Besides himself and Raul Castro (who was a "hidden" Communist), one must wonder who the third Communist was as Fidel Castro has denied many times that he was a Communist during the Revolution and for the first couple of years after its triumph.
Raul Castro's future wife, Vilma Espin, was also a known Communist, and she was also apart of the struggle; however, she was one of the urban guerrillas working under Frank Pais, the anti-Batista leader in the streets of Cuba. Pais was strongly anti-Communist. Of interest, a persistent rumor blames Espin as the traitor responsible for Pais' death at the hands of the Batista police. After the Revolution triumphed, several Communists were shot for being Batista police informants.
No one can deny that Guevara was an idealistic and brave fighter with brass cojones (as opposed to Fidel Castro, who spent most of the war hiding in the relative safety of the Sierra Maestra mountains), but Che was also the grim executioner and killing machine of the Cuban Revolution. This is a fact that Guevara never hid. He even bragged about and recounted several instances when he pulled the trigger against deserters and captured Batista soldiers. This is a facet of Guevera's complex character that most Guevara admirers conveniently ignore. I will be curious to see how the film handles this.
After the Revolution triumphed, it was Guevara who signed many of the tens of thousands of execution orders, when Cuba was bathed in blood by avenging firing squads. Che was the Robespierre of the Cuban Revolution.
Documentation on Cubans executed by Guevara (including over a dozen shot by Che himself) abounds as the Revolutionary government never tried to hide the executions.
Firing squad in action (broadcast over Cuban TV in 1959)
Because of that grim role during and after the revolutionary struggle, Guevara is known to Cubans as "El Chacal de La Cabaña." "El Chacal de La Cabaña" translates to the "Jackal of La Cabaña," although it is usually translated as the "Butcher of La Cabaña." La Cabaña is an 18th century fortress complex located on the elevated eastern side of the harbor entrance to Havana, and the location for many of the thousands of firing squad executions which took place after January 1, 1959. Shot were former members of Batista's police, army, navy and air force, and informants, traitors, and counter-revolutionaries.
Article comments