27. This Plan to Spark a Communist Revolution in South America Backfired Badly
Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara (1928 – 1967) rose to prominence during the Cuban Revolution. He gained international fame thereafter as a guerrilla warfare innovator, author, and diplomat. His image became a romantic icon of anti-imperialism, and after his death, he became a martyr to many worldwide. Things were going well for “el Che”, until he concocted an ambitious plan to spark a revolution in South America, that he would hoped would turn all of Latin America communist. It backfired on him, big time.
Born in Argentina in 1928, Guevara was raised in a progressive environment, and from early on, he developed an affinity for the poor and downtrodden. Despite being an asthmatic, he managed to excel in athletics. After graduating high school, he studied medicine, and as a young man in the 1950s, he spent his holidays motorcycling through South America. In his travels, he encountered conditions of dire poverty, inequality, and injustice, that radicalized and set him on the path to Marxism.