Bound to the philosophy that life is a long voyage, Che Guevara at 39 had already left his footprint in many countries, where people remember him either as a young man on a motorcycle, a diplomat or a guerrilla fighter. Though people mainly recall his last trips (Congo and Bolivia) on internationalist missions after becoming a Cuban citizen, Che began crossing frontiers since he was very young, moved by his interest of getting to know in depth the reality of the American continent. After enrolling in the School of Medicine, he took off on a motorcycle ride through Latin America, accompanied with his friend Alberto Granado. The road took him northwards along Central America until he came to Guatemala. Familiar with the hard living conditions of peasants, workers and the Indian population he met on his trips through the region, he quickly took side with the democratic government of Jacobo Arbenz. He got on well with the Guatemalan Workers Party . Then, he moved to Mexico, where he got involved with the Cuban revolution. In 1955 he met Fidel Castro, a young lawyer then who was organizing an armed expedition against the dictatorship of General Batista in Cuba. He joined the expedition and reached the rank of Comandante in Fidel Castro-led guerrilla. Right after the triumph of the revolution, he assumed as president of the National Bank of Cuba and held the post as minister of industries. In Santa Clara, capital of the central province of Las Villas, he left a profound mark as he led the guerrilla attack to liberate that city in late 1958. Besides that, he met there his second wife and mother of five of his children, Aleida March. The Havana residents knew him closer as bank president and minister. For a man, whose personality combined the zest of the adventurer and the eagerness of the guerrilla fighter, Cuba began to be too small. He didn’t want to loose ground and the revolution was already marching with firm steps. He decided to leave for Congo and then Bolivia, from where he started the longest and most far-reaching of his voyages that took him to uncountable corners of the world. Guevara's assassination maximized his example in countries he did not visit and where he still inspires new generations. His figure became universal in an unusually quick way. Evidence of that veneration was the tribute more than 12,000 young people from 132 nations paid him in Cuba last July during the World Youth Festival. After two years of research in Vallegrande, Bolivia, the remains of the worldly renowned Guerrillero Heroico (Heroic Guerrilla Fighter) were found. Today they rest since October 17 last at a memorial in Santa Clara.

Aleida Guevara: Daughter of Che

“Over all, be able to feel deep inside every unjustice against everyone in every part of the world”

Memory is something very studied, but still not understood. In my personal case, it´s very useful, because only through it can I return to very pleasant times, moments of being close to one of the most complete men I have ever known, my father. I think that if it weren´t for his friends comments and the photos, I´d hardly be able to remember him. Papa worked a lot, those were very hard times. When I was in Cuba, he´d get home when we were already asleep and Sundays he´d always go do voluntary work. There was very little time to just be together; he knew it and tried to make up for it by filling us with his love, but he never stopped being an educator. I remember him as being a mix of tenderness and exigency, as if he wanted to show us the way. That´s something I still feel. I speak about my father with great affection because although I hardly knew him, I have had the privilege of being the fruit of a great love. My mother was always trying to have us feel as if he were with us, knowing him as a man, a father, a friend. She was able to transmit his love, respect and admiration to us. Papa was with us all the time, every day, because she wanted it that way. He always put the needs of the group first, and then, much later, his own. We can keep the memory of people like him so alive because it helps us to be better human beings.