Revolutionary. He was born Ernesto Guevara in Rosaria, Argentina to a well off middle-class family. He attended the University of Buenos Aires and received a medical degree in 1953. Guevara didn't spend much time comforting the sick as he became an activist during a time of political upheaval in Argentina. He was soon forced to leave, convinced that revolution was the only remedy for social inequities. 1954 found him in the company of Fidel Castro leading the guerrilla war against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Upon Castro assuming power, Guevara served as minister of industry. Disenchanted with Cuba, he left, appearing in Boliva with a small band of supporters. They failed to build popular support among Bolivians and the army tracked him down, took him prisoner and executed him after army members drew straws for the task. He was buried in a not too secret grave near a dirt airstrip outside the little mountain village of Vallegrande in Central Bolivia. He was disinterred by socialist sympathizers in 1997 and returned to Cuba. The small casket containing his bones was placed on view in the Plaza of the Revolution in Havana, while thousands of Cubans paraded past. This was the start of a week of honors and ceremonies for the slain Guevara literally turning him into a socialist saint. After using the highway between Havana and the destination city of Santa Clara as a procession route with thousands lining the way, a ceremony attended by Castro and thousands of people was held on October 17, 1997, Che Guevara was interred in a Socialist shrine in the city where he commanded the battle of Santa Clara that ousted Fulgencio Batista in 1958. The tomb has become a center of pilgrimage.
Revolutionary. He was born Ernesto Guevara in Rosaria, Argentina to a well off middle-class family. He attended the University of Buenos Aires and received a medical degree in 1953. Guevara didn't spend much time comforting the sick as he became an activist during a time of political upheaval in Argentina. He was soon forced to leave, convinced that revolution was the only remedy for social inequities. 1954 found him in the company of Fidel Castro leading the guerrilla war against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Upon Castro assuming power, Guevara served as minister of industry. Disenchanted with Cuba, he left, appearing in Boliva with a small band of supporters. They failed to build popular support among Bolivians and the army tracked him down, took him prisoner and executed him after army members drew straws for the task. He was buried in a not too secret grave near a dirt airstrip outside the little mountain village of Vallegrande in Central Bolivia. He was disinterred by socialist sympathizers in 1997 and returned to Cuba. The small casket containing his bones was placed on view in the Plaza of the Revolution in Havana, while thousands of Cubans paraded past. This was the start of a week of honors and ceremonies for the slain Guevara literally turning him into a socialist saint. After using the highway between Havana and the destination city of Santa Clara as a procession route with thousands lining the way, a ceremony attended by Castro and thousands of people was held on October 17, 1997, Che Guevara was interred in a Socialist shrine in the city where he commanded the battle of Santa Clara that ousted Fulgencio Batista in 1958. The tomb has become a center of pilgrimage.
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