In 1967
Che dies assassinated in Bolivia.
He's got only 39 years old.
- Hello! It's not filming, right? - No.
Since then
the armed forces, in their archives, jealously guard a treasure.
Among other things
handwritten documents and notebooks he had in his backpack,
with his diary, before he was captured.
Behind this door the word of Ernesto Guevara still burns.
His Voice
sounds on the tape left to his wife at the moment of saying goodbye,
and today we will hear for the first time
This is the only thing
deeply mine
and intimately known to both of us
i can leave you now.
"the black heralds"
There are blows in life, so strong...
I do not know!
Hits like the hatred of God;
as if in front of them
the hangover of everything suffered
and stagnates the soul
I do not know!
Are few, but they are
Open dark furrows
with fearless faces
and with a strong back
are perhaps the colts of the barbarians of Attila;
of the black heralds who send us death
they are the deep falls of the souls of Christ,
some adored faith blasphemed by Destiny
These bloody blows are the crackling
of some bread
that on the door of the oven will not burn
and the man
poor
Turn the eyes
as when you get a slap with the backhand
Crazy eyes are returning
and all lived becomes stagnant
Like a puddle of fault, reflected in the eyes.
There are blows in life,
so 'strong ...
I don't know
My loved one:
Today it comes from Hiroshima,
from the bomb
In the coffin you see,
there are the names of 78,000 people died.
The total is estimated at 180,000.
It's good to see these things, full with energy to fight for peace.
A hug, Che.
In Bolivia, 12 years ago
we began our searched on Ernesto Guevara.
We travelled the same paths,
listened to stories
gathered evidence
and studied his famous diary.
We had the intuition that there do exist secret documents
but everybody denied their existence.
"Bolivian Academy military history. "
By casualty and a phone-call
we drove to a military archive
Which archived 29 volumes
of secret and classified information
of the guerilla-activities of Che, in the Bolivian mountains.
There, we could see, for the first time
his personal documents and his last writings.
Among other documents
we were able to photograph 3 unknown and unpublished notebooks.
We discovered his meticulous calligraphy,
We noticed his needs to write continuously,
his passion for poetry,
his studies and theoretical reflections.
We made a number of questions.
Why, in the vacuum of the arid fight,
Che took up this orderliness?
What was he writing?
What was he thinking?
What was his legacy ?
A few hours' later
the military to guard the archive prevented us from continuing
to study the documents, and they threw us out.
They said that they were wrong,
that these were secrets, classified.
To discover the images, once again,
appeared the man involved in making his thought, action
and its action, a new theoretical reflection.
Would it be that his death in Bolivia,
means the end of his revolutionary project?
Or, conversely,
would represent a new starting point?
We proposed then
to find answers in his texts,
in his life.
Dear Beatriz
I received your letter.
Did the books arrive from Salgari and Vigil.
Get the other 4 books in the collection.
Look how I'm fine with asthma!
lots of love for granny and lots of regards for you, Ernestito.
Ernestito, Tete
It looks like a child cheerful, active, and vital.
"Original Movie of the Guevara family."
He is while he can.
Asthma suffocates him, but imposes the will
to deal with the sensation of death.
He took refuge in Cordoba,
in this "Alta Gracia" Spanish Republican exile.
Where just a few blocks from his house
sounds the piano of Manuel De Falla.
Can not go to school regularly,
he clings to his mother.
She teaches her how to read and write,
to speak French.
Accompanies, stimulates.
His father accompanied him in long nights with asthma attacks.
Plays chess with him, recites poems.
Today, in Havana, the family of Ernesto conserves as a treasure,
"Che Guevara Studies Center."
all his personal papers.
Among these documents,
There's a book in which, from when he was little
he wrote down all the books he read from the library of his home.
Continued with this habit during his whole life.
Hernadez, José. Marx, Karl
Shakespeare, William. Vern, Giulio.
Wilde, Oscar.
These were years of study engineering, medicine.
And of activities so different, such as chess and rugby.
Sports that tests us physically
and on which he reflects in his articles for the magazine "Tackle".
21 years. He began his first trip.
Travels by bike, more than 4000 km in the north of Argentina.
Bring a notebook where reports his experiences and impressions.
A new method, which he systematises until the end of his life:
The travel diaries.
I realize that has developed in me
something that grew very voices within the city,
and this hatred of civilization.
the raw image of crazy people to the rhythm of this terrible noise,
seems to me the hateful opposition to peace.
in which the hum silent pages,
form a melodious background music.
Ernesto seeks solitude to think,
to write,
for continuing developing his own dictionary
in his notebooks philosophical
beginning at age 17,
and that he corrects and expands methodically
during a decade.
Absolute, soul, friendship,
love, anarchy, distress,
Aristotle, art.
I do not have the same way as the tourist:
the soul of the people is reflected in the sick in the hospital,
Those arrested in the police station,
and pedestrians which you get to know better.
While the Rio Grande
shows an turbulent increase because it grows from below.
Consciousness, crisis capitalism, Christianity,
Culture, dialectics, destiny,
devil, money, God, grief.
Made two trips for Latin America:
As one student medicine, and the other already graduated.
So begins
a path that will develop without precise goal and no return.
Recounts his adventures in his travel diaries,
but his feelings more intimate he expresses them in another way.
In the form of poetry.
"Fly, fly."
Ernesto Guevara Serna.
Listen, I'll offer you everything,
my cities and my mountains,
my rivers and my highlands,
and the vein that runs through my whole sphere.
Because it is the law of blood that guides my destiny.
I follow the voice, calling me to walk.
Dear Mom, I had planned to wander for 10 years,
after studying medicine.
And then, if there would be time left, start the great adventure of physics.
Everything is the past. The only thing clear
is that the 10 years of wandering will be more.
But I will be a totally different person from what I dreamed I would be.
And when I arrive in a new country,
it is not to go and see landscapes, museums and ruins.
But more, because what always interests me,
to join the struggle of the people.
The manner in which the gringo deal with America,
remember that the gringos are the Yankees,
causes me growing indignation.
But, simultaneously,
I was studying the cause of their actions, and I found it scientifically.
When did I leave reason, to replace it with something called faith?
I can not say,
because the way it was quite longish,
and with many retreats.
1953, Bolivia.
Ernesto is on a photo in what today is the military academy.
Never he would have imagined that 50 years later
the picture has been exposed at the same site,
in a room of the museum, dedicated to his guerrillas.
It is thought that these are his guns,
his surgical instruments,
and his camera.
Following the tradition of his father, Ernesto always brings with him
camera, with which realizes, in addition,
some work as a photojournalist during his youth.
His notebooks, and his camera,
are the tools with which will shape
his special look of the world around him.
My medical culture does not grow, and in the meantime
I am absorbing other knowledges which are much more interesting ones.
America will be the theatre of my adventures
with a role much more important than I could think.
Really, I think I'm at the point of understanding
and I feel American
with a different characteristic than any other people on earth.
He arrives in Guatemala and he remains there for almost a year.
While looking for work, that never becomes specific,
he prepares a draft for a book, which will never complete.
"The function of the doctor in Latin America. "
Here, he writes his reflections on the behaviour
that a revolutionary doctor should have
that faces every day the hunger
and the poverty on the continent.
In this stage, he continues the correspondence with his mother.
I forgot to tell you about Hilda Gadea, a Peruvian exile
which the least I can say, she has a heart of platinum.
With Hilda Gadea shares travel and reading.
Ernesto deepens the study of Marxism.
Here I met the Cubans,
but this story I will tell you in the next.
After three years of government by the democratic Jacobo Arbenz,
a coup organized by the CIA
overturns the president elected by the people
"Nixon, U.S. Vice President, with the dictator Armas. "
and brought to power the dictator Carlos Castillo Armas.
His Excellency, Mr. Nixon.
We are very pleased to have you as a guest
on your goodwill towards
the sister of republic of Central America and the Caribbean
I speak not as a chief of state,
but as a soldier, in the war against the communism.
This is the first time in history
of the world that a Communist government has been overthrown by the people.
And for that we congratulate you, and the people of Guatemala,
for the support they have given.
I realized a fundamental thing.
To be a revolutionary doctor,
or to be a revolutionary,
the first thing needed is the revolution.
Individual effort serves no purpose.
The eagerness to sacrifice all life in the name of noble ideals
and useless, without the effort of an individual.
To make a revolution
it is necessary that all the people are mobilized.
"We are like the blind, cause we can not read "
Me, within a few days I will be heading for Mexico.
Anyway, I'll be careful to go into the next fight,
Given there will be fight, I will fight for sure!
because the yankees can not stay without defending democracy anywhere
I met the first members the movement of the July 26,
some were exiled to Guatemala,
and further, I maintained contact with them in Mexico.
First met Raul,
and he presented me later to Fidel.
In 1953, Fidel Castro tries to bring down the government of the dictator
Fulgencio Batista.
Attacking with negative results, an army barracks,
the Moncada barracks.
For this, he is captured and released years later
thanks to an amnesty policy.
He created the "July 26 movement".
He goes in exile, with the only mission to return
and overthrow the dictator.
I must say, that the first night we talked,
after having explained all his motives
to start this fight in Cuba,
I definitely was enthusiastic, with its ideals and aspirations
and the same night, his proposal to be a doctor of the expedition,
I accepted immediately.
Fidel has a plan.
From Mexico by boat, land in the Cuban beaches,
start the war in the mountains,
and to triumph with the revolution.
Ernesto, called by his mates by this time "Che",
is concentrated in the preparations for the Cuban revolution.
Physical training and military
in which he excels, despite its permanent asthma attacks.
On the last page of his diary, written before leaving,
makes no mention of his real plans.
It 's been a long time, and many new events have happened.
I shall only mention 'the most' important ones
From 15 February 1956 I am a father.
Hilda Beatriz Guevara and the first-born.
Failed on 5 work-offers
and I started as a cameraman in a small company.
My progress in the arts of film are fast.
My plans for the future are foggy,
but I hope to finish a couple research projects.
This year can be important for my future.
I've left the hospitals.
I will write later with more details.
We were 82 men in a boat that would have been able to accommodate 30.
It were 7 days at sea through the Gulf of Mexico
and the Caribbean Sea,
without food and with the ship in poor condition.
On the thirtieth day
we heard on the radio news the riots in Santiago De Cuba
caused by our great Frank País,
he thought of synchronize it with the arrival of our expedition.
The following day, on the night of December 1,
We had the bow in a straight line in direction Cuba
The asthmatic navigation of our boat, made the last hours of our journey feel never-ending.
We passed a further 3 days
walking for hours in a swamp, wearing new boots.
This provoked wounds at the foot of almost all the troops,
making their mark in a army of inexperienced
who had never fought a combat.
On the mainland, there were few who could walk one step more.
People, exhausted, walked short distances and asked for long pauses.
We ordered a break at edge of a cane field.
the majority of us, slept that morning.
"Army of Batista"
At 4 pm, without notice,
without suspicion, sounded the first shot,
followed by a symphony of lead, ........, above our heads,
which were not yet accustomed to this manly sport.
Faces and familiar voices, which fear makes them strange.
A box of bullets.
What am I? A doctor soldier?
Or soldier and doctor?
This, I am this.
Bullets. The load.
A terrible blow I knelt down.
And the footprint of a hot bullet caresses my neck.
I have been hit.
Will I die?
My life, my loves, my aspirations.
I will only take to the underground the bitterness of a song unfinished.
We must die with dignity. As an old warrior.
Profound hearing in my bowels.
groping for the open wound.
I can not find. It is not serious.
Above the planes that pass, above the whistling of bullets,
and the pain of the wounded, floats my baptism of fire
and defeat.
Bitter days of disarray, were the next.
Hungry, thirsty, with faith burned,
in groups they roamed the swamp.
Some limped and laid their weapons.
Great companions died murdered.
The days passed and, at the end, they gathered the scattered persons.
Fidel led the few guerrillas.
He saw, where no-one even dared to peek.
He saw the triumph, in those days of defeat,
and its wonderful faith in the power of the people,
he boosted us all.
Of the 82 expedition members from the ship Granma,
were only 22 left
After several months,
the rebel army begins to consolidate.
Came the first victorious combats,
receive the first journalists,
and the first contacts of the city.
Until that time, we saw in every farmer
a potential spy,
in every house, a threat for our safety.
We did not understand the ability to fight of the Cuban peasant.
against the threats, the abuses,
the burning of the houses and the killing,
they answered by helping us with even more enthusiasm
giving their children to join us as soldiers, or guides,
and their harvest as a contribution.
Dr. Guevara, why and you here, fighting in Cuba?
For a long time I have been convinced that the whole of America
is only one, and that we have an urgent need,
that we feel a great desire to democracy,
to fight in any of these countries for their freedom.
¿You are not afraid that your intervention
can be interpreted as an intrusion
in the internal affairs of another country?
I think that the intrusion in the internal affairs of another country
is something you have to fight, always and violently.
But if a man comes to Cuba to fight
for their ideals, to offer nothing more than his life,
and his physical presence,
I do not consider in any way an intrusion.
Least of all in the country of Marti,
that was one of the champions
of the unity of all our America, in an organic whole.
Che and the Argentine reserved
rigorous, inflexible behaviour
An asthmatic who will restore willpower.
reading history books and Cuban geography,
algebra, theatre, poetry ...
That in the midst of war
continues his reading list,
and that, furthermore,
is distinguished by its belief and his courage in combat.
In the heat of the battle,
I received an epistle, "distant voice".
I took a sip of the past between its bitter rows,
I saw my portrait of adolescent, through an old prism.
So rigid, elastic, and strange, is the road of memories.
I am a leaf blown by the wind,
and I look back, like an empty shell.
I head the opposite point of the compass.
But the fear that rules me
that of the leaf shot towards the future,
has lost the way back.
My voice follows me like a spoiled dog,
and refuses to leave.
I make a friendly gesture, inviting her to follow me,
and in the distance that distorts, seems to be the final farewell.
7 months after landing,
Fidel appointed him commander.
The dose of vanity that each of us carries inside
made me feel being the man most proud on earth, that day.
The symbol of my designation:
a small star, and a wristwatch.
OK doctor. But how did you incorporate as a doctor into the military expedition,
and turned into a military leader?
It is a little difficult to explain this,
but, you know that, in the development of the revolutionary process,
vocations get developed, which were hidden in the individuals
and that is what more or less happened to me
that little by little I changed place within the revolutionary army
to become a straight fighter
And in that given moment, I thought by myself
that i could be more useful as a fighter
than as a doctor
and, after a while, I got given the commandment of a battalion.
In the first year of the struggle
Che organizes life in the camps, under his command.
He founded the first hospital,
the upholstery,
the foundry,
the factories of arms and tobacco.
Opened a military academy,
literacy the ranks,
and creates two means of propaganda which are fundamental
to counteract the news disseminated by the dictatorship:
The periodical "El Cubano libre",
where he writes articles,
and a radio, which would make history.
Here "Radio Rebelde"
organ of the movement revolutionary "July 26"
and the army of rebellion,
broadcast daily from the mountains of the east,
Free Territory of Cuba
In all these months, already 16 months we are here in the Sierra Maestra,
journalists came from all over the world
and they are concerned with ...
let's say, the anecdotal aspect, of this guerilla war.
Today I take advantage of the visit a Cuban journalist,
to give the Cuban people
the first greeting, now I have the opportunity, goes out
to the people who have decided to defend, while they only know
thanks to the actions and thoughts
of our commander, Fidel Castro.
The dictatorship begins a fierce offensive
against the liberated territory by the army of rebels.
After 2 months of hard fighting, and the lost of more than 1000 men,
and 600 weapons,
Batista's army has its spine broken.
The fight must go on the plain.
Fidel puts into practice the final strategy of the war:
to attack the army of the dictator with 3 battalions,
at Santiago de Cuba, Las Villas and Pinar del Rio.
To do this, relies on two of his best men:
Camilo Cienfuegos and Che.
These are days of tiring journey, long desolate territories,
in which there are only water and mud.
We are hungry, we are thirsty, and we can hardly advance,
'cause the legs weigh like lead,
and the weapons have an abnormal weight,
and I, with my asthma case, I carry it like a cross.
Guevara and his battalion of 140 men
travel in 45 days
the 500 kilometres that separates the Sierra Maestra
from the mountainous area of ​​Las Villas.
The troop was getting more and more tired and discouraged.
In fact, when the situation was more tense
when keeping them only with insults, pleas and the wrong behaviour,
I could make that people walked, exhausted,
one vision in the distance, enlightening their faces
and infused a new spirit to the guerrillas.
The vision was a stain blue to the west.
The blue spot of the massive mountains of Las Villas,
that our men saw for the first time.
Warning column 8, attention. Column 2, Antonio Maceo ...
Time is short and the task is huge.
Camilo does its part to the north,
spreading terror, among men of the dictatorship.
Now we see six six as good as speaker,
as well as a commander. Over, Guevara.
Attention, Camilo. Here Che.
Received perfectly.
I am a great announcer. Over.
Che manages to create a united political front under his command,
in this area, where they act in 5 different organizations.
His troops, along with those of Cienfuegos, liberated a territory
of 8,000 square kilometres and nearly 500,000 inhabitants.
Our troops were already approaching Santa Clara,
a city of 150,000 inhabitants,
rail-road centre and well-connected to the whole country.
On December 29, we started fighting in different parts of the city,
which was defended by 3200 Batista army men
and had the active help of the aviation.
For every rebel, there were almost nine soldiers.
At that time, he met a young fighter in Santa Clara,
Aleida March, which will be his future wife, and mother of 4 children.
The army defended tenaciously an armoured train
who had arrived from Havana and was at one end of the city.
This steel monster was carrying weapons far superior than ours.
Fellow of Cuba:
More than 2 years of struggle armed and cruel
have cleared up today
with the escape of the dictator and the main servants.
Regarding the military question,
I have the satisfaction of being able to inform the Cuban people
that the entire garrison of Santa Clara surrendered
and expects at any moment the surrender across the province.
After 4 days of persistent struggle
surrendered all the strong parts of the enemy
in this capital of Las Villas.
With regard to the social question,
we declare ourselves absolutely in favour of agrarian reform
and maintain our position
with respect to the right to land of all those who work it.
In this way we give justice to the farmers,
pillar of our revolution, during the 2 years of struggle.
We recommend to the people of Las Villas
to suppress the explosions of enthusiasm,
as well as manifestations of popular anger,
with the certainty that the revolutionary army
will bring to justice to penalize those guilty of war crimes.
At dawn on January 3, we arrived in Havana.
For the first time I saw the city of which I heard so much.
Not in need of firing a single shot,
we took the military fortress de La Cabaña,
which housed a garrison 3,000 soldiers of Batista.
Ernesto Guevara, el Che, is only 30 years old.
When I left the Sierra
you said that the next time you would see me it would be in Havana. And now you are here. Congratulations!
Thank you very much.
Do you know whether Fidel is coming into Havana, and when?
I think when it will be when the situation is totally normalized.
He will come with Dr. Urrutia.
Commander, a question, please.
How long do you think it will take before the army is complete disarmed?
The army is already unarmed, and collaborates
fully with the movement.
Here at la Cabaña, there was an orderly surrender
we already spoke to the troops,
and we are in the process of integration.
Today is planned the handing over of weapons in Columbia
and throughout the Republic the controls have been handed over.
So now there are no military obstacles
for the President to take control of the government.
What are your plans for the future, Commander?
- I have no plans. - No?
Only those decided by the people of Cuba.
Havana, so far and close to the Sierra Maestra,
is now a reality full with pulsating asphalt
conquered by firm steps of decided liberators.
The invasion comes victorious along the main road.
From the Virgen del Camino Avenida del Puerto, the brave
bearded of all fronts, are to take care of the capital.
Finally, the victory was conquered.
But the dictatorship had been ruthless during the war.
Using torture and executions in the most perverse way.
This time, fortunately for Cuba,
the revolution will come and rule.
No thieves, no traitors no interventionists.
This time, it is the revolution!
Sometimes, I wanted to be a soldier of Pizarro.
But my lust for adventure, and eagerness to attend
the peak-moments, it was not necessary.
Today, it s all here,
and an ideal, why fight,
together we take responsibility , and leave an example behind.
After 6 years
Ernesto reunited with his father, and his mother.
For him, there will come years of hard work and dizzy-making.
From his responsibilities in the Cabaña,
he becomes head of industrialization,
of the National Institute of Agrarian Reform,
President of the Cuban National Bank,
Minister of Industry, Chief of the Military in the west,
member of the leadership of the Party and spokesman on its foreign policy.
Years for studies and discussions,
and for laying the foundations for a society and a new man
based on conscience and justice.
The wave of joy,
turned into a wave of revolutionary justice.
Those responsible for murder and torture
are due to appear in the courts
to pay for their crimes.
My position is this case, is a difficult position.
I have the full responsibility over the convictions.
So, in these circumstances,
I can not have contact with these people.
I know no-one of those arrested in La Cabaña.
I will limit myself in this case only to exercise
the role of head of the Court Supreme of La Cabaña
and objectively analyse the facts, following shorthand drafts.
About 1,500,000 citizens are spontaneously moving
towards the presidential palace, in the most great concentration ...
Beginning with the basic
that revolutionary justice is really justice.
Can have defects of interpretation, and technical defects,
but when you apply a penalty
it is because you interpret that the society that was represented at that moment
you administer to that convict, this penalty.
Che is declared Cuban citizen by birth.
I am perfect!
I, the only thing I have is
an old companion since 28, or even 29 years,
and it is that asthma! And there are times in which we are a little angry
and our relationship gets a bit sour, but
mainly we a wonderful relationship!
We started as it was intended with laws more "timid"
but which contribute actively to the benefit of the people.
And lowered the rate light, rents,
and we made the public administration better.
The big foreign monopolies were even happy,
It suited them.
A government that respects, of popular prestige
that simply improved a little the living conditions of the people
and gave him dignity . This could be the perfect government.
And now I'm sorry, but there comes agrarian reform,
and then things get complicated.
On behalf of our Revolutionary Government, there will be handed over
the contract of your property . your piece of land ...
It turned out that the land reform
not only affected the big Cuban landowners,
but also affected with no mercy the landowners in North America,
and from that day the territories were clearly defined.
This side the people
the other side imperialism
and all its servants and allies.
After a short time, he marries Aleida.
10 days later, he was sent to his first international mission.
Travelling for 3 months for Europe, Africa and Asia.
to sign agreements commercial, technical and cultural.
"Gamal Nasser Abderl. President the United Arab Republic. "
"Jawaharlal Nehru. Indian Prime Minister. "
"Achmed Sukarno. President of Indonesia. "
"Marshal Josip Broz Tito. President of Yugoslavia. "
"Hiroshima, Japan."
Photos taken with his camera
are the visual evidence
of a sensitivity which had not changed.
In October, he is assigned to head the Department of Industry
of the National Institute of Agrarian Reform.
A month later,
he is appointed Chairman of the National Bank of Cuba
"May 4, 1960, attack on the ship La Coubre"
The aggressions of the USA against Cuba
started as soon as when the revolution triumphed.
The first phase was characterized by
direct attacks to Cuban production centres.
Following the attacks have been characterized
to cripple the Cuban economy.
They tried to leave Cuba without the necessary fuel
for the operation of industries, transportation, and power plants.
Shortly after, they tried to remove the foreign exchange
necessary for the foreign trade.
Again, we will not have another choice
than that with which we started the revolutionary struggle.
That of freedom, or death.
Only now freedom means something more .
Freedom shall mean country,
and our alternative, would therefore be: Homeland or death.
It is at that moment, that, almost by accident,
the Cuban photographer Alberto Korda
shoots the image which later will go all around the world.
For those of us who living south of the Rio Bravo,
each of the American homelands is ours,
and for each we give our blood,
knowing with certainty that we are fighting for our country.
Since 1959, he started his meetings with leaders and intellectuals
from all over the world. In particularly
with representatives of revolutionary movements.
The main ideas that exposed are international solidarity
with countries struggling for their liberation,
and the need for a fight on a world-wide scale against imperialism.
The Cuban revolution develops from time to time, responding
to the aggression of the imperialist powers
In this way each aggression, it responds with a
another step forward, a greater radicalization of the revolution.
The latest measures, in the field of international relationships are
the nationalization of the U.S. companies in 3 steps.
First, the sugar mills and big factories.
Then, in response to another attack, U.S. banks.
And last, in these days, the rest of the American companies.
The U.S. therefore ordered attacks with planes, the bombing of Havana.
Against aggression and responded with new revolutionary laws:
the oil law, the mining law.
If they had continued this way, we would have threatened to suspend
the quota (minimum guarantee of sales of sugar to the U.S.)
we signed a agreement with the Soviet Union,
we cut all lendings to banks;
we signed pacts with some communist countries
and others, such as Japan.
I mean, we have diversified our foreign trade
expecting a counter-attack.
Comrades and friends the great Chinese people.
We came here today, with great satisfaction,
to full-fill an official mandate from our government,
and to bring a message of friendship from our people.
"Mao Tse Tung. President of the People's Republic of China. "
Do you know that the bombing by enemy air-planes
armed with machine guns 50,
with rockets and bombs
strafed and bombed the Airport of Santiago,
the base of San Antonio and the base of Ciudad de Libertad.
The new fascists, the new Nazis of the world
trigger again aggression against defenceless countries
and try, in conquest and destruction,
the solution to political problems.
Today air-planes which can not come from another place, if not from U.S. bases,
cause their radius of action would otherwise be quite large,
come to bomb us.
This is the form in which they speak and act the Nazis of today.
Che continues to work at the new Ministry of Industry
with one goal:
lay the groundwork for industrialization of the country.
An industrialization that must be formed
with the united forces of the people.
The Ministry of Industry Cuba was founded
considering the "freshness" of our institutions
and the rapid changes the landscape.
So, in all ways, it is not rigid, not schematic,
cause we are constantly adapting to the needs
imposed by our difficult goal: the industrialization.
If you consider that Cuba received
all the old machinery of the United States,
when capitalists sent those to Cuba to continue to gain,
and that many products have an unstable production,
You can get an idea that it has been
an incredible effort to overcome these conditions.
We had long meetings with the Soviet Union,
where we have proposed a special price for our sugar.
This demonstration effect, the fact that socialist relations
are made on a completely different basis.
The price paid by the Soviet Union for our sugar
allows us to import sufficient machinery to
develop the industry, and become an industrial-agrarian country,
and not just an exporter of raw materials.
The United States organized the first ground invasion.
"April 17, 61, Playa Giron. Landing of the Bay of Pigs. "
1,500 mercenaries landed on Cuban beaches.
Everyone knew that it has been the USA who has organized the invasion,
and they prepared the mercenaries, they told us so.
It were them who led the mercenaries to the beaches.
Everyone knew it, and when the news came out,
all realized the disaster caused by imperialism.
"The invasion got killed."
"The defeated invaders surrender massively "
Playa Giron is a symbol for all oppressed peoples.
Playa Giron is the first defeat of imperialism in Latin America,
but it's also one of the first defeats of imperialism
worldwide.
So we have arrived in 1961,
where we are not, not even remotely, alone.
And we move so quickly forward, that as you all know,
we will be able to declare May 1 to this revolution
as the first revolution of Socialist America.
In the house where lived Ernesto Guevara Lynch, Che's father,
an 8 mm film, unknown and unpublished until now,
still holds the images when he meets for the last time
with his parents, his brothers, and his aunt Beatriz.
The CIES (Economic and Social Research Consortium, NoT),
agency of the Organization of American States, which deals
with economical issues of the Americas.
The conference of the Ministers of Economy was designated
to establish an "Alliance for Progress" announced by Kennedy,
and of course to enchain the Latin American countries
to the organizations of Wall Street,
to isolate Cuba and, if possible,
to organize an armed inside attack against Cuba
The word has the delegate of Cuba
We agree with only one point of the report,
and that is point 5, of the experts.
One single sentence defines the current situation.
"A new era begins for the relations between the peoples of America" it states.
And it's true.
Only this new era begins under the sign of Cuba,
free territory of America. And this conference,
and the special treatment that have received the delegations,
and the credits they approve, all wear the header of Cuba.
even if the beneficiaries like it or not .
Experts suggest
Replacement of inefficient estates and smallholdings
with well-equipped farms.
We ask,
you want to make a land reform?
Take the land of those who have much
and give it to those who do not.
This way you make land reforms.
The rest are empty words.
We can not stop to export examples,
as the U.S. wants us to do.
Because the example is something spiritual,
that exceeds the boundaries.
And what we surely confirm here, in this conference and to the people,
is that if we don't take measures, urgent and of preventive social nature,
the example of Cuba will be followed by the other peoples!
In America, Asia and Africa,
the three continents oppressed,
embarked on new wars of liberation.
In Angola and Portuguese Guinea
they are fighting a guerilla-war.
And in our continent nowadays,
the strength of the people is proving
the impotence of armies in liquidating
the aspirations of peoples towards their freedom.
In the heart of Africa, in Congo, a young executive independence,
Patrice Lumumba, becomes Prime Minister,
after years of Belgium colonial power.
The people create communism,
that, therefore, they do it with their image and likeness.
The particularity of our structure of ethnic, social, cultural,
moves in the way we are to build the new society.
And the young brigadisti, responding to the call of the revolution,
have invaded every corner of the country.
So , after a few months of an intensive fight,
we are able to announce a new situation in America.
because Cuba was now a territory free of illiteracy.
The utopia of which the philosophers were dreaming in the last century
is about to become reality.
We are now in the process of construction of a socialist society.
A society that will be characterized by the cancellation
of the exploitation of man by other men,
by a distribution the most fair as possible
of the profits of the nation,
and a production constantly increasing,
which will be returned to our people.
And together we will build new life.
Together, cause we're together,
we here in Cuba,
the Soviet Union or in the Republic China over there ,
and in Vietnam, fighting in the South East Asia.
Lately aggression of the imperialist increased.
But why we do not think about their reasons?
On August 30, 1962
Che meets in the Soviet Union with Nikita Khrushchev
in his country house in the Crimea.
The meeting has a secret paragraph:
the signing of a military agreement started by Raul Castro,
a month earlier.
A treaty on military cooperation
for the defence of the territory of the island, in case of aggression.
This, includes the installation in Cuba with nuclear missiles.
The world is on the brink of a nuclear war.
Since last week
There is unmistakeable evidence has established the fact
that a series of offensive missiles sights
is now in preparation on that imprisoned island.
Finally, the tension decreases when Khrushchev, behind Cuba,
offers to Kennedy to withdraw the missiles from the island,
if the U.S. withdrew the its from Turkey.
The worldwide conflict had been avoided,
but the tension would continue for many years.
From the beginning, Che supports the movements
revolutionaries in Latin America.
Personally he propels Operation "Sombra",
a guerilla base in northern Argentina
led by "Commander II" the journalist Jorge Masetti,
who who interviewed Che during the first months in the Sierra Maestra,
and was founder of the news-agency "Prensa Latina".
The small group of Argentine and Cuban
return from La Sierra de Salta, Bolivia, in 1963.
A few months later, the brand-new "Guerrillero Ejercito del Pueblo"
will be defeated, and his men captured or killed.
The body of Masetti has never been found.
This ending convinces Che even more
that his direct participation is necessary
to start the revolution Continental, in Latin America.
As Minister of Industries,
he deals with the every day difficulties and lacks
which refrain the development of the Cuban revolution.
Promotes debate and continuous criticism,
and continuous it during years, with several of his co-workers,
a systematic study of "Capital" of Marx.
In this way starts for the first time in Latin America,
the development of an economic theory
based on concrete practices.
Mechanically we copied the experiences of our brother countries,
and this was a mistake
Not the most serious, but however, an error,
that has blocked the development and contributed dangerously
to a phenomenon that we have to fight
with the force of the socialist revolution:
the "bureaucracy".
We believe that the root bureaucracy lies in what we
have identified as a lack of "internal engine"
of some officials.
I mean, he lacks to connect to his feelings, what is the problem that has to be dealt with,
a certain fear of the consequences of his behaviour,
that forces them to hide behind a sheet, always they have one in front of them.
Even in the U.S. it is developing, not only in Communist countries.
There is also a lot of paperwork in public office in the United States.
And last, the unawareness of this problem.
So we are studying, in detail,
these causes, to see how to eliminate them.
Today, in our Cuba,
work assumes, everyday more, a new meaning.
It's the element that builds the consciousness of the workers
more than anything else.
And even more when these workers
carry out their work in places not usual for them.
It transforms them in a carrier of
cooperation and understanding between administrative and manual workers
to prepare a new stage of the society
where there will be no social classes,
and therefore there can be no differences
among manual worker or intellectual,
between worker or peasant.
For this reason we try to be consistent,
to this principle, leaders must be, an example.
# We'll do it you and me. #
# We'll do it ourselves. #
# We take the clay #
# For the new man. #
# Its blood will come #
# From all bloods #
# Erasing the history of fear and hunger. #
# For arm, a rifle. #
# For light, a gaze. #
# And alongside the idea, overlooking a bullet. #
# And where the love #
# A hidden cry #
# Already ears seize the screams#
# His cry will be #
# Of war and victory #
# As a clatter announcing the glory. #
# And for heart #
# This man give #
# The guerilla, we all know. #
# We'll do it you and me. #
# For arm, a rifle. #
# We'll do it ourselves. #
# For light, the gaze. #
# We take the clay. #
# This morning. #
In 1964, Che began to think
that it was time to continue his way through Latin America.
He made plans for Bolivia, and therefore he
send Tania to infiltrate in the high ranks of the government,
she, a revolutionary with Argentine and German origins.
However, he had to wait a few more years
before returning permanently to the continent.
All this happens while Cuba
got more and more attacked.
Of course there is the "Imperialist bloc."
It will continue to be, for a while,
As long until it gets tired, or something else will happen.
It does not matter that every day imperialism
gets more and more aggressive.
The people who have decided to fight for their freedom
and to maintain the freedom obtained,
can not be intimidated by that.
The Americans are wrong, if they believe that bombing North
they will win the war in the South.
Never, never, will they win this war.
Never, never, we will surrender.
Because our war is a patriotic war,
because it's a legitimate war.
We will continue to fight
for 5, 10, 20 years or more .
And we will win.
There in Vietnam
they are training the forces that one day will be here to suppress
our guerrillas,
our, of all the American continent.
There they are trying out all the new weapons of mass destruction
and all the most modern techniques
to combat against the freedom of our people.
At this moment, South Vietnam,
is the great laboratory of the Yankee imperialism
to prepare all their equipment
for a conflict, if possible, perhaps even more important
that will take place
in the back garden of their colonial possessions
across the American continent.
However,
the active presence of the Forces for the Liberation of Vietnam,
their constant victories ,
their steady progress towards areas well defended by the enemy,
are an example that all people should take.
And if we look for a moment at the map of Vietnam
small as it is,
and we then compare it to
20 million square kilometres
of our great America,
we know, with still more certainty,
that the fight can be done.
When we gather
to greet the Vietnamese people,
we are tightening our arms.
Brothers, in a remote region of the world,
are struggling for our security,
and are fighting for all the common desires
shared by all peoples
of the 3 oppressed continents at this time:
Asia, Africa and our America.
Long live the people of South Vietnam!
Long live the revolutionary army!
Long live proletarian internationalism!
Death to imperialism!
Homeland or death!
It's our fight
the one that allows us today to enjoy peace.
And that is our aspiration, peace,
total, complete peace,
peace for all the peoples who have already abandoned
the system of exploitation
and rose to a level on top of the society .
But if anyone opposes, that the Cuban reality
is being reproduced in other parts on earth,
then it is justified to leave for a moment that peace
to conquer that peace by force of arms.
Dear parents, once again I feel between my legs
the ribs of Rocinante (The horse of Don Quixote, NoT).
I come back on the road, with my weapon under my arm.
Nothing essential changed.
except that I am much more aware.
My Marxism is rooted and purified.
I believe in armed struggle as the only solution
for the people who are struggling for their freedom.
And I take the responsibility of what I believe.
Many will call me adventurer, and I am,
only that of a different type,
of those who risk their lives to demonstrate their truth.
I know I loved you so much,
only, I could not express my affection.
I am extremely rigid in my actions,
and I think that sometimes you didn't understand me.
It was not easy to understand me.
Now a willpower I cleaned with the relish of an artist,
will support 2 weak legs and 2 tired lungs.
I will do it.
Remember now and then this little leader of the twentieth century.
A big hug from your stubborn prodigal son,
Ernesto.
And what is happening in Africa?
In Africa, where only a couple of years ago
was murdered and quartered
the Prime Minister of the Congo.
Where they established the North American monopolies
and where the struggle began, to possess the Congo.
Why? Because there is copper,
because there are radioactive minerals,
cause the Congo has outstanding strategic resources.
This tells us two things.
First, the bestiality of imperialism.
Bestiality , which does not have its borders established,
nor belongs to any given country.
Beasts were the hordes of Hitler,
like animals are the U.S. today,
like animals are the Belgian paratroopers,
like beasts were the French imperialists in Algeria.
Cause the nature of imperialism, converts humans into beasts.
What converts them into businesses hungry for blood
who are willing to slaughter
kill and destroy, the last revolutionary
or follower of a policy which has fallen before his feet,
or who is fighting for its freedom.
And the statue that reminds Lumumba,
now destroyed, but rebuilt tomorrow,
reminds us that there you cannot trust imperialism.
Not even a little bit! Not at all!
In December 1964,
he made his last trip as representative of the revolution.
It would be a journey of three months, beginning in New York,
and it will lead to various cities in Africa and Europe.
A journey in which he writes one of its fundamental texts
and in which he holds 2 of his most thrilling speeches.
And now, the story must take into consideration the poor of America,
the exploited and despised Latin America,
who have decided to start to write down their own history.
And this wave of resentment, the demand for justice,
of rights trampled,
they begin to raise in the lands of Latin America,
this wave, it will now stop no more.
This wave will grow every day more
cause this wave composes the majority
according to every point of view:
those who by their work generate wealth,
create the value, make turn the wheel of history.
And who now are waking up from the long dirty dream
by which they were subjected.
Cause this great humanity said, Basta,
and began to move.
And its great march will not stop
until it will conquer true independence,
for which, already more than once, there were deaths, in vain.
Now, however, those who die
die like the Cubans at the Bay of Pigs.
They will die for their unique, true, and essential independence.
At the end of his international journey,
he gave a speech which caused commotion: the speech of Algiers.
Here, he asks the socialist superpowers an increased commitment
and unconditional support for the liberation movements
of the countries of the Third World.
Before returning to the Island
he sends to the Uruguayan weekly "Marcha",
a text written and corrected during his long route in Africa.
"Socialism and man in Cuba"
What we must create is the human being of the 21st century
The present and of struggle, the future and our.
A new generation is being born.
that in a real revolution, to which one gives all
and from which one expects no material reward,
the task of the revolutionary vanguard
is both magnificent and agonizing.
The true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love.
It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.
Perhaps it is one of the great dramas of the leader
that he or she must combine a passionate spirit with a cold intelligence
and make painful decisions without flinching.
Our revolutionary vanguard must idealize this love
of the people, of the most sacred causes, and make it one and indivisible.
In these circumstances one must have a large dose of humanity,
a large dose of a sense of justice and truth
in order to avoid dogmatic extremes.
We must strive every day so that this love of living humanity
is transformed into actual deeds, into acts that serve as examples,
as a moving force.
The revolution is made through human beings,
but individuals must forge their revolutionary spirit day by day.
The road is long and, in part, unknown.
We recognize our limitations.
We will make the human being of the 21st century - we, ourselves.
This film, shot by a Cuban cameraman
record the latest images of Che alive.
It's his arrival in Havana, after the long journey,
on the 15th of March, 1965.
An arrival, which tastes like a farewell,
given that after a few days he will leave Cuba.
He tells his acquaintances that he is going to cut cane.
Only the most intimate know the truth.
He wrote a letter to Fidel,
one to his children, and one to his parents.
To his wife Aleida he leaves his most intimate:
a selection of his poems recorded with his voice
in the solitude of the night.
Of which reads Martinez Villena,
Cesar Vallejo and Pablo Neruda.
Master the love that is distributed
in kisses, bed and bread.
Love that can be eternal
and it can be fleeting.
Love that it wants to free itself
in order to return to love.
Honoured love that approaches
Honoured love that goes away
No longer my eyes in your eyes will be enchanted,
no longer my pain will be sweetened next to you.
But towards where it goes I will take your glance
and towards where you walk you will take my pain.
I was yours, you were mine. What more?
Together we have a creek along the path where love goes.
I was yours, you were mine.
I 'll be the one who will love you ,
who will gather from your garden, what I planted myself.
After the hustle and bustle of bitter-sweet goodbyes,
remained the last step: the clandestine journey.
I left behind me, almost 11 years of work
in the Cuban revolution, next to Fidel,
a happy home, as you can call it a home;
the refuge of a revolutionary working at his task,
and a bunch of children, who barely knew of my affection.
On April 1, direction Africa.
Not as Che, but as a citizen named Ramon Benitez.
With him are travelling, divided into groups, and following different routes
and at different times, about 130 Cubans.
Che defines this moment as the "The story of a failure."
Its mission is to deliver weapons and providing support
and military instructions to the Lumumbisti rebel groups
who in Congo are fighting against the government troops
supported by white mercenaries.
Months of uncertainty and anxiety,
of diseases, of attempts to train troops
which for tribal reasons, and internal struggle
and the total lack of the preparation for combat,
were never able to be well organized.
During these months he also received one of the most saddest news of his life:
the death of his mother.
He told me how one should say these things to a strong man.
I do not show pain or concern,
and I tried not to show not the one, nor the other.
It was so simple!
They called him, saying that it was very serious.
"Serious so she can die?" He asked. "Yes. "
Waiting was the only thing to do.
With the news official, he would decide if he had the right
to show his sadness. It looked like he didn’t wanted to.
The morning sun was bright after the rain.
There was nothing strange.
They said that on May 20th it will stop raining until October.
They say. But they say many things that are not true.
Nature follows the calendar?
I did not care if nature follows the calendar or not.
In general, I could say that I didn’t care at all.
Not this forced inactivity, nor this idiot war without goals,
Well, not without goals.
only so vague, so "diluted" it seemed unreachable,
like a surrealistic hell , where the eternal punishment is the boredom.
Besides, I cared. Of course it mattered to me.
I wanted to smoke, and I pulled out the pipe.
As always, I had it in my pocket.
In the paths of smoke, you can bridge any distance.
It's important when you dream of far-away places
in the future where the only road is the smoke
or a past so far-off, that you have to use the same trail.
She gave me the bandage, in case I would be wounded in the arm.
It would be a tissue of love.
The difficult thing would be not to use it if they would slice me up.
In reality , there was a simple solution.
What they put me on the head to hold my jaw
and I bring it to the grave.
Loyalty to the death.
If I would be lost in the mountains, or been caught by the others,
I would not have had the bandage of love.
They would let me rot in the grass, or expose me.
and maybe I would be in Life, with a desperate or painful look,
fixed, the instant supreme fear.
Because we have fear, why deny it?
Through the smoke, I retraced my old ways
and reached the more intimate corners of my fears,
always related to the death.
I only brought 2 small memories with me to the battle.
The bandage of my wife, and the door keys with the stone of my mother.
Do not cry because you should not, or because you can not?
I really do not know.
I just know that I have a physical need
that appears to my mother and her head on her lean back,
and she says "mi viejo", dry and full of tenderness.
Shortly after the start, rumours start to circulate, initiated by the press
and international intelligence.
They say he is fighting in Santo Domingo, in Vietnam,
that he is hospitalized in a psychiatric clinic,
that he discussed with Fidel and that he is exiled.
6 months later, in October 1965
Fidel makes public the farewell letter
that left Che, before leaving.
Havana. Year of agriculture.
Fidel,
at this moment I remember many things,
when you asked me to join you,
of all the tensions due to the preparations.
One day they came by and asked,
who should be to be notified in case of death
and the possibility that that really could happen, did hit us all.
I feel I have accomplished my duty
that bound me to the Cuban revolution in its territory,
and I say good-bye to you, to my comrades, to the people,
and that is mine already.
Formally renounce my assignments to the Party leadership
of my place as a minister, my rank of commander,
and my Cuban citizenship.
No legal law binds me to Cuba
Only ties of another type, that you can not break
as nominations.
Other lands of this world
require the help of my modest efforts.
Struggle against imperialism,
wherever it is, this comforting
and cures any impudence.
If my last hour arrives under other skies,
my last thought will be about this people and about you in particular.
Wherever it is, I feel the responsibility
of a Cuban revolutionary, and I will behave like one.
I leave to my children and my wife no material goods;
and I do not grieve. I'm happy like this, I ask nothing for them
cause the state will give them enough to live on
and educate them.
Words can not express what I would want,
and are not worth wasting paper.
Until victory, forever. Homeland or death.
From the far Congo, Che hears the reading of his letter.
He is surprised when, at the end, Fidel reads:
"Until victory, forever."
He wrote: "Until victory. Forever, Homeland or Death. "
Until later, when found a copy of the letter,
realizes that there is no point, and that its
Capital "S" can be understood as lower case.
However, since then the sentence "Until victory always"
would be associated to his image and his struggle.
Towards the end of November 1965
the political and military situation become unstable.
The Cuban group must retreat.
The idea to clear out and leave, as we had come,
grieved me deeply.
I did not dare to ask for the maximum sacrifice
in the decisive moment.
In reality the idea of staying was in my brains
until the last hours of the night, and perhaps I never made the decision,
if not that I was one fugitive more .
On the bridge of the longboat that leaves the Congolese jungle behind,
Che undergoes a new physical transformation.
During the last few hours in the Congo,
I felt alone, like never before.
Not in Cuba, not in any other place where I have wandered.
I could say:
"Today more than ever, I came back with all my way, just to see me. "
(Cited in the poem "Piedra negra sobre a piedra blanca "by Cesar Vallejo, NoT)
There will be moments of underground , reading, reflection
and writing in solitude.
I can not write.
Or it are the technical details not relevant,
or memories of past life that will take time before returning.
Cause I'm a mixture of a in between middle-class adventurer
with an incredible longing for home,
but with the anxiety of making the dream come true.
In my bureaucratic cave I dreamt what I started doing then
And now, and the rest of the way,
dream with you and the guys who are inexorably growing.
Closed in the upper floor of the Cuban Embassy in Tanzania,
he writes memories of experiences just passed
in the form of a new book.
"The Diaries of the Revolutionary War in the Congo"
I learned in the Congo;
There are mistakes that I'll never make again .
Maybe someone will repeat them, or commit others, new.
I came out with more faith then never in the guerilla struggle,
but we failed.
My responsibility is big.
I do not forget defeat, nor its valuable lessons.
Aleida March meets him.
In their intimacy, they talk about his next destination.
He knows with certainty that it will be Latin America.
But still does not know when and how he can go back to the continent.
From Tanzania,
he travels to Prague.
While planning his future,
begins to outline a book, which will remain unfinished.
It a critique of the Handbook of Political Economics of the Soviet Union.
He knows that it will cause controversy.
The prologue is called: "Needs of this book."
From the first appearance of "The Capital"
revolutionaries throughout the world have had a monumental
guidance setting out clearly the theoretical mechanism of the capitalist system.
Social unrest and conflicts caused by the division
of the world between the imperialist nations,
resulted in the First World War, and the October Revolution.
The huge amount of writings Lenin left after his death,
were an essential complement, for the oeuvre of the founders.
In his last years, Stalin ordered the development of a guidebook
that was accessible to the masses
and processed all the subjects of the economy, to the present day.
When we started a critical study of the guidebook,
we met such a quantity of concepts
we totally disagreed with,
that we decided to start this undertaking
with as much scientific rigor possible, and with utmost honesty.
Essential quality, the latter, because the self-controlled study of
the Marxist theory, and recent events,
place us in the critical position towards the Soviet Union.
Uncompromising dogmatism of the Stalin era
was followed by a inconsistent pragmatism.
In the course of our theoretical investigation,
we have come to identify a guilty, with first and last name.
Vladimir Illich Lenin.
And that the monster affront!
But who will have the patience to reach the last chapters of this guidebook,
will be able to feel the respect and admiration
we feel towards this "guilty."
Our thesis, is that the changes produced by the new political economy
are so deeply rooted in the life of the Soviet Union,
which have left their mark throughout this stage.
And its results are discouraging.
They are returning to capitalism.
"Fall of the Berlin Wall. Germany, 1989 "
I leave Prague to begin a new stage of training
and physical transformation, in Cuba
It's a short undercover period,
in which he saw for the last time Aleida and their children.
Children do not recognize him.
But do accept his affection.
They told them that he is a friend of their father.
His next goal time and precise
and is reported in his last public text:
the message to the "Tricontinental".
The goal is to create 2, 3, many Vietnam.
Bolivia will be his new base
to start the fight in Latin America.
On 3 November 1966, he arrives in La Paz
to take command of what later will be
the National Liberation Army.
In his room in the hotel Copacabana,
leaves a testimony of his transformation, with a final self-portrait.
He holds minimal contact with the urban underground network.
A few days later, with 3 Cuban comrades and a Bolivian
they leave for Nancahuazu,
the place chosen to become a new Vietnam in America.
November 12. My hair is growing, although very thin.
And the white hair is becoming blond, and starts to disappear.
I grew a beard,
and in a couple of months, I will be me again.
He starts to train together with his little army,
that at that moment is made up of 24 men.
Of these, only 9 are Bolivians.
Analysis of November.
The view looks good, in this isolated area,
where everything indicates that we can stay
here all the time that is needed.
The plans are: wait for the rest of the people,
increase the number of Bolivians, at least up to 20,
and start to work.
Needed to find out what will be the reaction of Monje.
Mario Monje, secretary of the Bolivian Communist Party,
responds directly to Moscow.
On 31 December 1966, Monje comes to the camp of the guerrillas
to meet alone with Che.
Monje has ensured the support of his party,
but in this meeting, he imposes a number of conditions.
Among others, that he will take the general command.
Che did not agree.
Monje then cancelled what was agreed upon.
This causes a severe blow to the campaigning schedule.
From now on,
the guerrillas would find themselves submerged in growing isolation.
President Morales (of Bolivia) authorizes us to film the documentation,
that is preserved in the Central Bank.
There are his notes with assessments of his companions,
reports and letters to Fidel,
military communications, which he not signed with
"Fatherland or death," but "victory or death."
and his diary of the campaign,
in the red notebook the first part,
and in a German agenda, the second.
Analysis of January.
As expected, the behaviour of Monje was initially indirect,
and traitor afterwards.
The party is against us I do not know where this will end.
March 23.
Day of wartime events.
At 8 pass, Coco rushed to tell
that a section of the army had fallen into the ambush.
The final result and for now, 7 dead
4 injured and 14 healthy prisoners.
March 27.
Today breaking news, branched through all radio-waves,
and producing a large amount of press,
including a press-conference of dictator Barrientos.
Despite the difficulties, isolation,
the lack of support of the Bolivian peasants,
and his physical suffering due to asthma,
Che continues writing his book which he started in Prague.
When he was captured by the Bolivian army,
in his backpack are the notebooks
in which he analyses texts by Trotsky, Wright Mills,
Lenin, Mao, Fidel.
Another book contains three poems written by hand,
the ones he recited as a child with his father.
His friends say that while walking with a gun
he was reciting poems.
April 25.
In a moment of peace, I sent Urban to order the retreat
but he returns to report that Rolando had been wounded.
They brought him in soon after, already bloodless,
and he died when doing the plasma transfusion.
It seems certain that the Americans intervene here,
sending helicopters and, apparently, the Green Berets.
The army has improved its techniques, and is not demoralized
by the "Maison" (Vietnamese prison NoT)
Summary of August.
It was, without a doubt, the worst month of this guerilla warfare.
The loss of the cave with all the documentation and medicines,
was a big blow. Above all, psychological.
September 30.
Another day of tension.
In the morning, the radio announced; that high-ranking army-men
claimed to have trapped Che Guevara in a canyon in the wilderness.
At dawn, I, Barrientos,
in the Palacio Quemado (Palace of the Bolivian government, NoT)
assure that Che Guevara was surrounded, in the area
which includes the Rio Grande and the Rio Acero,
and that the guerilla group counts with less than 20 people.
Another source informs
that from Valle Grande trained troops are helped by
North-Americans Green Beret instructors.
Summary of the month: September.
Now, the most important task is to get away, and find better areas.
After that, the contacts.
Although the entire organization is dismantled in La Paz,
where, even there, they hit us hard.
The intervention of the Government of the United States.
is massive.
Military instructors and qualified CIA agents
operate directly in Bolivian territory.
October 8, Che is surrounded by the army in Quebrada del Yuro.
There are 16 men with him.
The final battle starts at 13.30.
After a long shoot-out, a bullet through the beret.
Another hit him in his left leg.
And the third destroys the the magazine of his rifle,
rendering it unusable.
Exhausted, and no chance to continue to fight,
he is captured.
"On October 9, 1967"
"39 years"
"Was killed in the school La Higuera. "
Dear Hildita, Aleidita, Camilo, Celia and Ernesto,
If you ever have to read this letter,
it will be because I will not be amongst you.
Most will not remember me,
and the smallest among you will have entirely forgotten me
Your father was a man who acted according to his own beliefs
and, for sure, he was faithful to his principles.
Grow up into good revolutionaries.
Study much, in order to master the techniques
which allows to dominate nature.
Remember that the revolution is important,
and that each of us alone, is worth nothing.
Above all, always be deeply sensitive,
to any injustice committed against whoever it may be
anywhere in the world.
That is the quality most beautiful of a revolutionary.
Until next time, children.
I hope to see you again.
A big kiss and a big hug from Daddy.
And if they told us that we are romantics,
that we are old idealists,
that we think of the impossible,
and that you can not succeed to get an entire mass
to become an almost archetype human ...
We'll have to tell them,
once, and a thousand other times, that
That , it is possible
And it must be so
it should be so , and so it will be, comrades.
# In my country, how much sadness #
# Poverty and bitterness. #
# My father says it will come #
# From the depths of time, another time, #
# And says that the sun will shine #
# Dreams of the people who work their green land. #
# In my country, how much sadness #
# Poverty and bitterness. #
# You did not ask for the war, #
# Mother Earth, I know. #
# My father says,#
# that a single traitor can stand against 1000 braves. #
# He feels that the people, in its immense pain #
# Now denying to drink from the fountain clear of honour. #
# You did not ask the war, #
# Mother Earth, I know. #
# In my country we are strong, #
# The future will tell. #
# Sing my people, a song of peace, #
# Behind every door, the people are on guard #
# And now no one can silence his song. #
# And tomorrow it will be sung again. #
# In my country we are strong, #
# The future will tell. #
# In my country, that warmth, #
# When the sun rises. #
# Tell my people that they can read their fate in the hands of the worker #
# And that there is no fortune-teller or king #
# who can show how the way will go. #
# In my country, that warmth, #
# When the sun rises. #
# In my country we are ten thousands. #
# In my country, it will shine , I know, the sun of the people. #
# Burning , again, illuminating my land. #
Gracias Che. The earth for who cultivates it! (thnx erik, for translation)