Che Guevara: Revolutionary Hero

A man. A revolutionary. A Hero.

What defines a hero? Is it their ability to live longer than the common man? Is it their ability to pick themselves and others up when they've fallen? Is it their belief? That they will shed blood? That they will die for their cause? Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna, commonly known as Che Guevara, was a Cuban guerilla leader and a Marxist revolutionary who lived from June 14, 1928 to October 9, 1967. He died fighting for the revolution, for the ordinary man, for the ordinary peasants, for the ordinary people.

During the 1940s to 1960s, Che Guevara was among the revolutionaries in Cuba, including Fidel Castro and other leaders. He traveled broadly, giving speeches and preaching his ideals of guerilla warfare and equality by socialism. He was a Marxist and wanted freedom for the peasants. After fighting to a position of power though, Che Guevara began to see Cuba, like the USSR, as simply another situation where some had power and others did not. Renouncing his citizenship and his rank, Che Guevara traveled to South America and to Vietnam, continuing to preach his message of revolution. (Wikipedia "Che Guevara" 1-7) He began a Bolivian guerilla campaign, during which he met his death in an abandoned schoolhouse. He was gunned down by CIA-trained Bolivian officers. (Kornbluh Declassified Che 1) However, through his death, he emerged as something greater. Che Guevara has emerged as or has become an icon of the revolution in the 20th and 21st centuries. Through the course of his life,