Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Nicolás Márquez: Che Guevara’s Own Words Shatter His Myth
Panam Post ^ | 18 Aug 2014 | Belen Marty

Posted on 05/24/2016 11:38:31 AM PDT by fella

Marxist Marketing Gimmick Cannot Overturn Murderous, Racist Legacy

Nicolás Márquez is a lawyer, journalist, political analyst, and native resident of the coastal city of Mar Del Plata, Argentina. Above all, Márquez is a writer.

Perhaps inspired by the fresh sea air that permeates the city, Márquez wrote El Canalla (The Scoundrel): The True Story of Che, where he brings to the surface the man beneath the myth, the Argentinean behind the Latin American, and the murderer underneath the façade of a righteous man.

Márquez speaks slowly and possesses the enviable vocabulary and oratory skills of man who has been immersed in endless debates across the political spectrum. His book has received both visceral reviews from critics and appreciation from those who view it as the unmasking of the real Che Guevara.

The third edition of the book was just released in early August, with presentations in Buenos Aires and Rosario.

Why does the myth of Che persist despite documented truths?

Progressives have strong emotions and weak ideas, and have no objection to sacrificing logic and documented truth before utopian dreams. For progressives, things are judged not by their results (proven to be disastrous), but by their objectives, supposedly noble, consisting of “saving the world’s poor.”

In the collective imagination, this is how Che is viewed. They don’t remember the man who shot and murdered [his opponents], but the man who supposedly serviced the “wretched of the earth.”

What surprised you the most when studying Che Guevara?

Ernesto Che Guevara: “I am not Christ or a philanthropist. I am the complete opposite of Christ. I fight for the things I believe in with all the weapons at my disposal and try to leave the other dead.”

What most surprised me, unlike the other books I’ve written, was how easy it was for me to destroy the myth.

Beyond the numerous biographies and references to other various sources, it is Che Guevara himself, in his memoirs, personal diaries, and complete works that recognize each and every one of his crimes.

In fact, he himself details each of the executions he personally carried out, and also makes note of the disdain he had for anyone who disagreed with his ideological delusions. In other words, to destroy the myth of Che, there is no better source than Che himself.

How would you describe Che Guevara in a few short words? And why do you call him a canalla (scoundrel)?

He was a man with an interesting general education, but little political education. He was reckless, cruel, selfish, defiant, and prone to making extreme and outrageous decisions.

He was also a man in grief, without inner peace, always willing to go to war that he himself had brought upon the world — a place that he believed was hostile and unbearable. This is why he had suicidal tendencies. But not a conventional suicide, [he wanted] an epic suicide — dramatic and romantic. He always dreamed of a death that would be “one of a kind,” and that’s how he died.

As far as “el canalla,” it is a play on words to grab the reader’s attention. Canalla is a word used in Argentinean soccer folklore to describe fans of Rosario Central. At the same time, however, to the Royal Spanish Adacamy, the word means “a vile and despicable man.” Che was a fan of this soccer club, and his personality also fits the definition.

What is the most famous myth surround this figure?

It is believed he was a Good Samaritan on a pilgrimage around the world, trying to save the forgotten, and was assassinated while on his quest. It a sort of Christ-like myth, since it conforms with the extreme self-sacrifice of the good preacher who is martyred to redeem the world.

The difference is that Christ — beyond the religious or theological connotations — killed no one, and preached tolerance and love among men. He promoted certain basic rules of coexistence and respect for private property (not to covet or steal the property of others), not to lie, kill, but love your neighbor.

Che literally preached “hatred as an element of struggle,” and the deaths on his head are counted by the dozen.

In July of 1956, he wrote: “I am not Christ or a philanthropist. I am the complete opposite of Christ. I fight for the things I believe in with all the weapons at my disposal and try to leave the other dead.” However, his uninformed disciples praise Che as if he were a kind of contemporary prophet.

Is there any sign that the myth may be fading, or is it growing stronger?

In the 1970s, the image of Che was still rather faithful to reality, as the uncompromising guerrilla fighter. This is who inspired the FARC in Colombia, the ERP in Argentina, the MIR in Chile, the Shining Path in Peru, and other guerrilla in the region.

Beginning in the 1980s, the myth began to form, and this supposed freedom fighter of steel became a marketing poster — a kind of corporate logo for mass consumption for progressives who live and enjoy the benefits of capitalism, but also feel guilty. They carry around Che’s image on their cell phone cases or as an ornament hanging from the rearview mirror of their cars.

I believe the myth is becoming increasingly stronger, and increasingly distant from the real Che Guevara.

What does it say about our Latin-American culture that there is so much fascination with an admitted murderer like Che?

It is not a problem only in Latin America but also in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Today, Che is a staple in popular movements, in various different forms and manifestations.

His image fits just as well within the Communist Party as it does on a soccer field; in a Rolling Stones concert, as well as it does in an environmentalist protest; in a labor demonstrations, or in a decorative frame in an elegant restaurant in any wealthy neighborhood of a Western capital.

Today, Che is a kind of fetish that emanates a certain likable rebelliousness, to which he adds his photogenic, attractive face. Most people who see it immediately associate him with various “just causes.”

Why are there so few Che fans who are willing to move to Cuba and live out his project?

Che created a concentration camp on the Guanahacabibes peninsula to punish homosexuals, and 99 percent of those who raise the equality flag don’t have the slightest idea.

Because it is a superficial fanaticism by useful idiots who display the banner of Che Guevara without any greater commitment than simply that.

They’re mere social networking Guevaristas who seek to express their dissatisfaction with a world that offers them a much higher quality of life than the world Che wanted or that has materialized in Cuba.

Ultimately, they are fans, and they know it. They only go to Cuba to tour socialism for a week and then they go back to their respective countries of origin and continue enjoying the internet and Coca-Cola.

21st-century Guevaristas are all talk, and that talk is worth as much as those decorative Che posters.

How is it that socialists who are in favor of same-sex marriage worship a racist and homophobe, based on the descriptions of Che in your book?

Because they are unaware and have not read about it. Che lives because he is dead, and what makes him stand out in today’s world are all the things that he is not. He is an anachronism that represents absolutely nothing that today’s uninformed socialists promote in the way of cultural reform.

Che created a concentration camp on the Guanahacabibes peninsula to punish homosexuals, and 99 percent of those who raise the equality flag don’t have the slightest idea about these Gueravista camps in Cuba.

They raise up a cardboard idol, and the few activists who may actually be willing to risk their lives do so not because of revolutionary focalism, but after snorting a line of cocaine — a bourgeois vice that an ascetic like Che would not have hesitated to punish with death.

Translated by Guillermo Jimenez.


TOPICS: Local News; Miscellaneous; Society
KEYWORDS: belenmarty; che; cheguevar; cheguevara; cuba; hugochavez; nicaragua; nicolasmaduro; nicolasmrquez; russia; venezuela
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-32 last
To: SatinDoll

Word is Fidel helped them to find him. Even Fidel found Che’s story tiresome, but he could always use a martyr.


21 posted on 05/24/2016 12:43:08 PM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: cld51860

The same office liberal insists on wearing a jacket with epaulets and a Chinese red star on it. One day I asked what the hell he wore it for - he didn’t think the jacket meant anything.

Leftist fashion, I’ve notice, is militaristic and features murderers. Methinks ‘coexist’ is a one sided affair with them.


22 posted on 05/24/2016 12:48:33 PM PDT by lacrew
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

...and Jane Fonda was famously quoted as wanting to “do him”. Skanky evil woman


23 posted on 05/24/2016 1:11:28 PM PDT by Jan_Sobieski (Sanctification)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: SatinDoll
Che Guevara was killed by the CIA assassin Felix Rodriquez, who had caught up with him in the jungles of Bolivia.

Unfortunately, not soon enough.

24 posted on 05/24/2016 1:12:15 PM PDT by Navy Patriot (America, a Rule of Mob nation)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Navy Patriot

Successful hunt! Kill a commie for mommie ;-)


25 posted on 05/24/2016 1:12:15 PM PDT by Jan_Sobieski (Sanctification)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: lacrew

Was teaching Confirmation with my 30 something year old co-catechist who was born in Puerto Rico of Cuban parents that had escaped the communist paradise. One of the teen candidates came in with a Che back pack. She questioned him and he gave some pap answer of Che being a hero and we both said in unison “But he was a murderer”. She took him aside and spoke Spanish to him in low but firm tones for about 5 minutes. When finished he thanked her. Turns out he never heard the other side of the myth and said he would no longer use the back pack. He was a good kid and I was proud of my friend for taking the time to make her case. Don’t think I would have been as persuasive in english. :)


26 posted on 05/24/2016 1:13:20 PM PDT by Shark24 (.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Navy Patriot
We need the animation.


27 posted on 05/24/2016 1:13:24 PM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: fella

Bookmark


28 posted on 05/24/2016 1:50:33 PM PDT by Sergio (An object at rest cannot be stopped! - The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lacrew
Oct. 9th 1967, socialist revolutionary and guerilla leader Che Guevara, age 39, is killed by the Bolivian army. The U.S.-military-backed Bolivian forces captured Guevara on October 8 while battling his band of guerillas in Bolivia and assassinated him the following day. His hands were cut off as proof of death and his body was buried in an unmarked grave. In 1997, Guevara’s remains were found and sent back to Cuba, where they were reburied in a ceremony attended by President Fidel Castro and thousands of Cubans.

Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna was born to a well-off family in Argentina in 1928. While studying medicine at the University of Buenos Aires, he took time off to travel around South America on a motorcycle; during this time, he witnessed the poverty and oppression of the lower classes. He received a medical degree in 1953 and continued his travels around Latin America, becoming involved with left-wing organizations. In the mid 1950s, Guevara met up with Fidel Castro and his group of exiled revolutionaries in Mexico. Guevara played a key role in Castro’s seizure of power from Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and later served as Castro’s right-hand man and minister of industry. Guevara strongly opposed U.S. domination in Latin America and advocated peasant-based revolutions to combat social injustice in Third World countries. Castro later described him as “an artist of revolutionary warfare.”

Guevara resigned—some say he was dismissed—from his Cuban government post in April 1965, possibly over differences with Castro about the nation’s economic and foreign policies. Guevara then disappeared from Cuba, traveled to Africa and eventually resurfaced in Bolivia, where he was killed. Following his death, Guevara achieved hero status among people around the world as a symbol of anti-imperialism and revolution. A 1960 photo taken by Alberto Korda of Guevara in a beret became iconic and has since appeared on countless posters and T-shirts. However, not everyone considers Guevara a hero: He is accused, among other things, of ordering the deaths of hundreds of people in Cuban prisons during the revolution.

29 posted on 05/24/2016 2:24:52 PM PDT by Robert DeLong (u)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator
One of my favorite gifs… right up there w/ the one of Hilary climbing up a ladder, out of the water somewhere around 'Mautha's Vineyard', w/ perfect hair, and her big fat cellulited ass shaking about like jello.

Anyone still got that disgusting {motion} picture/gif around ?

30 posted on 05/24/2016 2:33:51 PM PDT by CIBvet (So how's all this FAST TRACKED - FREE TRADE workin' out for ya so far, Comrade Job-Seekers ?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: SMARTY

Presidnet Obeyme?


31 posted on 05/24/2016 2:44:40 PM PDT by normbal (normbal. somewhere in socialist occupied America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: fella

Ernesto Guevara-Lynch was an upper middle class Argie white boy who was turned in by Bolivian Indians who couldn’t tolerate his SJW BS anymore.


32 posted on 05/24/2016 2:48:11 PM PDT by Clemenza (Lurking)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-32 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson