Ashik Kabir

‘Hasta Siempre” the Spanish song title means ‘ Until always’. The song was composed by Carlos Puebla which is a reply to revolutionary Che Guevara’s farewell letter when he left Cuba. The lyrics of the song describe the significant moments of Cuba and Che’s contribution as a revolutionary leader. Every word of the song puts a chill through the spine of Che’s fans.
Che Guevara, undoubtedly the most iconic revolutionary leader of 20th century, created a craze among the youth through his contribution as a revolutionary leader. After his death, he has become a role model for those souls, who suffer from every injustice that has been fashioned in the world. T-shirts, souvenirs, posters , books and movies carry the story and symbol of Che and making Che the most iconic role model of 20th century.
Che Guevara, was born in a middle- class family on 14th June 1928 in Rosario, Argentina. He met an accident while swimming in cold water in his childhood and had to carry asthma throughout his entire life. Instead of that, he was able established himself as an athlete. He was also had an inclination towards left-leaning political view, since his family was indulged in it too. From his teen days he joined the political group, which opposed the government of Juan Peron. He studied medicine in Buenos Aires University and during that time, he traveled widely in South and Central America with one of his friends. He had witnessed the poor living conditions and oppressive rules of the authorities in his nine month journey. The exploitive reign of the imperialist governments made his stands on socialism strong further.
His interest in Marxism grew and he decided to quite medicine, although he had received a degree on medicine in 1953. He was stubborn on the fact that, the only way to stop the oppression was to call for a revolution. In 1953, he went to Guatemala and witnessed the CIA- backed overthrew of the leftist government, that made his belief in Marxist more firm. In 1954, he went to Mexico and there he got married. The following year he met Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and his brother Raul. 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. When their small armed force landed in Cuba on December 2, 1956, Guevara was with them and was among the few that survived the initial assault. He played the role of an organizer very proficiently and convinced the peasant groups to join their great cause. Over the next few years , he worked as one of the key advisors of Castro and led many guerrilla warfare against the Batista regime.
In January 1959, Fidel took control of Cuba and Guevara was the in charge of La Cabana prison. In that position, Che was responsible for executing hundreds of people with his extrajudicial orders. Later, he was assigned as the president of the national Bank and the minister of industry. In this position , he travelled the world as the Ambassador of Cuba. He also carried out land distribution and nationalization of industries. He helped the Castro regime, to get close with the Soviet union. The Cuban economy was falling out, just because of the US’s economic embargo on Cuba. During this time he was going through a rough patch with the Cuban leaders. He was an important player during the Bay of Pigs invasion by the Exiled Cubans and also during the Cuban missile crisis. Che also wrote a manual on guerrilla warfare. In 1964, he delivered a speech to the United Nation and condemned the US foreign policy and the apartheid in South Africa.
In 1965, Che left Cuba to export his revolutionary ideologies to other parts of the world. He went to Congo to train the troops in guerilla warfare but his endeavor was failed there. After returning to Cuba briefly in 1966, he went to Bolivia with a small force of rebels. He was captured their by the Bolivian army backed by US army assistance. He was executed on 9th October 1967, in the Bolivian village of La Higuera and his body was buried in a secret location. In 1997, his remains were discovered , exhumed and returned to Cuba and there he was reburied.
Che’s life has been an inspiration for many as well as his ruthlessness has captured others. But obviously sacrificing his entire life for the oppressed people of world has made his gesture remarkable among the revolutionary minds. As rightly, Che had put that, “ if your heart trembles with every injustice and indignation, you are a comrade of mine”.