Che Guevara






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Biography
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che red star enamel badge

2020: New Che Red star enamel badges now sold out. Details here. The only sales that really sustain these pages! A little badge of a star - who'd have thought something so small could mean something so big for so many but then again Che Guevara will live forever! As will Fidel Castro. They may no longer be upon this earth but they live on. Though it's hard to imagine that once two such figures lived and breathed the same air as us - look what we have left now in comparison.

This badge is also available @ ebay.co.uk (direct link to badge)



Never can there have been a more famous photograph than that photograph. You know the one (below). Che Guevara's handsome features photographed into eternity. His revolutionary beliefs may be know by the minority; his image used to sell capitalism until every last cent or penny is squeezed out of it (and I am as guilty as the next man in a world where it seems to have been silkscreened onto anything that doesn't move). But he is an icon and it is because of this image by Alberto Korda. And with it he is an eternal icon though I would guess most people out there (I'm talking the population of the Western World, I guess, and not Central or South America) couldn't say precisely what for.

© Paul Page, Lenin Imports, 2016



che guevara


    ALBERTO KORDA
    "Guerrillero Heroico", March 5, 1960

    Che Guevara at the La Coubre memorial service. Without doubt the most famous photo ever taken

    Fascinating info on the creation of this iconic photo can be found here

    © Estate of Alberto Korda


    Che Guevara was an Argentinean-born, Cuban revolutionary leader who became a left-wing hero. Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, known as Che Guevara, was born on 14 June 1928 in Rosario, Argentina into a middle-class family.


Recommended Reading: Che: The Diaries of Ernesto Che Guevara


He studied medicine at Buenos Aires University and during this time travelled widely in South and Central America. The widespread poverty and oppression he witnessed, fused with his interest in Marxism, convinced him that the only solution to South and Central America's problems was armed revolution.

In 1954 he went to Mexico and the following year he met Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. Guevara joined Castro's '26th July Movement' and played a key role in the eventual success of its guerrilla war against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.


che guevara
Che Guevara and Fidel Castro
© Estate of Che Guevara


Castro overthrew Batista in 1959 and took power in Cuba. From 1959-1961, Guevara was president of the National Bank of Cuba, and then minister of industry. In this position, he travelled the world as an ambassador for Cuba. At home, he carried out plans for land redistribution and the nationalisation of industry.

A strong opponent of the United States, he guided the Castro regime towards alignment with the Soviet Union. The Cuban economy faltered as a result of American trade sanctions and unsuccessful reforms. During this difficult time Guevara began to fall out with the other Cuban leaders. He later expressed his desire to spread revolution in other parts of the developing world, and in 1965 Castro announced that Guevara had left Cuba.


che guevara
Che Guevara Dead
© Estate of Che Guevara


Guevara then spent several months in Africa, particularly the Congo, attempting to train rebel forces in guerrilla warfare. His efforts failed and in 1966 he secretly returned to Cuba. From Cuba he travelled to Bolivia to lead forces rebelling against the government of René Barrientos Ortuño. With US assistance, the Bolivian army captured Guevara and his remaining fighters. He was executed on 9 October 1967 in the Bolivian village of La Higuera and his body was buried in a secret location. In 1997 his remains were discovered, exhumed and returned to Cuba, where he was reburied.


Source: BBC


Che Guevara autographs, photographs and more @ ebay.com (direct link to photographs)



Red Star
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che guevara red star badge

Price: £6.99 (UK Sterling) (UK Postage Inclusive. Outside UK please click here)

Che Guevara / Fidel Castro / Cuba Red Star

Really beautifully made red star enamel badge.

All in one securing pin.

2.5 cm accross.

2020: sold out. New.

This badge is also available @ ebay.co.uk when I last looked (direct link to badge)




Recommended Reading:





  • The Motorcycle Diaries (Movie Tie-in Edition) : Notes on a Latin American Journey


  • USSR/Soviet Militaria Patches & Badges Store



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