Che Guevara and Fidel Castro: The greatest team of leaders in Cuban history?

Charlie Crockett Latin American and Caribbean history Spring 2014

Whenever the country of Cuba is mentioned, the first people that come to mind are always Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. Separately these men were good leaders with a strong motivation to do well in improving the country of Cuba, they were just dreamers without the ability to accomplish these dreams. But, when they worked together as a team, the unthinkable became a reality. According to a number of scholars, the relationship between Che Guevara and Fidel Castro is proven historically as the most impactful connection between leaders that Cuba has ever experienced, creating some of the greatest triumphs in the history of Cuba such as the Cuban Revolution, and mastery of guerilla warfare. Nick Caistor is an accomplished journalist and author of the book, Che Guevara, A Life. In his book, Caistor argues that Che Guevara was One of the most instantly recognizable and influential figures in the twentieth-century Caribbean history.1 Che Guevara was born and raised in Argentina. He grew up in a moderately aristocratic family. He had a love for his country, but never really had an understanding about the poverty in the lower class. Che was 23 now, so he and his friend Alberto Granado set off on a trip through South America. Che had witnessed the true poverty in countries such as Peru, Columbia, Venezuela, and Chile. When Che was finally exposed to the low class of Latin America, he began to develop a desire to help and make a change in these conditions. The only problem was that Che didnt know how he was going to make these changes. He didnt have nearly enough power for that. So, in 1953 Che successfully finished medical school and decided to travel again through Latin America eventually settling in Guatemala.

Caistor, Nick. Che Guevara: A Life. Northampton Massachusetts: Interlink Books, 2010. Print. Pg. VII.

While Che was in Guatemala, the CIA overthrew the current president, forcing Che to move into Mexico. This move allowed Che to meet a man named Raul Castro.2 Christopher Minster is a literature professor and writer from Ecuador. Minster has a bachelor degree as well as a PhD in the study of Spanish and specializes in Latin American studies. Minster reflects on his feeling about the way Castro is viewed when he says, Many Cubans consider him a monster who destroyed Cuba, while others consider him a visionary who saved their nation from the horrors of capitalism.3 Fidel Castro was born into a large middle class family with many siblings. Fidel was always a competitive kid growing up and continued to be as he moved into law school. During this time, Fidel had great interest in politics, quickly learning the skills necessary to becoming a leader. In 1952, the Cuban president, Batista, came to power, and Castro was set on overthrowing him. Castro first tried using the law against Batista with the knowledge he acquired from law school, but this tactic was not successful. Fidel now knew that the only way he was going to overthrow Batista was by force.4 On July 26th 1953, Fidel led an attack on Batistas troops with his own group of rebels. This attack resulted in Castros capture as well as his brother Raul. Later on in 1955, Batista freed some prisoners of political power, including Fidel. When these prisoners were freed, they set off to Mexico. In June of 1955, a couple of Che Guevaras Cuban friends introduced him to Raul Castro. In the book, Che Guevara: In Search of Revolution, the author Calvin Craig

Miller, Calvin. Che Guevara: In Search of Revolution. Greensboro, North Carolina: Morgan Reynolds Publishing, 2006. Print. Pg. #. 3 Minster, Christopher. "Biography of Fidel Castro." About.com Latin American History. n.d. Web. 14 April 2014. 4 Miller, pg. 62.
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Miller tells about Guevaras first interaction with the Castro family. Raul and Che quickly engaged in conversation and learned that they had similar beliefs. Miller believed that both Che and Raul thought that the best way to spread socialism was by force.5 Later on, Raul introduced Che to his brother Fidel. Ches first impression of Fidel was that he was a very tall, strong man. Fidel also lived up to his reputation of being very energetic and talkative. The two men talked for many hours and got along famously. Che became excited to work with Fidel. The first job that Fidel gave to Che was working in the medical field as a doctor for a small group of revolutionaries.6 As the process went forward in creating an army, there was a need for funding so that the revolutionaries would have guns with which to train. So, Che and Fidel started secretly gaining funds for such materials. Time went by and as Fidel became closer with Che, he started to trust him more and decided to change his position from doctor to second in command, for training the guerilla fighters.7 The way that Che trained the fighters was exceptionally difficult and physically demanding to the point where soldiers would be literally dragging on the ground. Miller explains that Che had a wider variety of talents. Even though Che was mostly educated in the medical field, he was thought of as a great military leader and knowledgeable in guerilla warfare.8 Even when Che worked along side Bayo(head trainer of guerilla soldiers), Bayo thought of Che very highly. For example, when Che received top honors over him, he was completely supportive to

Miller, pg. 62. Ibid, pg. 63. 7 Ibid, pg. 68. 8 Ibid, pg. 69.
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Che and said, Because he is, without a doubt, the best of everybody.9 Many of the soldiers didnt approve of the guerilla tactics because they thought of guerilla warfare to be cowardly. This did not matter to Che or Fidel because they knew that the best way to succeed with the resources they had was by using guerilla tactics. Everything was moving smoothly until June 26th 1956 when police raided the camp and captured the guerillas including Che Guevara. The police brought Che in for questioning and he told them everything; he gave out lots of information and made Fidel Castro very angry. By using his powers and ability to bribe, Fidel was able to get most of the guerillas out of jail, not including Che as a result of his disloyalty. On November 25th, Fidel and his 90 men all boarded a ship that was designed to carry only 12 people.10 This ship would take them on a trip lasting about a week long from Poza Rica to Tuxpan. Again, Castro will attempt attack on Batistas army. This time, Castro would be taking his 82 guerilla fighters and attempting to overpower Batistas army of 40,000 soldiers.11 The first attack began on January 17th, 1957. Many men were killed and left Castro with only 15-20 soldiers alive. Usually this would be a defeat but as Castros men regrouped something unexpected happened. There was a large group of local peasants that came to fight with Castros men. This brought Castros numbers back up and allowed for another attack. When the fighting started up again, Che shot and killed one of Batistas men. Miller sees this moment as a changing point for Che and

Miller, pg. 69. Ibid, pg. 71. 11 Ibid, pg. 75.

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a start to a new mindset of leadership from Che.12 This was the first time that Che had ever killed someone. At that moment in time, Che had been changed forever. Killing was now part of who he was, no longer seen as a doctor, but as a man willing to kill anyone in order to help end the struggle.13 Scholars started to see him in a couple different ways, some saw that Che just had a thirst to kill and found enjoyment in that, and other believed that Che was just passionate in fighting for the rebel cause and he killed for the good.14 Che Guevaras new identity and legend reputation became know as the man willing to risk everything and anybody to win the struggle against capitalist oppression.15 At the end result of the war, Castros men came out on top. They defeated all odds and fought their way onto Batistas radar. This was tough for Batista because even though Castros body was never found or accounted for, him along with Raul and Che were counted as dead. This was tough for Batista because he thought that with Castro dead, he wouldnt have to worry about any more attacks. This would work in Castros favor in later attacks. Miller points out that Fidel Castro and Che Guevara for the most part had similar beliefs when is came to making decisions. So when the Miami Pact was sent to Che and Fidel, Che told Fidel that he thought it was a complete rejection of communism that would be against all that Castro was for. Castro decided to reject the Miami Pact, and this made Che a very happy person.16 Che said that the decision to refuse

Miller, pg. 83 Ibid, pg.83. 14 Ibid, pp. 83-84. 15 Ibid, pg. 84 16 Ibid, pg. 94.
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the Miami Pact made him happy not because of any personal beliefs, but for the benefit of the revolution. Castros army was becoming stronger and larger, so in mid February 1958, Fidel led an attack of Pino Del Agua. Using almost entirely guerilla tactics, the army would defeat Batista. This method was something that all the soldiers dreaded even though it was successful. After this attack from the guerilla fighters, the US stopped all sales of arms to Batista. The reason that the US cut off trade of arms with Batista was because of Batistas use of US planes and arms against civil insurrection, which violated treaties between the countries. This made Castro and Che become even hungrier to take over Batista because he was becoming weaker. Miller makes clear that the relationship between Che and Fidel grows in the times that they both hunger for the same goal, in this case that goal was to take advantage over Batistas weakness.17 September 14th is a day remembered by scholars as a weak time for Che Guevara.18 On this day, Che brought his men right into the middle of an ambush of Batistas men, forcing Che to run away and leave behind important materials such as medicine, food, and documents. This was a huge loss for Che and made his reputation as a solid military leader questionable. In A Life the author Nick Caistor writes specifically about this date to show that not everything Che Guevara did can be seen as heroic.19 On the other hand, months later Che and Fidel were ready to begin another attack. On December 29th, the two sides met at Santa Clara for a

Miller, pg.95. Caistor, pg. 48. 19 Ibid, pg. 48.

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battle that took to the air. Castro and Batistas airplanes rained intense fire on one another; this went on for some time until finally Batistas men couldnt take any more fire and surrendered. Castros men had done it, defeated Batista and successfully won the Cuban Revolution. The victory announcement was made just four days after, and as Castro and Che made their march, they couldnt help but think about the huge task for the future. Now that it was proven that the guerillas could take over a dictatorship, it was time to prove that they could govern the country as well. The true victory march took place in Havana on January 8, 1959. Fidel Castro came down the street riding in a captured tank, seemingly overtaken with power. As he rolled down the street, the people were unsure what to think of their new ruler. The people loved him even though they knew nothing about him. As Fidel gave his speech about his goals as leader, the content was highly general to say the least. Fidel talked about battling hunger and illiteracy, defending Cuba, and preventing corruption. Yet scholars say that Castro never had said how he would bring about these changes.20 As Fidel was increasingly growing in power, the US becomes more aware of what he was doing. The US even accused Castro of staging a bloodbath against Batista. This accusation is something that Castro didnt like, and his attitude towards the US started to change. Castro started giving harsh speeches, calling the North Americans gringos which is an ethnic slur. Miller also points out that as Fidel was gaining power, Che was becoming more and more distant. The relationship between the two

20

Miller, pg. 107.

of them was not the same as before, and as a result there will be chaos and disorder.21 Che was slowly being pushed away by Fidel in many instances. First, when Fidel sent Che on a goodwill tour to travel around Latin America expressing his adventurous personality. Che took this notion as a rewarding assignment, but what he was unaware of was the fact that his position was being slowly demoted by Fidel and scholars have pointed out that Fidel used this assignment as a way to take power away from Che. As the 60s came around, Fidel Castro continued to make the US suspicious about his communist reign. At this point, the CIA began keeping watch on Castro, especially the plans that Castro had for sending spy planes over to Cuba. While this was happening, the CIA began using Guatemala as a CIA training ground for the invasion force of the anti-Castro Cubans as well as CIA agents. At this point, Castro had no real defenses and was still unaware that the CIA has been following him. He had lost a lot of power and control, and all because he fell away from the teamwork that created his legacy. Scholars such as Calvin Miller, Nick Caistor, and Christopher Minster have studied on the continuous controversy about whether Che Guevara and Fidel Castro worked better as a team or as individuals. It is believed that Che Guevara was a man with great leadership skills and military knowledge, although without Fidel Castro he would have had no people to lead and no military to use his knowledge. Fidel Castro is widely remembered as a highly educated man with an incredible sense of patriotism and thirst for victory and freedom. Yet without Che Guevara, Fidel Castro

21

Ibid, pg. 116.

lost a sense of control and in return was unsuccessful. Together as a team, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara thrived and shocked the world as they led their country to unbelievable triumph. This was the most important, impactful connection between leaders that Cuba has ever experienced.

Bibliography
Books Caistor, Nick. Che Guevara: A Life. Northampton Massachusetts: Interlink Books, 2010. Print. Castaeda, Jorge. Compaero: The life and death of Che Guevara. New York: Alfred A. Knopf Inc, 1997. Print. Miller, Calvin. Che Guevara: In Search of Revolution. Greensboro, North Carolina: Morgan Reynolds Publishing, 2006. Print. Internet Minster, Christopher. Biography of Fidel Castro. About.com Latin American History. N.d. Web. 14 April 2014.

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