Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara

Date

1928–1967

Description

City of birth: Rosario
Country of birth: Argentina
Field of activity: Politics — activism, military

More detail coming ...

Quotes

‘Neither. I was drawn to him because of the things in him that transcended the political ideas of the day: his will, his commitment and his total willingness to engage at all levels, all the time, in aid of someone else, for people he hadn't met, he didn't know. He never benefited from any of this. He wasn't interested in power.’

Author

Steven Soderbergh

Speaker

Steven Soderbergh

Title of the publication

Rebel without a Pause

Other contributors

Stuart Jeffries, interviewer

Publisher (or journal name with vol. and number)

Guardian

City of publication

London

Country of publication (modern nation-state equivalent)

United Kingdom

Publication date

16 December 2008

Location [pp. or web]

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/dec/16/steven-soderbergh-film-che-guevara

Original language

English

Genre

Interview

Context

Steven Soderbergh’s response to the question ‘Which was the bigger draw for Soderbergh: Guevara's glamour or his politics?’ Soderberg directed a four-and-a-half-hour, two-part Che Guevara biopic, in Spanish, starring Benicio Del Toro.

‘And tonight we gather, you and us, to try to somehow express those feelings in relation to who was one of the closest to us, one of the most admired, one of the most loved and, without a doubt, the most extraordinary of our revolutionary comrades; to express those feelings to him and to the heroes who have fought with him and to the heroes who have fallen with him, his internationalist army, which has been writing a glorious and indelible page in history. ... During those first moments he was our troop’s doctor. And so, the bonds were forged and the comradeship feelings arose. He was imbued with a deep spirit of hatred and contempt for imperialism, not only because his political background had already acquired a considerable degree of development, but because he had only recently had the opportunity to witness in Guatemala the criminal imperialist intervention through the mercenary soldiers who ruined the revolution in that country. … And as a revolutionary, as a communist revolutionary, as a truly communist. He had an infinite faith in moral values, he had an infinite faith in the conscience of men. And we must say that in his conception he saw with absolute clarity tat in the building of communism in the human society moral incentives were to be the main driver. … And if it is about pain, it hurts us not only that a man of action has been lost as, it hurts that a virtuous man has been lost, what hurts us is that a man of exquisite human sensibility and intelligence has been lost. It hurts us to think that he was only 39 years old at the time of his death, it hurts us to think of how many fruits of that intelligence and experience in growth we have missed the opportunity to witness in its full potential.’

Author

Fidel Castro

Speaker

Fidel Castro

Title of the publication

'Speech by the Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz at the solemn evening in memory of Commander Ernesto Che Guevara, in the Plaza de la Revolucion, on 18 October 1967'

Other contributors

n/a

Publisher (or journal name with vol. and number)

Fidel Soldado de las Ideas (Soldier of Ideas)

City of publication

Havana

Country of publication (modern nation-state equivalent)

Cuba

Publication date

18 October 1967

Location [pp. or web]

http://www.fidelcastro.cu/en/discursos/speech-commander-chief-fidel-castro-ruz-solemn-evening-memory-commander-ernesto-che

Original language

Spanish

Genre

Speech

‘For a long time in the United States and in many other countries I have been given the honor of being considered the brain of the revolution, the cold mastermind, the Leftist, the power behind the throne. Well, personally speaking I wouldn't be bothered about this, but my honesty as a revolutionary, my innate modesty and honesty force me to confess that the top Leftist in Cuba is Fidel Castro and that the greatest danger to the United States in Cuba is the danger of Fidel, and not me.’

Author

Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara

Speaker

Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara

Title of the publication

‘Che Guevara Interview on ABC’s ‘Issues & Answers’, March 1964 [Audio]’

Other contributors

Lisa Howard, Interviewer

Publisher (or journal name with vol. and number)

Che Guevara YouTube Channel

City of publication

Havana

Country of publication (modern nation-state equivalent)

Cuba

Publication date

22 March 1964

Location [pp. or web]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3wAQG6HUGQ

Other location

https://www.walterlippmann.com/che-032264.html

Original language

Spanish and English

Genre

Television interview