if fleeing with a careless letter has caused question marks in the minds.

Finally, Fidel Castro made a statement to prevent speculation and stated in his speech that he knew where the revolutionary was, but could not give this information.

Speculation about Guevara's whereabouts continued in 1966 and 1967. Later, it was understood that he went to Bolivia, and the news that he was the head of the guerrillas there was confirmed.

He left the camp in 1967 after the first conflict he entered with his guerrillas. He made it clear that he was there with the photographs he left in the training area.

Upon this information, Bolivian President Rene Barrientos ordered Guevara's death. Che, who defeated the Bolivian army several times with his guerrilla team of about 50 people, was captured while on patrol on October 8, 1967.

He was captured in the Quebrada del Yuro canyon after an informant reported the location of the guerrilla camp to the Bolivian army. After being wounded, he fell into the hands of the army. The revolutionary and his friend, who were taken to the school of a nearby village called La Higuera, were executed at 13.10 the next day.

Two days after his execution, Bolivian authorities announced that Guevara was shot dead in a shootout with the Bolivian army. Fidel Castro, on the other hand, accepted the death of Che Guevara on October 15 and declared three days of mourning in Cuba.

The unit that captured Che determined the person who would kill the guerrilla leader by drawing lots among them.

The revolutionary, who was shot all over except his head after he was killed so that it would not be known that he was executed, was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Vallegrande, where his body was photographed to show it to the press.