Ernesto Guevara was born in Rosario, Argentina, in 1928 and in 1945 had moved to Buenos Aires with his family, starting his studies in medicine. During his youth he traveled extensively South and Centre America, experiencing the extreme poor life conditions of the populations, the social injustice, racial discrimination towards the Indios; these experiences convinced him that his mission in life was more important than medicine.
|

 
 

In 1953 was in Guatemala, where a democratically elected government was making popular social reforms was overthrown by a coup backed by the CIA, putting-up a military dictatorship that lasted 45 years; Guevara was deported to Mexico and here he met the young Cuban Raul Castro, Fidèl's brother.

 
     
 

After the passionate speech of Raul Castro about Cuba's freedom and a meeting with Fidèl, he decided to join the 26th of July group which boarded the Granma to free Cuba. The Cubans nicknamed him ché (always with a small c), a typical Argentinian expression that means: "hey, you". Guevara played an essential role in the "conversion" of Castro to Marxism, being himself grown-up reading Marx, Engels and Mao Tze-Tung.

Once landed in Cuba, he hide on the Sierra Maestra to escape ambushes from Batista army and, in 1957, he became commander of nearly 700 men. His troops acted, together with the ones of Camilo Cienfuegos, in the zone of Santa Clara and Camaguey, cutting the island in two, breaking the front of Batista's governmental troops.
|

 
 

Charismatic commander, even during the hardest times he was able to encourage his troops, leading him to march triumphant, together with Cienfuegos, in la Habana on the 2nd of Janaury, 1959; the following month he received the Cuban Citizenship. He covered different positions in the Cuban Government, from Head of the Department for Agricultural Reforms, to President of the National Bank, to Ministry of Industry, starting many social reforms.

  
     
 

His frequent travels to Europe, Africa and Asia, made stronger his belief that only the Revolution could free people from poverty and social differences. His rebel soul could not stand the easy life he deserved in Cuba for leading the Revolution to success, so he left for Africa in 1965, where he fought in Congo and Angola, and then to Bolivia.

His presence in Bolivia scared the US government, that sent troops to help the Bolivian President, target of the revolutionary
 
 

soldiers; he was caught during an ambush and killed under the witness eye of American officers on the 9th of October, 1967. His body, found 30 years later, were transported to Cuba the year after, where State funerals where held for a Nation's hero. His body rests in the Ché Guevara Mausoleum in S.ta Clara.

  
     
 

To better understand his soul and his ideas, here are two extract from his speech:

Called for a paid speech at the Habana University, he wrote on a newspaper:
"[…] I find it unconceivable that a member of the Government or the Party is offered some money, for whatever kind of work. The best payment I ever received is to be considered part of the Cuban people. […]"

"[…] Even if I might seem ridiculous, lat me state that the true revolutionary is guided by a pure feeling of love; it' impossible to think of a revolutionary without this quality. […]"