Last week I heard a Spanish language radio show in Florida relating a story on this issue. The radio announcer related how a Cuban mother went to see Che at La Cabaña to beg for her young son's life. Apparently, her son was 17-years-old; he was on Che's firing squad list and was to be executed within a week. If Guevara pardoned her son, the mother begged, she would ensure that he never said or did anything against the Revolution.
Che's response in the presence of this mother's request was to order the immediate execution of the boy, while the mother was still in his office. His logic: now that the boy was shot, his mother would no longer have to anguish over his fate.
Che's proven courage as a guerrilla leader, his dedication to his cause, and his willingness to put his life in danger for his beliefs are well documented and never challenged, but did eventually cost him his life. Guevara put his life at risk fighting in guerrilla wars in Africa and Latin America. He was caught in the highlands of the Bolivian mountains in 1967 and murdered on the spot - much as he had murdered deserters and others during the Cuban struggle.
It is this idealistic side of Che's complex character that Che's admirers and apologists always focus upon, and the side that most people know about. I am looking forward to seeing if this new film addresses both the spectacularly courageous side of this iconic figure, as well as his war crimes, and the dark side of a man with little compassion and remorse. I am also curious as to how the film handles Guevara's departure from Cuba.
Dariel Alarcon Ramirez (a man with stellar revolutionary credentials who joined the rebels in 1956 and then followed Guevara to Bolivia) claims that Che "left Cuba after being accused of being a Trotskist and a Maoist.... and because of the problems he had with the Cuban government, specifically Fidel and Raul Castro."
Once I see the film, I will tell you my thoughts on it.
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