1. ERNESTO “CHE”
GUEVARA
From “The Motorcycle
Diaries” to the man behind
the legend

2. ERNESTO – EARLY YEARS
Ernesto Guevara de la Serna
was born on May 14, 1928
He was born into an upper
middle-class family
Joined the Partido Union
Democratica as a teenager
“What we had in common - our restlessness, our
impassioned spirits, and a love for the open road.”

3. THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES
“This isn't a tale of heroic feats. It's about two
lives running parallel for a while, with common
aspirations and similar dreams.”

4. SURVIVAL
Two Argentine Leprosy Experts Tour
Latin America By Motorcycle.

5. COLONIALISM AT ITS WORST
“And then many things became very clear... we
learned perfectly that the life of a single human being
is worth millions of times more than all the property of
the richest man on earth.”

6. SAN PABLO LEPER VILLAGE
 Initial Purpose, yet final stop in the film
 Divided by Amazon River, united in spirit

7. GUATEMALA
 Major land reform
 1953 - Guevara joined the government
of President Jacabo Arbenz
 Arbenz was overthrown by a CIA-
sponsored coup
"I was born in Argentina, I fought in Cuba, and I
began to be a revolutionary in Guatemala."

8. “Let the world
change you and
you can change
the world”

9. CUBAN REVOLUTION
 Joined Fidel Castro’s July 26
Movement in Mexico
 Played a key role in the
success of the guerilla war
 Helped overthrow Cuban
dictator, Fulgencio Batista
“A revolution without guns?
It would never work.”

10. REVOLUTION AFTERMATH
 Fidel Castro took control of Cuba
 Guevara strongly opposed the
United States
 Guevara attempted to align Cuba
with the Soviet Union
 Cuban leaders went against
Guevara due to his criticism of
the Soviet Union’s lack of
support for Cuba
 1965 – Guevara leaves Cuba

11. CONGO AND BOLIVIA
 Che traveled to the Congo and Bolivia to prepare a new
revolution
 Guevara was not welcome in either country and was
ultimately turned over to the Bolivian army
 1967 – Che was
executed at age 39
 It has been said Che
resembles Jesus
Christ in his death
pictures

12. HERO OR TERRORIST?
“If you can tremble with
indignation every time an injustice
is committed in the world, then we
are comrades.”
“To send men to the firing
squad, judicial proof is unnecessary.
These procedures are an archaic
bourgeois detail. This is a revolution!
And a revolutionary must become a
cold killing machine motivated by
pure hate."

13. CLASS DISCUSSION
Did Che Guevara’s
view on colonialism
contribute to his
development into a
hero or a terrorist?