At what age did Che Guevara die? Comandante Che

Today, June 14, marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of the Latin American revolutionary, commander of the revolution in Cuba, Ernesto Che Guevara. He became the most striking symbol of the national liberation, communist and leftist movements of the twentieth century. And even in this century he remains a true icon for all who seek social justice. Numerous biographers of Che have asked and are asking the question: why, of all the many freedom fighters, this particular man became a leftist banner?

The answer has not yet been found, and is unlikely to be found. But one thing is certain: Che Guevara embodied a seemingly incredible mixture of two ideals. On the one hand, he was what in the USA is called a self-made man: born on June 14, 1928 in Argentina, a descendant of Irish rebels and Peruvian rulers, a brilliant athlete and an excellent doctor, who consistently did everything to be seen and remembered. On the other hand, Che was an exemplary revolutionary: having absorbed the ideas of Marxism from childhood, he was going to devote his life to the selfless treatment of lepers, but found himself in the role of a partisan commander.

Over the 39 years of his life, Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna, who took the revolutionary pseudonym Che, which emphasized his Argentine origin (che is a common reference to a man in Argentina), accomplished a lot. He spoke excellent Spanish and French, learned to read at the age of four, made two long trips throughout Latin America in his youth, received a medical degree, and eventually became one of the most brilliant theorists and practitioners of guerrilla warfare.

Che was married twice, both times to comrades in the revolutionary struggle, and managed to become the father of five children - three daughters and two sons. But most importantly, he became a legend during his lifetime, and even more so after his death. Even the fact that his grave could not be found for three decades supported the “myth of Che Guevara,” and many young followers refused to believe in his death, and he himself was “seen” every now and then different countries peace. Alas, this myth remained a myth: Che really died on October 9, 1967 in Bolivia in the vicinity of the village of La Higuera. But like any mythologized hero, Che is surrounded by a lot of speculation and rumors. Today MIR 24 tells its readers about nine true facts, revealing the story of Che Guevara as a revolutionary and guerrilla commander.

We will talk about how an ordinary doctor managed to turn the whole world upside down in the program “Our Cinema. A story of great love" on June 16 at 9:30 on the MIR TV channel.

Ernesto Guevara has been familiar with the ideas of Marxism since childhood

An Argentine Creole, a descendant of Irish rebels, the architect Ernesto Guevara Lynch - the father of Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna - earned the hostility of his plantation neighbors by starting to pay his workers in money rather than food. Guevara's house was visited by former leaders of Republican Spain who emigrated to Argentina after the victory of General Franco. Che Guevara's father and mother actively participated in the anti-fascist Argentine movement during the first presidency of Juan Peron, who supported the Axis countries.

The future partisan went to Cuba as a doctor

After the defeat of Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, on whose side Che was going to fight, but did not have time, Ernesto Guevara fled to Mexico. He went there following the associates of Fidel Castro, whom he met during the Guatemalan events. It was in Mexico that Che first met the youngest of the Castro brothers, Raul, and then the eldest, Fidel. On the night he met the latter, he was enrolled in a rebel detachment that intended to go to Cuba on the Granma yacht, as a doctor - in accordance with his diploma.

At the same time, Che and his comrades completed a full course of partisan training: multi-day marches, studying small arms and other weapons, hand-to-hand combat and guerrilla tactics. And as a doctor, Guevara taught his comrades in arms how to provide first aid: bandaging, treating wounds, applying splints and everything else. Including injections, which cost him dearly: during one of the practical classes, his comrades took a test on injections, giving them to Che himself, who eventually endured more than a hundred injections.

Incurable asthma did not prevent the revolutionary from fighting

From the age of two, Ernesto Guevara suffered from bronchial asthma, sometimes experiencing several attacks a day. It was because of this illness that he was forced to study at home for the first two years of school, as attacks followed one after another. But instead of succumbing to the disease, the boy Ernesto began to fight it. Despite his asthma, he was actively involved in sports, and even though he had to sit on the bench with an anti-asthma inhaler in his hand, Guevara was both a football player and a rugby player, traveled on a moped, and practiced gliding. Serious physical activity The only thing that was not required was chess, a sport that made Guevara become interested in Cuba at the age of 11, when the famous Cuban grandmaster Capablanca came to Argentina.

At the same time, young Ernesto “rejected” President Peron from serving in the Argentine army, promptly causing an asthma attack with the help of a cold bath. But in the Cuban Sierra Maestra mountains, he, along with other rebels, marched, carried boxes of ammunition on his chest and participated in battles. According to the recollections of his comrades, they did not understand how Che could walk when his illness was constantly choking him, and yet he walked through the mountains with a duffel bag on his back, with a weapon, with full equipment, like the most enduring fighter.

Che invented his own Molotov cocktail recipe

Since Che as a child and early youth managed to watch his parents making “hell machines” at home, and later listened carefully to the stories of Spanish Republican emigrants about the practice of guerrilla warfare; by the time he sailed on the Granma, after training in a Mexican guerrilla camp, he had become a real master of underground warfare. One who managed to invent one of the simplest and effective recipes a flammable mixture consisting of gasoline and oil mixed in a certain proportion. Unlike most other “Molotov cocktails” of that time, Che’s recipe made it possible to produce this guerrilla weapon in any conditions, without requiring any special chemicals or special equipment - just gasoline, oil and bottles. Cuban partisans actively used ready-made “cocktails” as weapons against enemy infantry, cars and light armored vehicles, as well as to set fire to buildings.

An immigrant who received the rights of a native Cuban

Just a little over a month after the victory of the Cuban revolution, on February 9, 1959, by a special presidential decree, Che was declared a citizen of Cuba with the rights of a born Cuban. This was the second such case in the history of the island: the first immigrant with the rights of a native Cuban was in the 19th century the Dominican General Maximo Gomez, one of the outstanding leaders of the struggle for the liberation of Cuba from Spanish rule.

Only one military rank in your entire military career

When Fidel Castro and his associates left Mexico, which had become inhospitable, on board the Granma yacht purchased from a Swedish ethnographer for 12 thousand dollars, none of them had any military ranks. Only in Cuba, when the number of partisans began to grow and it was necessary to assign “Granmov” members to the roles of commanders, did they begin to receive new ranks. The highest among them at that time was the rank of “comandante,” that is, major - the partisans did not assign higher titles to each other, emphasizing their democracy. Che became comandante on June 5, 1957, when 75 soldiers were placed under his command. He no longer received any other titles - neither in Cuba nor in other countries.

Secret missions in at least three countries

After the victory of the Cuban revolution, Che Guevara turned from a guerrilla commander into an official of the new government for six years. He served as chairman of the Appeals Tribunal (earning the hatred of Castro's political opponents for not overturning a single death sentence passed by the lower revolutionary tribunals). He was head of the military training department of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, director of the National Bank of Cuba, and later minister of industry. But this did not suit the commander at all, who said: “After the revolution, it is not the revolutionaries who do the work. It is done by technocrats and bureaucrats. And they are counter-revolutionaries.”

In the end, after another representative trip, Che seeks resignation from all posts and secretly leaves Cuba. First he went to the Congo to participate in the next uprising in this country. After the defeat, he lived for six months in Czechoslovakia, where he was treated for asthma and malaria under an assumed name. And from there he went to start a guerrilla war in Bolivia, where he died on October 9, 1967.

Fatal nine bullets

The Bolivian guerrilla force, commanded by Che and consisting of one-third Cubans, was ambushed at noon on October 8th. The Comandante fired back to the last: when a bullet hit his rifle, he took up the pistol and fired all the cartridges. After being captured, Che was kept for a day in a dilapidated school in the village of La Higuera, waiting for a command from La Paz: to deliver the famous partisan for an open trial or to destroy him on the spot. It was decided to abandon the trial for fear that the commander would be able to turn him into a political tribune, and also that he would be able to escape.

The dubious honor of shooting Che Guevara in such a way that it looked like death in battle (by ordering the execution, the Bolivian government at the same time feared accusations of extrajudicial execution of a partisan) fell to Sergeant Mario Teran: according to one version, he drew the short straw , when they cast lots, on the other hand, he volunteered himself. The sergeant fired nine bullets at Che: five in the legs, the right shoulder, the arm, the chest and the throat, and only the last two wounds were fatal.

Che's body returned to Cuba only 30 years later

Che Guevara's body was taken by helicopter to the town of Vallegrande, where it was presented to the press, and then secretly buried. Where exactly is one of the most famous revolutionaries of the second half of the twentieth century buried? for a long time it was unknown what gave rise to rumors about his miraculous salvation. There were even people who seriously claimed that they had met Che Guevara in the seventies and eighties. In fact, the executed partisan was buried in a small mass grave with his fellow fighters in the same place, near Vallegrande, next to the unpaved runway of the airfield, to which his body was delivered by helicopter from the place of execution. In 1997, after a two-year search, the burial was found, and the remains of the famous Cuban, like his partisan comrades, were sent to Havana. They rested in a specially built mausoleum in the city of Santa Clara, where Che once managed to win a decisive victory for the Cuban revolution.

Nowadays, you can meet young people wearing T-shirts with the image of Che Guevara, find backpacks with his portrait and other items with his photograph. Why is he so popular? Who is Che Guevara? His biography will answer these questions.

Full name- Ernesto Rafael Guevara Lynch de la Serna. This man became a famous revolutionary in Latin America and was awarded the title of Comandante Cuban Revolution in 1959. According to some sources, he used the nickname Che to emphasize his Argentine origin; and according to others, he received it in Mexico. The word "che" was often used as an interjection in Argentina, meaning "friend"

Personality of Che Guevara

Who is Ernesto Che Guevara? Ernesto Guevara was born on June 14, 1928. Since childhood, I grew up as an enthusiastic, intelligent and inquisitive person. The joy of his life was overshadowed only by asthma, which later helped him avoid military service. From the age of 4, the boy became addicted to reading books and politics. I read Marx, Lenin, France, Verne, Dumas, London, Hugo, Gorky, Dostoevsky, Bakunin, Kropotkin, Freud. He was keenly interested in the events of World War II and social life in America. At the same time, he loved painting and poetry. Graduated from the Faculty of Medicine.

The hobbies of childhood and youth shaped the character of the future revolutionary. Ernesto was a harsh man, but courageous, caustic in barbs, but a faithful and devoted comrade, romantic, but firm.

Crucial moment

Che Guevara's great passion was travel. He made an 8-month trip across countries Latin America together with his comrade and friend Alberto Granado, doctor of biochemistry. Together they visited Chile, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela. Seeing the suffering of the common people, they dreamed of devoting their lives to treating lepers.

Ernesto was upset by the downtroddenness and need of the common people, the corruption and cruelty of the authorities, and he began to think about how he could help people. He thought a lot about this, began to be active political activity. Gradually, Guevara came to the conclusion that the only thing that could somehow change the situation was social revolution. His active actions did not leave the US authorities unnoticed: they began to support the Guatemalan rebels and accused the president of trying to create communism.

Guevara suggested that the government arm the people and fight back, but Arbenz could not withstand the onslaught and resigned in June 1954. Che Guevara had to move to Mexico, the freest country in Latin America at that time. Here a fatal meeting with Cuban revolutionaries took place. Guevara met Fidel Castro, and they found much in common in their views and opinions. Che Guevara was preparing to take part in the Cuban Revolution and was willing to risk everything for its success.

Merits of Che Guevara

Who is Ernesto Che Guevara in the Cuban Revolution? He is its direct participant and activist. On December 2, 1956, he, along with a small group of Cuban revolutionaries, entered into battle with the troops of dictator Batista, but was defeated. Only a few survived, among whom was Guevara. They were able to take refuge in the Sierra Maestra mountains. However, the battle did not stop, and in the summer of 1957 the partisans started fighting in the valleys. The fighters for justice earned the trust of the common people, and soon the military ranks began to be replenished with new rebels...

In March 1958, Castro and his army began to advance. In this battle, the 8th column under the command of Che Guevara recaptured the city of Santa Clara and destroyed the garrison of government troops.

On January 1, 1959, the rebels managed to penetrate the capital of Cuba, Havana. Che Guevara received citizenship there, was proclaimed comandante and joined the ranks of the country's leadership. Despite all this, he continued simple life without luxury.

Che Guevara sincerely believed that he could create an ideal communist society, but all his hopes were dashed. The bureaucracy began to grow greatly, and bribery began to appear.

The Comandante decides to launch a Latin American revolution. For this he left his friends, government post, renounced his military rank and citizenship in Cuba. On November 7, 1966, Guevara began keeping a diary, where for 11 months he described all the events that took place and his thoughts about them.

The expedition to Bolivia turned out to be the last for Che Guevara. In 1967, he and his squad were captured. The next day after being captured, he and two comrades were shot.

This is how the great reformer, revolutionary and political figure Che Guevara. He truly became legendary personality, which people still remember to this day. We hope that now you know who Che Guevara is.

Ernesto Che Guevara - full name Ernesto Guevara de la Serna - was born on June 14, 1928 in Rosario (Argentina). At the age of two, Ernesto suffered a severe form of bronchial asthma (and this disease haunted him all his life), and to restore his health, the family moved to Cordoba.

In 1950, Guevara was hired as a sailor on an oil cargo ship from Argentina, visiting the island of Trinidad and British Guiana.

In 1952, Ernesto went on a motorcycle trip to South America with his brother Granado. They visited Chile, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela.

In 1953 he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine National University in Buenos Aires, received his medical degree.

From 1953 to 1954, Guevara made his second long trip to Latin America. He visited Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, and El Salvador. In Guatemala, he took part in the defense of the government of President Arbenz, after whose defeat he settled in Mexico, where he worked as a doctor. During this period of his life, Ernesto Guevara received his nickname “Che” for the characteristic Argentine Spanish interjection Che, which he abused in oral speech.

In November 1966 he arrived in Bolivia to organize the partisan movement.
The partisan detachment he created on October 8, 1967 was surrounded and defeated by government forces. Ernesto Che Guevara was.

On October 11, 1967, his body and the bodies of six more of his associates were secretly buried near the airport in Vallegrande. In July 1995, the location of Guevara's grave was discovered. And in July 1997, the remains of the Comandante were returned to Cuba; in October 1997, the remains of Che Guevara were reburied in the mausoleum in the city of Santa Clara in Cuba.

In 2000, Time magazine included Che Guevara in its lists of "20 Heroes and Icons" and "The 100 Most Important Persons of the 20th Century."

The Comandante's image appears on all three Cuban peso bills.
The world-famous two-color full-face portrait of Che Guevara has become a symbol of the romantic revolutionary movement. The portrait was created by Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick from a 1960 photograph taken by Cuban photographer Alberto Korda. The Jose Marti star is visible on Che's beret, hallmark Comandante, received from Fidel Castro in July 1957 along with this title.

On October 8, Cuba celebrates the Day of the Heroic Guerrilla in memory of Ernest Che Guevara.

Che Guevara was married twice and has five children. In 1955, he married Peruvian revolutionary Ilda Gadea, who gave birth to Guevara's daughter. In 1959, his marriage to Ilda broke up, and the revolutionary married Aleida March, whom he met in a partisan detachment. They had four children with Aleida.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Ernesto Che Guevara has been dead for more than 40 years. His great contemporaries, such as Charles de Gaulle and Mao Zedong, John Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, took pride of place in textbooks world history, and Che is still an idol... Why?

Who is Che Guevara?

Che Guevara - Latin American revolutionary, commander of the Cuban Revolution of 1959. Full name Ernesto Guevara de la Serna Lynch or in Spanish Ernesto Guevara de la Serna Linch.

To understand the unusual popularity of Che Guevara, you need to delve into the biography of this Latin American revolutionary, popular for so many years. I tried to collect the most interesting and unusual facts from the life of Che Guevara.

1. A distant ancestor of Che’s mother was General José de la Serna e Hinojosa, Viceroy of Peru.
2. Ernesto Che Guevara’s childhood name was Tete, which translated means “little pig”* - this is a diminutive of Ernesto.
Later he received the nickname Hog:

“And of course Ernesto continued to play rugby with the Granado brothers. His friend Barral spoke of Guevara as the most gambling player on the team, although he still constantly carried an inhaler with him to games.
It was then that he earned a rude nickname, which, however, he was very proud of:
“They called me Borov.
- Because you were fat?
“No, because I was dirty.”
Fear of cold water, which sometimes caused asthma attacks, gave Ernesto a dislike for personal hygiene." (Paco Ignacio Taibo)

3. For the first two school years, Che Guevara could not attend school and studied at home because he suffered from daily asthma attacks. Ernesto Che Guevara suffered his first attack of bronchial asthma at the age of two, and the disease haunted him for the rest of his life.
4. Ernesto entered Dean-Funes State College only at 30 and all because of the aforementioned asthma at the age of 14.
5. Che Guevara was born in Argentina, and became interested in Cuba at the age of 11, when Cuban chess player Capablanca came to Buenos Aires. Ernesto was very passionate about chess.
6. Starting at the age of 4, Guevara became passionate about reading; fortunately, in the house of Che’s parents there was a library of several thousand books.
7. Ernesto Che Guevara loved poetry very much and even composed poems himself.
8. Che was strong at exact sciences, especially in mathematics, but chose the profession of a doctor.
9. In his youth, Che Guevara was fond of football (like most boys in Argentina), rugby, horse riding, golf, gliding and loved to travel by bicycle.
10. The name of Che Guevara appeared in newspapers for the first time not in connection with revolutionary events, and when he made a tour of four thousand kilometers on a moped, traveling all over South America.
11. Che Guevara wanted to devote his life to treating lepers in South America, like Albert Schweitzer, whose authority he bowed to.
12. In the 40s, Ernesto even worked as a librarian.
13. On my first second trip around South America Che Guevara and doctor of biochemistry Alberto Granados (do you remember that Che wanted to devote his life to treating lepers?) earned money for food by doing odd jobs: they washed dishes in restaurants, treated peasants or acted as veterinarians, repaired radios, worked as loaders, porters, or sailors.
14. When Che and Alberto reached Brazil, Colombia, they were arrested for looking suspicious and tired. But the police chief, being a football fan familiar with Argentina's football successes, released them after learning where they were from in exchange for a promise to coach the local football team. The team won the regional championship, and the fans bought them plane tickets to the capital of Colombia, Bogota.
15. In Colombia, Guevara and Granandos were again behind bars, but they were released on a promise to immediately leave Colombia.
16. Ernesto Che Guevara, not wanting to serve in the army, used an ice bath to cause an asthma attack and was declared unfit for military service. military service. As you can see, not only in our country they don’t want to serve in the army :)
17. Che was very interested in ancient cultures, read a lot about them and often visited the ruins of Indians of ancient civilizations.
18. Coming from a bourgeois family, he, having a doctor’s diploma in hand, sought to work in the most backward areas, even for free, to treat ordinary people.
19. Ernesto at one time came to the conclusion that in order to be a successful and rich doctor it is not necessary to be a privileged specialist, but it is necessary to serve the ruling classes and invent useless medicines for imaginary patients. But Che believed that he had an obligation to devote himself to improving the living conditions of the broad masses.
20. On June 17, 1954, armed groups of Armas from Honduras invaded Guatemala, the executions of supporters of the Arbenz government and the bombing of the capital and other cities of Guatemala began. Ernesto Che Guevara asked to be sent to the battlefield and called for the creation of a militia.
21. “Compared to me, he was a more advanced revolutionary,” recalls Fidel Castro.
22. Che Guevara learned to smoke cigars in Cuba to ward off annoying mosquitoes.

23. Che did not shout at anyone, and did not allow ridicule, but often used strong words in conversation, and was very harsh, “when necessary.”
24. On June 5, 1957, Fidel Castro allocated a column led by Che Guevara consisting of 75 fighters. Che was awarded the rank of commandante (major). It should be noted that during the revolution in Cuba in 1956-1959, comandante was the highest rank among the rebels, who deliberately did not assign each other a higher military rank. The most famous comandantes are Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos.
25. Being a Marxist, Ernesto Che Guevara reproached the “brotherly” socialist countries (USSR and China) for imposing on the poorest countries conditions of exchange of goods similar to those dictated by imperialism on the world market.
26. Che Guevara in the early 1950s jokingly signed his letters “Stalin II.”
27. During his life, Che, leading partisan detachments, was wounded in battle 2 times. Che wrote to his parents after the second wound: “used up two, five left,” meaning that he, like a cat, had seven lives.
28. Ernesto Che Guevara was shot by Bolivian army sergeant Mario Teran, who drew the short straw in a dispute between soldiers over the honor of killing Che. The sergeant was ordered to shoot carefully in order to simulate death in battle. This was done to avoid accusations that Che was executed without trial.
29. After Che’s death, many residents of Latin America began to consider him a saint and addressed him as “San Ernesto de La Higuera.”
30. Che traditionally, in front of everyone monetary reforms, is depicted on the front side of the three Cuban pesos bill.

31. The world-famous two-color full-face portrait of Che Guevara has become a symbol of the romantic revolutionary movement. The portrait was created by Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick from a 1960 photograph taken by Cuban photographer Alberto Korda. Che's beret bears the José Martí star, a distinctive feature of the Comandante, received from Fidel Castro in July 1957 along with this title.

32. The famous song “Hasta Siempre Comandante” (“Comandante forever”), contrary to popular belief, was written by Carlos Puebla before the death of Che Guevara, and not after.

33. According to legend, Fidel Castro, having gathered his comrades-in-arms, asked them a simple question: “Is there at least one economist among you? “Hearing “communist” instead of “economist,” Che was the first to raise his hand. And then it was too late to retreat.

* Many thanks to Alexander, the author of the project about Che Guevara, for pointing out the inaccuracies in the text. I deliberately left the original text for the story crossed out as a warning that open sources do not always indicate the correct facts and they need to be verified.

You can buy T-shirts with Che Guevara, as well as pins, mugs, and baseball caps by clicking on the banner below. High quality and inexpensive, I recommend!

“Dear old people! I again feel the ribs of Rocinante in my heels, again, dressed in armor, I set off on my way. About ten years ago I wrote to you another Farewell letter. As far as I remember, then I regretted that I was not a better soldier and good doctor; the second doesn’t interest me anymore, but I didn’t turn out to be such a bad soldier. Basically nothing has changed since then, except that I have become much more conscious, my Marxism has taken root in me and has been purified. I believe that armed struggle is the only way out for peoples fighting for their liberation, and I am consistent in my views. Many people would call me an adventurer, and that's true. But I’m just a special kind of adventurer, the kind that risks their own skin to prove that they’re right. Maybe I'll try to do this in last time. I am not looking for such an end, but it is possible if we logically proceed from the calculation of possibilities. And if that happens, please accept my last hug. I loved you deeply, but I didn’t know how to express my love. I am too direct in my actions and I think that sometimes I was misunderstood. Besides, it was not easy to understand me, but this time, trust me. So, the determination that I have cultivated with the passion of an artist will force frail legs and tired lungs to act. I will achieve my goal. Sometimes remember this modest condottiere of the 20th century. Kiss Celia, Roberto, Juan Martin and Pototin, Beatriz, everyone.

Your prodigal and incorrigible son Ernesto hugs you tightly.”

The fight is calling

Spring 1965 Ernesto Che Guevara resigned as Minister of Industry of Cuba. After six years spent as a government official, the Comandante decided to return to the revolutionary struggle.

In April 1965, Che arrived in Democratic Republic Congo, where he joined the rebel struggle against the government. However, the commandant did not have a good relationship with the leader of the movement Laurent-Désiré Kabilo th, and after a series of failures, Che Guevara was forced to curtail the operation a few months after it began.

The failure in Africa did not force him to completely abandon revolutionary activities. After several months of deliberation, Che Guevara decided to return to Latin America.

The Comandante decided to concentrate his forces in Bolivia, where in 1964 he came to power as a result of a coup Rene Barrientos. The pro-American dictator harbored Nazi criminals on his territory and willingly used their skills to suppress the labor movement and leftist parties.

Partisans against the CIA and the Nazis

Che Guevara decided that the situation in Bolivia was perfectly suitable for an armed uprising. At the end of 1966, the base of the partisan detachment in Bolivia began to operate. In March 1967, the National Liberation Army of Bolivia takes its first battle with government forces.

Rene Barrientos was greatly frightened by the appearance of Che Guevara, and requested help from the United States. The CIA pulled into the country the best specialists on anti-partisan activities. The Nazis were also involved in the hunt for Che, including, according to some sources, the “Butcher of Lyon” Klaus Barbier.

Che Guevara's squad successfully operated in mountainous terrain, but he failed to solve main task- to give the movement mass appeal. The Bolivian army managed to isolate the detachment. Local peasants were wary and even hostile towards the partisans.

On August 31, 1967, the partisans suffered a serious defeat, suffering heavy losses. Among the dead were Che's closest associate "Joaquin" - a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba Juan Vitalio Acuña Nunez, as well as the legendary “Tanya the Partisan” - Aide Tamara Bunke Bider.

Last battle and captivity

In September the partisans again suffered heavy losses. Che, however, remained himself even in these conditions - despite the attacks of asthma from which he suffered throughout for long years, the commander encouraged his comrades and provided medical care both to them and to the captured soldiers of the Bolivian army, whom he then freed.

At the beginning of October, the informant Ciro Bustosa gave government troops the location of Che Guevara's detachment. On October 8, 1967, special forces surrounded and attacked a camp in the Yuro Gorge area. In a bloody battle, Che was wounded, his rifle was smashed by a bullet, but the special forces managed to capture him only when the pistol ran out of cartridges.

The wounded Che Guevara was taken to the village school building in the town of La Higuera. Approaching the building, the revolutionary drew attention to the wounded soldiers of the Bolivian army and offered to help them as a doctor, but was refused.

Witnesses from among the soldiers of the Bolivian army said that the wounded Che Guevara looked terrible, but at the same time he behaved steadfastly and with dignity. He did not answer the officers’ questions, but communicated only with the soldiers.

He even managed to talk to a local teacher Julia Cortez. Pointing to the poor condition of the school building, the comandante noted that money was being spent on Mercedes for officials in the capital: “This is what we are fighting against!”

Who gave the order?

And at this time the fate of the captured revolutionary was being decided. It is known that the Bolivian authorities held consultations with Washington.

CIA Agent Felix Rodriguez, a direct participant in the events, however, assured that the United States wanted to take Che Guevara to Panama to subject him to interrogation, and the Bolivian leader Rene Barrientos insisted on immediate execution.

On the afternoon of October 9, Rodriguez received orders from the capital. The document signed by Barrientos read: “Proceed with the destruction of Señor Guevara.”

Representatives of the Bolivian command ordered that Che Guevara be shot so that they could then claim that he was killed in battle.

A 31-year-old man was chosen as the executioner. Mario Teran, a Bolivian army sergeant who allegedly wanted revenge on Che Guevara for the deaths of his friends.

“I know: you came to kill me”

“Allegedly” - because Teran himself then repeatedly changed his testimony regarding the events of October 9.

It is known for sure that at the moment when Teran entered the room where Che Guevara was, his hands were shaking.

Che, seeing what was happening to the executioner, grinned and threw it in his face: “I know: you came to kill me. Shoot. Do it. Shoot me, you coward! You will kill the man!”

Teran fired nine bullets from a semi-automatic rifle at the revolutionary. Only the fourth or fifth shot was fatal, hitting Che in the chest.

The body of the shot Guevara was tied to the skids of a helicopter and taken to the neighboring village of Vallegrande, where it was displayed to the press and local residents. The hands were amputated and placed in a vessel with formaldehyde to confirm the identity of the murdered person using fingerprints.

The fugitive minister conveyed details of the execution to Cuba

And then something happened that the executioners did not expect. Bolivian peasants, previously wary of Che, looking at the body of the defeated revolutionary who sacrificed his life in the fight for better life for them, they saw in him a resemblance to the crucified Christ.

After a short period of time, the deceased Che became a saint for local residents, to whom they turn with prayers, asking for help.

The remains of Che Guevara and his associates were buried secretly, and the burial place remained a secret for three decades.

In contrast to the circumstances of Che’s death, Cuba learned about them in full detail a year later. Fled to Cuba in 1968 Bolivian Interior Minister Antonio Arguedas, who delivered Che’s diaries and hands severed after death to Havana.

Cuban doctors gave Che Guevara's executioner sight

Dictator Rene Barrientos died in April 1969 in a helicopter crash. Death soon overtook several other people involved in Che's death. However, CIA agent Rodriguez and executioner Teran escaped death.

It happened to the last one fantastic story. In his old age, Che's killer began to have vision problems, and in 2006 he took advantage of Cuba's free eye treatment program. Cuban doctors working in Bolivia performed cataract surgery on Teran. Of course, Teran was treated under a false name, and everything became known after the invasion of Cuba. thank you letter from the executioner's son.

The program for treating Bolivians by Cuban doctors became possible after the victory of a socialist in the presidential elections in Bolivia Ev Morales, in whose office there hangs a portrait of Che Guevara.

“It cannot be erased from history”

In 1995, the Bolivian General Mario Vargas said that in 1967 he participated in the burial of the Comandante, and indicated a place near the runway of the Vallegrande airfield.

With the permission of the authorities, search work began. Only two years later, in 1997, human remains were found, among which were the remains of a body with amputated arms.

Back in 1988, in Cuba, in the city of Santa Clara, the Mausoleum of Che Guevara was opened.

On October 17, 1997, Ernesto Che Guevara and six of his associates were solemnly buried in the mausoleum.

At the ceremony Fidel Castro said: “Why do they think that if they kill him, he will cease to exist as a fighter? Today it is found in every place where there is a reason for protection. He cannot be erased from history; he has become a symbol for all the poor of this world.”

Che himself said this: “My defeat will not mean that it was impossible to win. Many have failed in their efforts to reach the summit of Everest, and in the end Everest was defeated.”