The man, the myth, the legend. No Marxist in history has been quite as successful as Che Guevara in becoming a trademark icon for capitalist consumers the world over. While his dream of revolution may have been commercialized, I�m sure Che would take comfort in the fact that his image has sold a huge amount of t-shirts. Looking back, it�s hard to imagine who Che was to the oppressed people of the world. What we can grasp is that Che was a charismatic idealist who stood in solidarity with those who struggled. He sought nothing less than to change the world. Guevara carried the promise of a better future upon his shoulders. It is during this week in capitalism when that shining promise was desecrated.

Ernesto �Che� Guevara de la Serna left Cuba in 1966 with the intention of promoting revolutions throughout Latin America and Africa. One year later he was leading guerilla forces in Bolivia against the country�s military government and poorly trained army. However, what Che didn�t know is that after the US government had learned of his location, and sent US Green Beret advisors and CIA operatives to supply and train Bolivia�s inadequate soldiers. Che also expected the assistance of Bolivia�s Communist Party, which promised to aid him but did not. Despite the US backing Bolivian troops, Che�s small group of 50 men scored some early victories. The guerillas were well equipped in the mountainous terrain of the Camiri region. Che even gave medical attention to all Bolivian soldiers his guerillas took prisoner, and released them.

Upon being wounded in battle, Che himself was captured and taken to a dilapidated schoolhouse in the nearby village of La Higuera. There he saw a number of Bolivian soldiers wounded in the fighting, of which he offered to give medical care. One CIA official, F�lix Rodr�guez, was present and actually informed Guevara that he would be executed. Che was held overnight. The next afternoon Guevara met his Bolivian executioner, saying, “I know you are here to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man”. To avoid maiming his face for identification purposes, the executioner brutally shot Guevara multiple times in the legs.

It was later declassified that Rodr�guez, the CIA official at Che�s execution, not only allowed Che to be killed, but personally handed down the order from Bolivian High Command. During this time, the CIA was the focus of a major Congressional investigation into its assassination operations in foreign countries (Today, the CIA is still involved in plots to take out foreign leaders). It was also Rodr�guez who directed the executioner on where to shoot Guevara. After the execution, Rodr�guez stole Che�s Rolex watch and several other personal items to proudly show off to reporters in the following years. Today, some of these items are still on display at the CIA.

Guevara’s body was put on display for photographers. CIA agents then ordered his hands be amputated and sent to authorities to confirm his identity with fingerprint analysis. Walt Rostow, adviser on national security affairs during the time, commented that Che�s death “shows the soundness of our ‘preventive medicine’ assistance to countries facing incipient insurgency–it was the Bolivian 2nd Ranger Battalion, trained by our Green Berets from June-September of this year, that cornered him and got him.”

Guevara�s handless body was buried under an airstrip in Bolivia. After acknowledging Che�s death, Fidel Castro proclaimed three days of public mourning in Cuba. On the third day, Fidel delivered a eulogy, denouncing those �who sing victory” over Che�s death. Castro said, �They are mistaken who believe that his death is the defeat of his ideas, the defeat of his tactics, the defeat of his guerrilla concepts. If we want to know how we want our children to be,” Castro concludes, “we should say, with all our revolutionary mind and heart: We want them to be like Che.”

In 1997 Che�s remains were exhumed and laid to rest with full military honors in a specially built mausoleum in Santa Clara, Cuba.

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