Heros Beyond Time

Che Guevara:
Emesto Guevara de la Serma,known as Che Guevara, was born on June 14, 1928 in Rosario, Argentina into a middle-class family. He studied medicine at Buenos Aires University and during this time traveled widely in South and Central America. The widespread poverty and oppression he witnessed, fused with his interest in Marxism, convinced him that the only solution to South and Central America's problems was armed revolution. In 1954 he went to Mexico and following year he met Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. Guevara joined Castro's '26th July Movement' and played a key role in the eventual success of its guerrilla war against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.
Castro overthrew Batista in 1959 and took power in Cuba. From 1959-1961, Guevara was president of the National Bank of Cuba, and then minister of industry. In this position, he traveled the world as an ambassador for Cuba. At home, he carried out plans for land redistribution and the nationalization of industry. A strong opponent of the United States, he guided the Castro regime towards alignment with the Soviet Union. The Cuban economy faltered as a result of American trade sanctions and unsuccessful reforms. During this difficult time Guevara began to fall out with the other Cuban leaders. He later expressed his desire to spread revolution in other parts of the developing world, and in 1965 Castro announced that Guevara had left Cuba. Guevara then spent several months in Africa, particularly the Congo, attempting to train rebel forces in guerrilla warfare. His efforts failed and in 1966 he secretly returned to Cuba. From Cuba he traveled to Bolivia to lead forces rebelling against the government of Rene Barrientos Ortuno. With US assistance, the Bolivian army captured Guevara and his remaining fighters. He was executed on October 9, 1967 in the Bolivian village of La Hinguera and his body was buried in a secret location. In 1997 his remains were discovered, exhumed and returned to Cuba, where he was reburied.









Fidel Castro:
Fidel Castro was born on August 13, 1926 in the south-eastern Oriente Province of Cuba. He was the son of a succcessful sugar planter. Castro studied law at the University of Havana. He intened to run in elections scheduled for 1952, but the government was overthrown by General Fulgencio Batista and the elections cancelled. Castro rejected democracy and declared himself in a favor of armed revolution. In 1953, Castro and his brother Raul led an unsuccessful rising against Batista and Castro was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was released under an amnesty and fled to Mexico, where he met Emesto 'Che' Guevara.
In 1956, Castro and Guevara landed in Cuba with a small band of insurgents, known as the '26th July Movement', and began a guerrilla war against the government. In December 1958, Castro launched a full-scale attack and Batista was forced to flee. In February 1959, Castro was sworn in as prime minister of Cuba and announced the introduction of a Marxist-Leninist program adapted to local requirements. Thousands of Cubans went into exile, mostly to the United States.
Antagonism grew with the US and the Americans imposed economic sanctions on Cuba in 1960. Relations reached crisis point with the CIA-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion by Cuban exiles in April 1961,which failed. Castro then secretly allowed the Soviet to build sites for nuclear missiles in Cuba, leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when the US and the Soviet Union came very close to war. Despite his dictatorial style of government and ruthless suppression of opposition, Castro remained popular in Cuba. Many Cubans benefited from the free education and healthcare programs he introduced. Cuba received considerable economic suppot from the Soviet Union. In 1976, Cuba's National Assembly elected him as the President of the nation. Through the 1970s and 1980s Castro emerged as one of the leaders of the non-aligned nations, despite his obvious ties to the Soviet Union. However, the end of Soviet aid in 1991 led to a contrinued economic crisis in Cuba. Some foreign investment has been allowed, especially in tourism, and the money sent home by exiled Cubans is crucial. In the wake of the ill health that he had been keeping, he handed over the power to his brother Raul Castro in February 2008.