Musings on El Che.
A conversation with my Uncle, a die-hard Pennsylvania conservative, circa September 2004:
Uncle: Your mom tells me you're writing your senior research paper on Che Guevara.
Kimi: That's right.
Uncle: Of all of the things you could study, why Che Guevara?
Kimi: Because I need to focus my paper on some aspect of Latin American foreign policy, because he's a fascinating character to me, and because my mother-in-law worked for the Barrientos regime and can give me a lot of interesting information that might not be in the books. (FYI, for those who may not know, Barrientos was the president over the Bolivian army who tracked Che down in Bolivia and executed him.)
Uncle: Well, you know who Che Guevara really was, right?
Kimi: Tell me uncle, who?
Uncle: He was just a spoiled, rich creep.
And so ended the first simplified description of Che Guevara that I've heard over the past six months. I love this uncle and I'm always amused by his cynicism. A later conversation:
Uncle: Did you hear that Robert Redford produced a movie about Che?
Kimi: Yep. I heard it was excellent. I'm dying to see it.
Uncle: You mean you're actually going to watch that communist crap?
Kimi: Absolutely.
And I did. Last night. The movie is called the Motorcycle Diaries.
I would recommend it to anyone even slightly interested in Latin America, Cold War politics, Che Guevara, or traveling in general. Now before anyone starts accusing me of being a red, let me say that I am not, as my uncle believes me to be, a die-hard Che fan (though it's certainly easy to understand how he and so many other South Americans came to hate the U.S. during the Cold War, I hate to admit). I don't believe him to be a Rebel-God, and I'll be the first to say that the man hardly lives up to the legend. However, I don't believe him to be the communist devil, either. As with most intriguing historical characters, you have to take the good with the bad. And I was happy to see a movie that, in my opinion, celebrated the true goodness of Che. In the legends of Che, both good and bad, the motorcycle journey through South America that formed his idealism is often mentioned only as an anecdote. You don't hear in foreign policy analysis that he gave up the last of his own medication to bring peace to a dying women, that while hungry and ill he gave his last $15 to a poor family who he believed to be worse off than he was, or that he was one of the few souls willing to bring kindness to a leper colony. You don't get to see "nice" Che.
To me, the real tragedy of Guevara's life was not his capture and execution, but the fact that somewhere along the line he lost his humanity. Here was a guy who in his youth was good, kindhearted, honest and only wanted to help others. At the end of his life, the only answer was coldblooded, violent revolution, and anyone who got in the way was to be viewed as an enemy to the cause and then executed.
Even more than the movie, I love this book, by Patrick Symmes:
The reason I so enjoyed Chasing Che is because it paints such an interesting picture of Latin America, and it's one of the least-biased books on Che I have found. Plus, it's an easy read. Back to the subject, it's writer asks the same question I have: When did people become the means and not the end? When did the revolution itself become more important than the people it was supposed to help? The whole time I watched this movie, I just kept thinking how unfortunate it was that a person with such great potential, humanity and kindess could turn into such a "creep."
Well, I'm sure the true die-hard Che fans would argue with my interpretation of his life, but in my opinion hatefulness is never the answer. Take it or leave it.
And by the way, my only issue with the film was the statement that the CIA had a hand in his death. I know the CIA has had their hand in a good number of skeevy deals, but this was definitely not one of them. Here's where my Bolivian-by-marriage nationalistic sentiment will shine through: Those Bolivians are no dummies, and even though they may have had some U.S. army training, it's important to note that there was not a single U.S. shot fired in the execution of Guevara (in fact, the CIA thought the execution was "stupid" because it would make Che a martyr, which it did. Even my favorite commy professor agrees. ). Don't ever mess with a Bolivian. Those guys are tough.
Well, that's enough Bolivian foreign policy for one day, right? Have a great Saturday.
Uncle: Your mom tells me you're writing your senior research paper on Che Guevara.
Kimi: That's right.
Uncle: Of all of the things you could study, why Che Guevara?
Kimi: Because I need to focus my paper on some aspect of Latin American foreign policy, because he's a fascinating character to me, and because my mother-in-law worked for the Barrientos regime and can give me a lot of interesting information that might not be in the books. (FYI, for those who may not know, Barrientos was the president over the Bolivian army who tracked Che down in Bolivia and executed him.)
Uncle: Well, you know who Che Guevara really was, right?
Kimi: Tell me uncle, who?
Uncle: He was just a spoiled, rich creep.
And so ended the first simplified description of Che Guevara that I've heard over the past six months. I love this uncle and I'm always amused by his cynicism. A later conversation:
Uncle: Did you hear that Robert Redford produced a movie about Che?
Kimi: Yep. I heard it was excellent. I'm dying to see it.
Uncle: You mean you're actually going to watch that communist crap?
Kimi: Absolutely.
And I did. Last night. The movie is called the Motorcycle Diaries.
I would recommend it to anyone even slightly interested in Latin America, Cold War politics, Che Guevara, or traveling in general. Now before anyone starts accusing me of being a red, let me say that I am not, as my uncle believes me to be, a die-hard Che fan (though it's certainly easy to understand how he and so many other South Americans came to hate the U.S. during the Cold War, I hate to admit). I don't believe him to be a Rebel-God, and I'll be the first to say that the man hardly lives up to the legend. However, I don't believe him to be the communist devil, either. As with most intriguing historical characters, you have to take the good with the bad. And I was happy to see a movie that, in my opinion, celebrated the true goodness of Che. In the legends of Che, both good and bad, the motorcycle journey through South America that formed his idealism is often mentioned only as an anecdote. You don't hear in foreign policy analysis that he gave up the last of his own medication to bring peace to a dying women, that while hungry and ill he gave his last $15 to a poor family who he believed to be worse off than he was, or that he was one of the few souls willing to bring kindness to a leper colony. You don't get to see "nice" Che.
To me, the real tragedy of Guevara's life was not his capture and execution, but the fact that somewhere along the line he lost his humanity. Here was a guy who in his youth was good, kindhearted, honest and only wanted to help others. At the end of his life, the only answer was coldblooded, violent revolution, and anyone who got in the way was to be viewed as an enemy to the cause and then executed.
Even more than the movie, I love this book, by Patrick Symmes:
The reason I so enjoyed Chasing Che is because it paints such an interesting picture of Latin America, and it's one of the least-biased books on Che I have found. Plus, it's an easy read. Back to the subject, it's writer asks the same question I have: When did people become the means and not the end? When did the revolution itself become more important than the people it was supposed to help? The whole time I watched this movie, I just kept thinking how unfortunate it was that a person with such great potential, humanity and kindess could turn into such a "creep."
Well, I'm sure the true die-hard Che fans would argue with my interpretation of his life, but in my opinion hatefulness is never the answer. Take it or leave it.
And by the way, my only issue with the film was the statement that the CIA had a hand in his death. I know the CIA has had their hand in a good number of skeevy deals, but this was definitely not one of them. Here's where my Bolivian-by-marriage nationalistic sentiment will shine through: Those Bolivians are no dummies, and even though they may have had some U.S. army training, it's important to note that there was not a single U.S. shot fired in the execution of Guevara (in fact, the CIA thought the execution was "stupid" because it would make Che a martyr, which it did. Even my favorite commy professor agrees. ). Don't ever mess with a Bolivian. Those guys are tough.
Well, that's enough Bolivian foreign policy for one day, right? Have a great Saturday.
posted by Chef Messy at 10:10 AM
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