His picture is seen so much, might as well educate yourself!

How Che and Fidel Met:

Guevara met Fidel Castro and Fidel's brother Raúl in Mexico City where the two sought refuge after being exiled from Cuba. The Castro brothers were preparing to return to Cuba with an expeditionary force in an attempt to overthrow General Fulgencio Batista, who had assumed dictatorial powers following a coup d'état during the 1952 presidential elections. Guevara quickly joined the "26th of July Movement", named in commemoration of the date of the failed attack on the Moncada barracks that was the cause of Castro's exile.

Shortly after disembarking in a swampy area near Niquero in southeastern Cuba, the expeditionary unit was attacked by Batista's forces. Guevara, the group's physician, laid down his knapsack containing medical supplies in order to pick up a box of ammunition dropped by a fleeing comrade, a moment which he later recalled as marking his transition from doctor to combatant. The remaining rebels fled into the Sierra Maestra mountains, where they slowly grew in strength, seizing weapons and winning support and recruits from the local peasants in rural areas and intellectuals and workers in urban areas. Guevara exhibited great courage, skills in combat, and ruthlessness, and soon became one of Castro's ablest and most trusted aides. Within months, Guevara rose to the highest rank, Comandante (Major), in the revolutionary army. Guevara recorded the two years spent in overthrowing Batista's regime in a detailed account entitled Pasajes de la Guerra Revolucionaria (English translation, Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War, 1968), first published in 1963. The book is composed of a series of articles that originally appeared in Verde Olivo, a weekly publication of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.

Revolutionary Government:

After Castro's troops entered the capital of Havana on January 2, 1959, a new socialist government was established. Shortly thereafter, Guevara was declared "a Cuban citizen by birth" and divorced his Peruvian wife, Hilda Gadea, with whom he had one daughter. Later he married a member of Castro's army, Aleida March. The couple would have four children together.In 1959, he was appointed commander of the La Cabaña Fortress prison. During his six months tenure in this post (January 2 through June 12, 1959[4]), he oversaw the trials and executions of many former Batista regime officials, including members of the BRAC[5] secret police. Some sources say 156 people were executed, others estimate as many as 500. Later, Guevara became an official at the National Institute of Agrarian Reform[6], President of the National Bank of Cuba[7], and Minister of Industries[8]. In this capacity, Guevara faced the challenge of transforming Cuba's capitalist agrarian economy into a socialist industrial economy. After negotiating a trade agreement with the Soviet Union in 1960, Guevara represented Cuba on many commercial missions and delegations to Soviet-aligned nations in Africa and Asia after the United States imposed an embargo on the nation. Guevara helped guide the Castro regime on its socialist, proto-Communist, path. An active participant in the economic and social reforms implemented by Castro's government, he became known in the West for his fiery attacks on US foreign policy in Africa, Asia, and especially Latin America. His highly influential manual on guerrilla strategy and tactics (English translation, Guerrilla Warfare, (1961)) advocated peasant-based revolutionary movements in the developing countries. El socialismo y el hombre en Cuba (1965), published in English as Man and Socialism in Cubain 1967, is an examination of Cuba's new brand of Socialism and Communist ideology. The ideal Communist society is not possible unless the people first evolve into a 'new man' (el Hombre Nuevo). For this a socialist state would first be necessary, a ladder to be ascended and then cast away in a society of equals without states or governments. Prior to the Cuban Missile Crisis, Guevara was part of a Cuban delegation to Moscow in early 1962 with Raúl Castro where he endorsed the planned placement of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. Guevara believed that the installation of Soviet missiles would protect Cuba from any direct military action against it by the United States.

Guevara believed that a small group (foco) of guerrillas, by violently targeting the government, could actively foment revolutionary sentiment among the general populace, so that it was not necessary to build broad organisations and advance the revolutionary struggle in measured steps before launching an armed insurrection. However, the failure of his "Cuban Style" revolution in Bolivia was thought to have been due to his lack of grassroots support there, and hence this strategy is now thought by some to be ineffective. It worked in Cuba because the people already wanted to get rid of Batista. All they needed was a vanguard to inspire them. As a government official, Guevara served as an example of the "New Man" (el Hombre Nuevo). He regularly devoted his weekends and evenings to volunteer labour, be it working at shipyards, in textile factories or cutting sugarcane. He believed such sacrifice and dedication on the part of the people was necessary to achieve true Communism through the Socialist society. Guevara was also known for his austerity, simple lifestyle and habits. For example, upon becoming a member of the government, he refused an increase in pay, opting to continue drawing the (considerably) lower salary he received as a Comandante (Major), in the Rebel Army.

Tomorrow: Now you see him, now you don't!