By Justin Stamm
Epoch Times Staff Jan 4, 2009
"An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind." These are the words of
Mahatma Gandhi.
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot
drive out hate; only love can do that." These are the words of Martin
Luther King Jr.
Their names alone conjure up the images of leaders of history that
invoked change through what they called "Peaceful Militancy." However
their words define what was on their hearts; words that moved others to
action with a desired peaceful result. History attests to the fruitful
results of such civilized methods of protesting injustice and
corruption. These men are remembered well for it and may be considered
heroes of history.
"Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any enemy
that falls in my hands! My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor
of gunpowder and blood. With the deaths of my enemies I prepare my being
for the sacred fight and join the triumphant proletariat with a bestial
howl!" These are the words of Ernesto Che Guevara wrote in his famous
essay, and their effect is quite different than those of the former.
On the eve of the release of a new film entitled "Che," many wonder if
people will remember the man for who he really was and what his methods
for change were.
Some remember him as a Latin American leader akin to the civil rights
leaders of history. Still others that lived through the Cuban
revolution, through imprisonment and through witnessing the executions,
have told quite a different story.
So what images does the name Ernesto Che Guevara evoke in people's
minds? Is he a great leader of the past? Did he make a positive impact
on the human condition? What do we really know about Ernesto Che
Guevara? When asked, many are surprised by how little they really know
about him.
Although he is claimed to be a doctor from his homeland Argentina, he
never did graduate from medical school. In fact he dropped out to join
the fomenting Marxist revolution in Cuba funded by Soviet communist Russia.
Upon his arrival in Cuba, Fidel Castro was the reigning leader of the
militant left, ready to overthrow the corrupt regime of Fulgencio
Batista, the 17th president of Cuba.
Many of the early leaders of the Cuban revolution favored a democratic
government, but Che and Castro were well known hard liner supporters of
Soviet communism. As Castro gained more power, the democratic supporters
had less of an influence, eliminating the chances of a future democratic
process.
After the July 1959 overthrow of Batista's regime, Che presided over the
first firing squads and established "Labor Camps" across the country
modeled after the Soviet Gulags. He acted as judge, jury, and
executioner, of which he personally took pride. He wrote in his essay:
"To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary. … These
are the procedures of the bourgeois detail. This is a revolution! And a
revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate.
We must create the teaching of the Wall!"
To invoke the "Berlin Wall" built by his comrades from Russia, was a
testament to the process of dealing with dissidents and the elimination
of opposition of the newly formed communist Cuban dictatorship; and
eliminate they did.
Through these newly formed Labor Camps, Che ordered the death of
hundreds of thousands of helpless Cubans, including women and children
as young as 14 years old. He personally executed over 180 individual
people, though some say much more fell at his own hands. A special
detail at the camps was appointed to deal with the "Gay Problem" as they
were imprisoned as well, and journalists were given no free voice as
promised.
Following the takeover of the government, this newly formed
Soviet-backed regime created a police state that incarcerated a higher
percentage of people than Joseph Stalin's communist Regime and executed
more people in the first three years than Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime did
in its first six years.
During the Kennedy administration in 1962, after much debate as to
whether the Soviets even had any involvement with the Cuban revolution
or the development of its government, Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev
worked with Castro to place long range nuclear weapons inside Cuba,
therefore ending the debate and creating a new one.
After Kennedy met with the Soviet representatives, the event ended
without incident and the missiles were removed. However, Che was not
happy with the outcome and both he and Castro felt betrayed by their
Soviet big brother. Che was quoted in the Cuban Socialist newspaper "The
Daily Worker" as saying, "If the rockets had remained, we would have
used them all and directed them against the very heart of the United
States, including New York."
In 1965, after securing Castro's supremacy in Cuba, Che was contracted
by the Russians to help spread Soviet expansion by aiding and training
rebels in the Congo in Africa. While there, he became frustrated with
the lack of progress the revolution had achieved against the "European
Invaders" and was frustrated that their love of violence did not meet or
exceed his. He voiced his frustrations by stating:
"The blacks, those magnificent examples of the African race who have
conserved their racial purity by a lack of affinity with washing, have
seen their patch invaded by a different kind of slave: The Portuguese
... the black is indolent and fanciful, he spends his money on frivolity
and drink; the European comes from a tradition of working and saving
which follows him to this corner of America and drives him to get ahead."
When he decided to leave Africa and abandon the Soviet expansion efforts
there he later spoke on a radio talk show with Louis Pons and stated:
"We're going to do for blacks exactly what blacks did for the
revolution. By which I mean: nothing."
Two years later in 1967 Che traveled to Bolivia to foment revolution
where ironically not a single peasant joined him or the Soviet
Revolution. Also ironically he soon found listening ears within the
middle-upper class instead and they soon followed him in killing
thousands of innocent Bolivians in a short-lived rebellion. Soon after,
Bolivian police hunted him down with aid from United States intelligence
and brought him in.
Capturers later stated, "He was very brave when he was at La Cabana
Fortress murdering innocent civilians, including a 14-year-old child,
but he seemed really scared after he was captured."
Reportedly Che pleaded for his life stating, "I am much more valuable to
you alive than dead."
Apparently his captors didn't agree. He was dealt with as he dealt with
countless others, sent to the firing squad and executed.
At a screening at the Sundance film festival for the movie, "Motorcycle
Diaries" based on Che's book, the audience stood and enthusiastically
applauded. Some have asked if they know what they are applauding—or who?
Those who support Che in Hollywood and leftist circles in academia claim
in response that Che Guevara was a free thinker and an idealist
revolutionary.
Supporters have also claimed that the revolution was long ago and Cuba
is better off now.
As of this writing though, a tremendous social struggle is boiling in
Cuba. Dissident liberals have demanded fundamental human rights from
their communist leader and in response all but one leader has been
imprisoned.
Among those imprisoned is an important Cuban journalist who is serving
20 years. He has spurred a new type of revolution by Cubans campaigning
to establish a system of independent libraries across the country free
of state control. The country struggles with a shortage of informative
reading material following the hundreds of book burnings led by Che
following the revolution. Totalitarian repression has fallen on this
campaign as well.
Is this the "Free Thinking" Che's supporters had in mind? To those that
proudly wear the iconic picture of Che on their t shirts, it must be
asked: is this the "Idealism" they had envisioned? Is this the man that
is revered by those that choose to idolize him in film?
Che's form of communism, which he learned from his mentors the Soviets,
has collectively claimed the lives of over 100 million people over the
last century and counting, as the Chinese communist regime resumes its
policies. That is two times the entire death toll of World War II and
sixteen times the death toll of the infamous Nazi death camps.
With such a bloodlust for violence and an obvious hatred for true
freedom and the democratic process, Ernesto Che Guevara clearly does not
have the ingredients of a leader in history we would call a hero, not by
any stretch of the imagination. Was he a murderer? He is only identified
as such by his own action and words, and he doesn't seem to mind. Truly
he was the "Cold killing machine" he urged others to become.
Someday someone will make a film to remember those that have died at the
hands of the "Cold Killing Machine" of communism, and condemn their
executioners. Then real history will be known.
http://en.epochtimes.com/n2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9733
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