El Che

El Che

Ernesto Lynch, later known as “Che Guevara” was half Irish but he was born in Argentina in 1928. He is one of the most important history figure heads in Cuba because with his help, Castro was able to overthrow the government at that time.
Guevara studied medicine at the University of Buenos Aires and later worked as a doctor in Guatemala. When he was in Guatemala, he witnessed as the President Jacobo Arbenz was being overthrown by an American backed military coup. Because of this sight, Guevara decided to be part of the Cuban Revolution with Fidel Castro.
In 1956, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, and about eighty other men and women arrive in Cuba to attempt an overthrow of the government led at that time by General Fulgencio Batista. Their plan was to set up a base in the Sierra Maestra mountains. On the way to the mountains, they were attacked by Batista’s troops. When they reached the Sierra Maestra Mountains, only sixteen men were left with twelve weapons among them. For the next couple months, Fidel Castro’s guerrilla army raided army bases that had been left alone and in that way they were able to restock their weapons.
When the guerrillas took hold of the territory, they gave the land to the peasants. The peasants, in return, helped Castro’s force in going against Batista’s army. Sometimes, the peasants joined Castro’s guerrilla as pay for the returned land.
Many innocent people were tortured by Batista’s men in an effort to find out important information about Guevara and Castro’s force. Many of the suspects were executed in public and left hanging there as a warning to the others who wanted to join the rebels. This caused even more people to join the guerrillas.
In 1958, forty-five more organizations joined the revolutionaries. These organizations were mostly made op of middle class people. Now, the guerrilla had support of the poor and the middle class. The response General Batista gave was by sending more troops to the military base of the...

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