che on my mind by margaret randall

7/30/2019 Che on My Mind by Margaret Randall

1/20

margaret randall

cheon

mymind


2/20

che on my mindmargaret randall

Duke Uvety Pe Duham ad Lodo 03


3/20

03 Duke Uvety Pe. All ht eeved.

Pted the Uted State o Ameca o acd-ee pape

Deed y Coutey Leh Bake. Typeet Mo Po

y Te Iomato Sytem, Ic.

Lay o Coe Catalo--Pulcato Data

Radall, Maaet, 93

Che o my md / Maaet Radall.

pae cm

Iclude loaphcal eeece.isbn 978-0-83-78- (cloth : alk. pape)

isbn 978-0-83-9- (pk. : alk. pape)

. Guevaa, Che, 9897. . GuellaLat Ameca

Boaphy. 3. RevolutoaeLat AmecaBoaphy.

i. Ttle.

849..g8r3 03

980.0309dc3

[b]03038


4/20

This book is for Roxanne Dunbar-Ortz

with thanks, always, for conversations that matter


5/20

contents acknowledgments x

chapter one

A Death That Lead U Back to Le

chapter two

I Cua, Whee Ou Lve Came Toethe the Eveyday

chapter three

Multple Pm 9

chapter four

Coct Veo 9

chapter five

Socalm ad Ma Cua 3

chapter six

Tede Heat ad Roou Moal Code 43

chapter seven

Empowemet o the Eotc

chapter eight

How the Ma Wa Made 9


6/20

chapter nine

Che ad Fdel 7

chapter ten

Che ad Hayde 7

chapter eleven

Exec Powe, Exec Soldaty 87

chapter twelve

The Queto wthout a Awe 9

chapter thirteen

Wa ad Peace 99

chapter fourteen

Revoluto ad Relo

chapter fifteen

Che Leacy o Today Actvt

chapter sixteen

Poety Cloe the Ccle ad Ope Ite Ccle 33

notes 39 bibliography 47


7/20

acknowledgments

A lete o redng, onverstons, eoton, nd rsthnd ex-

perene hs gone nto ths book. Inuenes nd people re tooumeou to meto, o eve ememe at th pot my le.

Du the wt tel, I have ee ateul to Mak Beh, Joh

Beverley, Lous Bkord, Srh Brooks, Brbr Byers, Sbr

Moore, Wolram Morales, V. B. Price, Gregory Randall, Tineke Rit-

eester, Greg Ruggero, Robert Shwetzer, Susn Shern, nd

Rchad Vaa o mpotat put ad dcuo. I alo deeply

appecate my edto at Duke Uvety Pe, Gela Foado, adthe two aoymou eade whoe commet ad ueto e-

ched the text.


8/20

Che dead, uouded y h

capto, choolhoue, Valleade,

Bolva, Octoe 9, 97. Photo y

Feddy Alota.


9/20

chapter one

a death that leads us back to life

Ernesto Che Guevr oupes ple n our eotonl onog-

aphy uupaed y ayoe wth the excepto o Buddha, Mo-

hammed, Max, May, o Jeu o Nazaeth. Stll cotempoay

h death at the ae o thty-e t yet hal a cetuy ehd

ushe s gure revered n equl esure by both onvnedevolutoae ad apoltcal youth at the athet eache o ou

plaet. All ee hm a ymol o ocoomty ad etace.

Ad a wth o may huma weve emalmed myth, chola

ad thoe who dot thk pat the mae, devotee ad detacto

alke, ted to oe a moe uaced vew o the ma.

I old enough to reeber the world n whh he lved. I

wa pat o that wold, ad t ema a pat o me. Th wot ea poltcal o ecoomc teate, except whee that ot o aaly

tethe my oevato. It a poet emcece o a ea

ad o the ue who et exemple that ea. Thee mu may

alo help u ethk evolutoay chae ad ee how a eexam-

ato o htoy may pot to moe poductve way o achev

that chae.

This is the story o how Che haunts me. I call it Che on My Mind,kng the old Hogy Crhel nd Stewrt Gorrell tune


10/20

2 Chapter One

Georg on My Mnd. Its tht sprt nd wnderng rhyth I

wh to evoke: mov oe decto ad the aothe, explo-

th textue o that, v ee e to memoy ad to a co-

coue Che helped to hape.

I thee ote I wat to ememe that Guevaa wa t ad

oemot extaodaly huma. He elt the pa o othe deeply

ad uveted evey ocal hypocy, evey eed-aed copoate

cme ad mea-pted explotato. Wthout dout, the qualty

he emoded that made hm eloved y mllo wa h ue

capacty to e who he ad he wa. I Che, wod ad acto wee

one. Wht he dd ws onsstent wth wht he sd. In world

whee copoate cme, ovemetal leht o had, ad the de-terorton o orl vlues re every dy ore evdent nd en-

demc, the ma pcple he.

Becaue the eey o h teatoalm u a hot ow a

whe he wa alve, Che mae move eyod eay metapho. H

yth hs rened lve n dsprte ultures. Tht yth, how-

eve, ha ee wove y ed ad oe alke. Che mae, wod,

value, teto, uccee, ad alue have all ee haped toymolze that whch he mot deeply ahoed a well a that o

whch he ded.

The ost ous ge o Che n le, the photogrph o

h werng blk beret wth the sngle str nd lookng nto

the uture, ws snpped by hne on Mrh 5, 1960. A Belgn

reghter, Le Coubre, hd exploded n the Hvn hrbor, kllng

eghty Cubns. Che ppered t the ss unerl, nd when hestepped to the edge o the spekers pltor, Alberto Kord

Dz snpped two onseutve 5 res. Ths on ge

ha ccled the loe; t ha ee eatued o pote, cloth, ad

eve a advetemet o Smo vodka.1

Alost orty-ve yers er hs ssssnton, soe stll re-

eber hs sre wth prde or nostlg, others would sy

Good ddace, ad may moe have oly the vauet oto o

who he wao o oto at all. Yet om the otequey o h


11/20

A Death That Leads Us Back to Life 3

eveed had, peeved a Cua cypt; thouh the huded

o oaphe, teate, ad poem wtte to o aout hm; to a

llon portrts spry-pnted on wlls nd hep T-shrts wth

hs edtely reognzble vsge sold n bzrs ro Cro

to Sem Rep ad Naple to h ow Roao, Aeta, Che a

ame kow evey lauae o eath.

The way he acqued that ame woth a ew le. I Eeto

Guevrs ountry o orgn the bre syllble s brodly ppled

to all you male, much the ame way Buddy o Dude o ome

othe eec mht e ued Elh. A a you ma Ae-

ta, Guevaa wa Eeto o Eetto: the oldet o whoe ame

ehoed hs thers. Osonlly nd t derent perods durngh chldhood o adolecece, he epoded to a vaety o ck-

ame. It wat utl he aved Mexco ad joed Fdel Cato

ad h oup o Cua exle that he ecame Che: the Aete.

Meet the ma who would lead hm to h dety ave hm the

oquet that tuck, the oe that would e ced htoy. So

Che deote the oe a well a the amla. Oe o the twet-

eth cetuy mot uque peoalte aumed the commoeto verbl denttes, one shred by hundreds o thousnds n hs

ntve lnd. At the se te, one ppled to h t took on

ew ad dvdualzed mea. I Chethe ame a well a the

mathe oday ecame extaoday.

We may alo coax out a addtoal laye o mea om th

ame. It Aetea applcato to all male daw ou atteto

to cultueevey cultue I have kow whch the vey temdude, guy, buddy, man, bro, or ther equvlents brng to nd

sort o ho stne, tolerted or even orgven beuse boys

wll e oy ad me wll e me. I Elh, all oe ha to do

wth the vsul onogrphy s to reove the C; wht rens s

he: he, hm, the male poou. We ema ucocou o the leap

ou eye make a they utact the tal lette. Implcato lode

tel ou cell. It thouh the multple ad coteted aa-

tve o pulc dcoue that ealty, thouht, tepetato, ad


12/20

4 Chapter One

opo cotatly chae, ae made, umade, ad emade.2 It

n ths ontext tht the ne Che rres dstntly sulne

toe, oe I wll etu to a I pode the place o oth ma ad

myth tweteth-cetuy popula cocoue.

I never et Ernesto Guevr, but every so oen, wth n n-

sstene s physl s sprtul, hs eory drws e to revst

h le, pode the attacto he exet lo pat death, ad ead

anew his writings and what others continue to write about him. Myouce ae motly ecoday, my tuto thoe o a poet. I am

memezed ot y the ma powe, whch I oe d to e exa-

eated o hotheaded, ut y h cotued capacty to empowe.

I am moved moe y h cotecy ad eat eeoty o pttha y h ometme-quetoale poltcal tatey o tactc.

I reeber the oent o hs deth s vvdly s t were

yesterdy. Otober 9, 1967. Mexo Cty. A sngle other, I hd

ouht my te-moth-old to to lve that cty at the e-

o the decade. Now I alo had a Mexca huad ad two

dauhte. South o the ode had ecome my home. The ew

came, mpole to eleve at t ut quckly ad devatatlycomed, that the ma my eeato wa cout o to lead

Latin Americas great movement or social change was dead. Youngad eellou myel at the tme, I joed othe who ooded the

teet that ht to pat Che Vve (Che Lve) o wall that had

oe wte to tule om the tme o the Spah coquet.

Three weeks lter I trveled to the tny slnd o Jntzo on

beutul Lke Ptzuro n the stte o Mhon. I ws trns-lat o a Caada Flm Boad cew that wa mak a move

bout Runo Tyo.3 It ws Mexos Dy o the Ded, nd

let poceo o deou me ad wome woud the way

through narrow lanes to the islands cemetery at the top o the hill.4Thee wee Pupecha people, pehap alo Otom ad Nahua. O

the houlde they caed mmee ofrendas, amatue o had-

eed ead douh adoed wth pated owe ad d. They


13/20


would spend the nght wth ther deprted, pnkng t grve-

de, dk ad pay.

At tht oent Ches ssssnton t the hnds o y own

ountrys Centrl Intellgene Ageny (cia) stood n or every

deth I hd known. Wtnessng the rtuls o these ndgenous

poor, I thought o the Bolvns o the Altplno or who Che

ouht ad ded. Cultual devatato. Reato ad eello.

The uly edue o coquet. Mexco elaoate tual ad Che

al eot Bolva ecame extcaly lked my cocou-

e. Today, whe I thk o oe, the othe oat to the oeot

o my memoy.

It would be years beore I could begin to piece together how CheGuevaa ded. Wee he ad h two comade amuhed at Que-

brada del Churro or Quebrada del Yuro? ancahuaz or Mauricio?Dd n eney bullet nptte hs m2, or dd tht even ke

derene? Ws he so doubled over wth sth, hunger, nd

exhuston tht he ws unble to resst? Another eber o the

uella oce, oe o the ew who uvved, dece h leade

a weh ety poud o that lat day. Aothe potay hmda h e the mud, wthout the teth to l t o the

oud.

At the momet o h captue dd Che eally ay, Dot hoot.

I am Che Guevaa: moe ueul to you alve tha dead? What o

the ysterous young teher soe sy brought h lst el

shed ooked hersel? Most en n tht reote vllge osllted

etwee eacto o utalty ad ea. A woma aloe ouhtthe doomed ma uteace ad a ew edly wod. What ca

we e om th ede dpaty amo the vllae epoe

when the mysterious enemy combatant suddenly appeared in theirmdt? The me wee olde, mly ude the commad o the

superiors. Their meager paychecks demanded obedience to a chaino ond. A ew rsked hun gesture; ost ked

coqueo tace. The loe woma wa a teache. I addto to


14/20

6 Chapter One

he moe compaoate tct, he wa poaly alo omewhat

ette educated tha he eho.

Wht o the onverston Che teher to the ends ru-

moed to have had wth oe o the you Bolva olde uad-

ing him, about a misspelled word on a piece o paper? And aer his

capto took hm, wouded ad wth had ad eet oud, to the

mall choolhoue at La Huea, wee h lat wod eally Shoot,

owrd, you re only kllng n? All these ndents or pre-

umed cdet, all thee eal o emodeed quote, have ee

paed dow om wtee to ed o acquatace a well a

wending their way into the writing o utterly removed scribes, each

wth a patcula teet to deed.We do know tht n the nl eort to pture Guevr nd

the renng rebels n hs eted ore, n extrordnrly

cuel oeve wa lauched. Che wa eveely athmatc, ad o

moth all athma medcato ad cotoe wee emoved om

every hosptl, phry, nd ln over vst re to prevent

the possblty o the guerrlls ttkng dspensry nd get-

t the had o the pecou emede. May o the Bolvatoop wee eplaced y US Rae. The eemy outumeed the

uella appoxmately thee thouad to oe. A hadul o ex-

hauted, huy, ck evolutoae wee uouded y attal-

o o well-taed well-amed olde wth a le ojectve: to

do away wth the ma who tuck uch ea mpealm heat.

Soe o those solders treted ther ous prsoner wth re-

spet; others tunted or bttered h. One stole hs lst posses-sons ded obtnts wth he hd prosed to delver to

the ma amly, h ppe, moey, map, a le hadoled e,

ad o coue h day.

Among those present was an ofcial who called himsel CapitnRos. Ths ws Flx Rodrguez o the cia. He subjeted Gue-

vara to a belittling interrogation, then took him outside the school-houe ad popped hm up o he could et omeoe to ap h

pture wth the guerrll leder. Only er he hd ths personl


15/20


memeto dd he ode oe o h udel to cay out the exe-

cuto that had aleady ee decded at Laley ad appoved y

Bolvn presdent Ren Brrentos. In subsequent yers Rodr-

guez would repeat in sel-serving detail his story o those moments

wth Che, emellh t at evey tell.

Wth ther prze prey ded, the Bolvn ltry stged the

tbleux tht prnted tsel upon world n shok. A ouple

doze meme o the pe wee take to the mall hoptal the

eay tow o Valleade, whee the laudy oom had hatly

ee codtoed to dplay Bolva tophy o uequal wa. Thee

they were permitted to observe the bodies o Che and the other two

guerrlls, Wlly nd El Chno, ptured nd exeuted wth h.Guevaa ody wa elevated, peeted ot ad cete, thoe o

h two compao cumpled o the oo. Bolva ew photo-

aphe Feddy Alota deed ode ot to clm up oto the tale

that held the leeday uella, ad took a ee o photoaph

tht would beoe portnt ons, not only n keepng Ches

memoy alve ut alo hap that memoy to the utue.5

Those ges edtely evoke the rued Chrst tkendow om the co. They how a ma dplayed o a cemet la,

his head and torso slightly raised, long hair disheveled, naked romthe wat up, to pat ad a atully aaed jacket hd h

wounds. His lips are slightly partedalmost a aint smileand hiseye ope a xed o a utue oly he ca ee, oe whch e-

demption or the worlds disenranchised is assured. On a stretcher

pled over the slb-lke trough, he sees to be otng, but nwhat? Suely ot the odd amece o that hatly et tae.

I act, Che had aleady eu to oat ou collectve cocou-

ness. Deth deepened nd xed orever the vlues he stood or

le. The meae depcted thoe photoaphc mae ta-

ced evey va hope o alty lauched y Guevaa eeme.

You cat kll tacedece.

Stad aoud the ad e ae the olde who patcpated

the heo captue ad executo. Some ae you Ida, the


16/20

8 Chapter One

very people whose lves Che hoped to hnge. Alborts photo-

aph would evoke compao oth to Adea Matea Dead

Christad Remadt The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp.

In the ltter, the dotor onds the ttenton o hs students

much a the hh-ak mltay ofce the photoaph doe

o hs troops. In both, underlngs ollow the gze o the n n

hrge. There s lwys one set o eyes lookng soewhere else,

though. In the photogrph ge, whle the ofer ponts to

Che woud, udoutedly ty to covce the pe that they

all eulted om comat, oe ofce aze wade to ometh

o o eyod the pctue plae. Whe each uch mae

o mea, t alway a ood dea to ollow the wade aze.Over the next yers nd dedes ny rtsts would produe

new pntngs lludng to tht drt sene t Vllegrnde.

Stoe o the htoc day poleated, ew, wee authetcated,

or sply bee prts o legend n ux. Vllgers re sd to

hve ut lups o bloody hr to keep s rels or tlsns.

Cadle wee lt may vllae home. The people who wee u-

ale to ally aoud Che ad h uella oce le elt h powe death. Almot hal a cetuy late, mpovehed edet o the

aea tll ee to the pale Aetea a a at ad pay to hm

o macle the had lve.

Retu om myth to the eal htoy o what led up to the

oeo taedy, oe mut ak why a dtctvely whte Ae-

tnen hose n enently ndgenous regon o Bolv s the

ple n whh to ntte the twenteth-entury ontnentl lb-erton o Ltn Aer. Porteosthe Europenzed, quk-

wtted, nd ron ntves o Uruguy nd Argentns L Plt

Rve aae vewed wth dtut y the Ida o the Ade.

A long-nurtured nd well-ounded response to rs undoubt-

edly played a ole the local peaat alty to tut o uppot

the oregners. Che ght hve been ore t hoe n northern

Aeta, a aea topoaphcally mla to pat o Bolva ad

wth the dee veetato o coducve to ucovetoal waae.


17/20


H evetual oal cluded the leato o h ow couty, o he

would alo have ee eoaphcally cloe to that oal. Pehap

the alue o a eale uella attempt at Salta made hm eluc-

tat to ty thee aa o oo.6

John Berger, Jen Frno, Mrno Mesn, Lendro Ktz,

ad may othe have wtte aout the htoc momet o Che

death ad t cultual a well a poltcal cace. I addto

to Alota amou photoaph, othe coc mae, uch a the

Kord portrt nd Ren Burrs photo o the revolutonry wth

h head thow ack ehd a lo ca, have ee epoduced

y the mllo ook ad maaze, o cloth ad pote

ad coee mu. Thouad o poet all ove the wold have cap-tued the ma vee o ued h le a a pot o depatue o

broder-rngng poes. Musl opostons, theter pees,

dace ume, ad lm cotue the paade o tute o o-

ense. For the supersttous, or progressves, or detrtors, nd

or those dspperng ew who knew the n, Che lves. Myth,

eloty, o, poety, ad at all ee to that.

Hee, the, my cotuto to that lteatue.


18/20

Che ad Bee Gee, cty

u, Maaua, Ncaaua, 979.

Photo y Maaet Radall.


19/20

notes

chapter one

1. Korda, ormrly o Cuban ashion am and latr Fidls rsonalhotorahr, isolatd Chs ac rom th crowd, rintd it, and kt it

on his darkroom wall. Throuh th yars, h ban ivin it to rinds.

Gian-Giacomo Fltrinlli, an Italian ublishr, was rsonsibl or th

imas broad dissmination. Whn Smirno vodka usd it, Korda sud

and won a sttlmnt o fy thousand Enlish ounds, which h donatd

to th Cuban mdical systm. H was quotd as sayin his hotorah was

mad without lucrativ intntion, and h didnt mind it bin rroducd

in th contxt o rvolutionary causs. H did not, howvr, want it to busd to sll commrcial roducts. Trisha Zi, d., Che Guevara: Revolu-

tionary and Icon (Nw York: Abrams Ima, 2006), 2324.

2. Rrncin Mark Bhr, in an unublishd discussion o masculinity.

3. Alon with Dio Rivra, Jos Clmnt Orozco, and David Alaro

Siquiros, Tamayo was on o th rat Mxican muralists.

4. Mxicos quintssntial Day o th Dad is clbratd Novmbr 1

and 2, coincidin with th Catholic holidays All Saints Day and All Souls

Day. Fstivitis actually bin svral days arlir. Familis athr in rav-

yards and construct laborat altars with hotorahs and ood orins

in rivat homs. Novmbr 1 is th day or honorin dad inants and

childrn, whil Novmbr 2 honors dcasd adults.

5. In 1987 Arntinan artist and lmmakr Landro Katz ban to

sarch or th hotorahr who had takn that nal iconic ictur o Ch

dad. H ollowd a comlicatd trail until h ound Frddy Alborta in La

Paz, and h was abl to intrviw Alborta in 1993. I had th imrssion

that I was hotorahin a Christ, Alborta rmmbrd a quartr cntury

latr. It was not a cadavr that I was hotorahin but somthin . . .


20/20

140 Notes to Chapters OneThree

xtraordinary. Landro Katz, Los fantasmas de Nancahuaz / The Ghosts

of Nancahuaz (Bunos Airs: La lnua virina, 2010), 211.

6. Guvara and th Cuban rvolution had bn bhind th aild at-

tmt by Arntinan Jor Ricardo Mastti to stablish a urrilla bas at

Salta, northrn Arntina, in 1962. Som thirty Arntinans and a num-br o xrincd Cubans took art. Thy calld thir small orc th

Pols Gurrilla Army (egp). Afr a w unqual ncountrs thy wr

dcimatd by th military, and Masttis body was nvr ound. Aril 21,

1964, is considrd th dat o his disaaranc.

chapter two

1. Just a yar and a hal afr th nw ovrnmnt cam to owr, in

Jun 1961, Fidl Castro mt with a lar rou o artists and writrs to lis-tn to thir concrns about intllctual rdom and rassur thm o th

rvolutions suort. Th most rquntly quotd hras rom this mt-

in was Within th rvolution, vrythin. Aainst th rvolution, noth-

in, words that hav bn intrrtd in conictin ways. Lss ofn

quotd rom Castros talk that day is W ask th artist to dvlo his cr-

ativ ort to th maximum. W want to crat idal conditions or artis-

tic cration . . . bcaus th rvolution mans rcisly mor cultur and

mor art.

2. From Guvara, Socialism and Man in Cuba, addrssd at lnth

latr in this book.

3. Guvara wrot a movin om durin his months in Mxico titld

La vija Mara, to a oor woman dyin o asthma in th hosital whr

h workd.

chapter three

1. Guvara, Pasajes de la guerra revolucionario (about th Cuban cam-

ain); The African Dream: The Diaries of the Revolutionary War in theCongo; and El Diario del Che en Bolivia. Ths ar thr ditions, two in

Sanish and on in Enlish, rom amon many that xist in both lan-

uas.

2. Pacho ODonnll, Che: La vida por un mundo mejor(Mxico City:

Plaza Jans, 2003).

3. Daril (Bnino) Alarcn Ramrz,Memorias de un soldado cubano

(Barclona: Fabula Tusquts, 2003).

4. Trainin Mxican urrillas was don in rat scrcy, sinc Mxicowas th only country on th continnt that had rlations with Cuba.

che on my mind by margaret randall

Documents