Free Republic

“Those Cuban-CIA men (Bay of Pigs vets) were as tough, dedicated and impetuous a group of soldiers as I’ve ever had the honor of commanding,” wrote legendary anti-communist mercenary “Mad Mike” Hoare, commander of the “Wild Geese,” in his book Congo Mercenary. ''This is the history of a failure,'' said the oddly frank opening lines of Che Guevara’s Congo Dairies. “I stood above Che Guevara, my boots near his head, just as Che had once stood over my dear friend and fellow 2506 Brigade member, Nestor Pino. ‘We're going to kill you all," Che said to Pino.’ Now, the situation...

The New York Times Sept. 4 feature on Tim Kaine1, shows that his year in Honduras introduced him not to Jesus Christ, but to Karl Marx. The story doesn't say that, exactly, but connect the dots with a little history, and an alarming picture emerges of Kaine's adventures with radicals and revolutionaries in 1980s Latin America. The Times notes that in Honduras: “Mr. Kaine embraced an interpretation of the gospel, known as liberation theology...” This wasn't mainstream “Catholic thought” at the time. It was a radical, Marxist-based ideology at odds with the Church, the pope, and the United States, but...

Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi is well known now for the abuses he has inflicted on his own people during more than four decades of brutal rule in Libya, but few remember the vast campaign of carnage and terrorism he orchestrated across West Africa and Europe when he was at the height of his powers. Nor are his more recent alliance with Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and his long-standing relationship with Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua -- both of whom are busy trampling their constitutions and moving toward dictatorship -- well understood. And the fact that all three governments support the Revolutionary Armed...

A memorial to a murderous socialist thug in the heart of the heart of capitalism: The base of the sculpture is inscribed with a Che quote that my ignorance of Spanish prohibited me from deciphering. But I’m pretty sure it wasn’t an apology for committing acts of terror and helping to derail a country for nearly half a century.I’ve never understood the left’s fascination with Che. I mean sure, he’s a socialist and that ostensibly means he’s a member of the people’s revolution or whatever euphemism the extremist proponents of government-run everything use for themselves. But the reality of Che...

HAVANA (Reuters) - Robert Redford (news) showed his new film about Che Guevara, "The Motorcycle Diaries," to the widow and children of the legendary guerrilla fighter on Sunday. "I came to present the film that I produced on Che Guevara and I am very happy to be in Cuba," Redford told Reuters before the private screening at Havana's Charles Chaplin cinema theater. He watched the film with Guevara's widow Aleida, daughter Aleidita and son Camilo, as well as Ramiro Valdes, a top military commander in Cuba's communist government who fought with Guevara and Fidel Castro (news - web sites) in...