Sunday, October 10, 2004

Che Guevara in Peronist Argentina
He helped liberate Cuba, tried to foment a revolution in Zaire, unsuccessfully led an insurrection in Bolivia; but why did the internationalist Che Guevara overlook his home country Argentina?

When asked why he wouldn't join the protests against the authoritarian regime of Juan Peron (Che's parents were rabidly anti-Peronist and, of course, upper middle class), the young Che was reported to have testily retorted, "only if you would give me a gun."

Incidentally, did you know that, contrary to what was portrayed in a famous musical, Che Guevara's only interaction with Evita Peron was when he in his youth wrote her a letter asking for a Jeep? I often wonder whatever happened to that letter: the most famous Latin American in twentieth century addressing the most powerful woman in perhaps all of the continent's history.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

One of my favorite history hypotheticals is: what if Evita and Che had fallen in love and ran away together from Buenos Aires, and executed together in Bolivia.