Cubans Pay Tribute to Che Guevara
Havana, Oct 8 (Prensa Latina) In the sculptural complex where the remains of Ernesto Che Guevara and his Bolivian comrades-in-arms are buried, Cubans are due to recall Monday the 40th anniversary of his death.
As part of the tribute on the island and throughout the world to the Argentinean-Cuban guerrilla fighter, an extensive representation from the central Cuban province of Villa Clara, on behalf of the people, will meet in a solemn act.
Among attendees are members from the Rebel Army, as well as relatives of Che and of those combatants who were part of the internationalist detachment commanded by him.
Che was arrested by the Bolivian army forces on October 8, 1967, after combat overwhelmingly against him. He was murdered in La Higuera the following day by order of the US Central Intelligence Agency.
His courage, modesty, dedication, humanism, integrity and solidarity have been inspiration for several social movements and progressive forces of the world in these 40 years.
Exhibitions, lectures, interactive forums, the creation of the Ernesto Che Guevara Department, a simultaneous chess match, issue of stamps and presentation of films have been part of the Cubans’ homage to his heroic guerrilla fighter.
Source: Escambray.com
In the spirit of Che, they should machine gun the losers of the tournament and pile them into mass graves.
Thanks for this note. I had not seen this before.
In so many ways, chess is a metaphor for how the Cuban Revolution has succeeded in holding the United States back over the years. Today the US government is so afraid of this little country which can, like the little engine that could, that it’s all but illegal for just about anyone from the United States to do something as simple as going to Cuba to observe a chess tournament. It’s abdiculous, isn’t it? How petty and vindictive can this country be?
My father and his parents lived in Cuba from 1939 to 1942. They were German Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, and not political activists. That family history is where my own interest in Cuba comes from. My dad met my mom in the United States and that’s how I came into this world.
Cuban society today represents an effort to build an alternative to the way life was under the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who ran Cuba before Fidel Castro led a revolution there. No one complained about a lack of human rights and democracy in those days, but U.S. businesses were protected.
Some things work, some don’t. Like any society, Cuba its flaws and contradictions, as well as having solid achievements. No society is perfect. But we can certainly learn a few things from Cuba’s experience. I think we can learn more than a few. If we want to bring freedom to Cuba, the best thing we can do is practice what we preach.
We should all be free to visit Cuba. We can visit China and Vietnam, even North Korea, Syria and Iran, why can’t we visit Cuba and see it for ourselves? Cuba is our neighbor and we should simply normalized relations with the island.
Since August 2000, the CubaNews list, a free Yahoo news group has compiled a wide range of materials, pro and con, about Cuba, its people, politics and culture, and life within the island and affecting it in the Cuban diaspora abroad.
Details on the Yahoo newsgroup:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
I first learnt about Che while living in Nigeria.
Around the mid-1990s, the Cuban embassy in Nigeria used to organize an annual chess tournament in Kwara State, a western mid-sized state in the west African country. They named it “Ernesto Che Guevara Memorial Chess Tournament”.
I recall that the tournament pieces were a really unique type of Staunton chess pieces that came in pretty pink boxes.
The tournament was discontinued after a while but I was able to read a lot on my own about the man in whose name the competition was held.
Yes, Mr. Lippmann!
“Self-determination” for the Cuban people!
It will be impossible to attain this as long as the extremely repressive, vicious, and sadistic Castro regime is in power.
Yes, contemporary Cuban society has flaws and contradictions, but these flaws and contradictions are unlike those of most other countries, either in kind or of magnitude.
Walter thanks for your interesting note.
When the US gets her way / takes over, and a Batista like group re-emerges, and there’s mass inequality and starvation – as long as it’s this beloved “democracy” a la the new Iraq? – God (for those who believe in such a concept), God help us all….
as the US goes around “liberating” us all in the Caribbean and beyond….
the Monroe doctrine is alive and well….
pity people, even “dictatorships” can’t be left alone…or at the very least, the big buckra massa up north can’t just play fair and go after democratising EVERYBODY rather than those she doesn’t fancy…
having learnt the Vietnam lesson, just bully those it can, rather than those it can’t…wouldn’t dare “try a t’ing” with N. Korea?!
LOL
viva la revolution
x0x0x0
“a minstrel from Gaul”
“It will be impossible to attain this as long as the extremely repressive, vicious, and sadistic Castro regime is in power.
Yes, contemporary Cuban society has flaws and contradictions, but these flaws and contradictions are unlike those of most other countries, either in kind or of magnitude”
Why not invade? What about Zimbabwe? What about Myanmar? What about N. Korea? What about (many) African states? Indeed, majority of the world? Where does the policeman stop? Why be arbitrary? Why not (our allies) in the Far East?
What have we got to offer the people of Cuba? What was there that was so good BEFORE Castro? Whose vested interest is served by turning the clock back?
The bodyguards of Batista?
It was recently revealed that the Bolivian stooge ordered by the CIA to assassinate Che Guevara without any trial has been cured of his blindness (for free of course) by Cuban doctors.
Is this all bad? I don’t think so.
The Cuban people are smart enough to realize that you create fewer enemies by healing the sick people of a nation than by cluster bombing their children. It seems obvious that George Bush’s “war on terror” could benefit from that insight.
The nationwide fascination with chess in Cuba is simply another sign of the superior intelligence and advanced moral development of the Cuban nation being applied to nonviolent pursuits.
Matt
Matt,
“all bad”? No, of course not. But on balance the Castro regime has been one of the most brutal and repressive regimes of the 20th century. The absolute numbers of innocents slaughtered by Che and Castro certainly cannot match those of Stalin or Mao–but only because Cuba is so small. It is incredible that people are still rushing to support an ideology that is responsible for far more death, oppression, and suffering than any other for hundreds or even thousands of years.
Yes, the Nazis were responsible for tens of millions of deaths, but the casualties of Communism likely run into the hundreds of millions.
Quick quiz: Who said “Hatred as an element of struggle; unbending hatred for the enemy, which pushes a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him into an effective, violent, selective and cold-blooded killing machine. This is what our soldiers must become …”
What a lovely sentiment, Che! By all accounts he was successful.
Who were the enemy? Anyone who was perceived as an anti-revolutionary, i.e. anyone who objected to giving absolute power to a brutal thug.
Back to chess… and Cuba.
Recently I purchased a chess set, table, chairs, etc. from the 1966 Havana Chess Olympiad. Included was Castro’s business card. This particular board was used for Board One. Photos are here:
http://www.crumiller.com/chess/chess_pages/staunton/HavanaEnsembleDetail.htm
Apparently this is the same board/table that Castro analyzed with Fischer. I also have a photo of Che at the same Chess Olympiad.
Darn it, the link got truncated. It’s supposed to be
http://www.crumiller.com/chess/chess_pages/
… then add
staunton/HavanaEnsembleDetail.htm
Why does blogging software still have such blatant bugs?
Matt,
Your facts are wrong. The CIA wanted Che to face trial in Panama for his mass murders.
The Bolivian government decided against that and ordered that Che be executed. They didn’t want the trial to happen.
Good thing that Che was kicked out of Cuba (that is why he was roaming the world) since he wanted a more radical government than castro wanted.
oh great, what’s next the Pol Pot invitational?
lets start the idol worship for him next. It is comical that people wear the Che t-shirts and they have no idea of his brutality and lack of any morale fiber (disagree with him and you are killed, no trial necessary)
“Like any society, Cuba its flaws and contradictions…” Oh my. Che was no hero, just another murdering, thieving Communist.
May the Lord soon bring the day when the megalomaniacal tyrant is gone, and when Cubans are free, when a man’s property is his, and when the political prisons are emptied. I have not noticed thousands of people trying at the risk of life and limb to leave America to live in the workers’ paradise, but perhaps I have missed something.
Around 1960 with Fidel Castro as dictator and Kruschev dictator of
Russia, put extreme pressure on President John Kennedy (a war hero), when they tryed to bring missiles in to Cuba 90 miles from Florida, almost started WWlll. I have no respect for Cuba until Castro is ousted and all his allies!
anonymous, The U.S. doesnt fear North Korea, only what that country represents. An insane leader with Nuclear missiles which could strike Israel, California, and many other countries. If this were to happen it would create a domino effect that would lead to retaliation from The U.S. possibly Russia. These two countries alone can annhilate the whole planet earth hundreds if not thousands of times. This is what to fear of North Korea, not some ignorant dictator and small country.
Viva Che! A hero for the opressed poor masses that was terrorised by the extremely brutal militar dictarships and multinational us companies that for decades made life hell for the big majority of people in Latin-America. It’s insane to read all these brainwashed fsascists taking the CIA view of things. CIA! They have trained and supported the dictators and torturists all the time, and THEY call Che a murder.
Cuba is blockaded since 1960 since they kicked out Batista and his tyrants. They were scared to death that Cuba could be a model for better future for the poor. They don’t have feedom of speech, but a social system that is outstanding for a third world blockaded country. That fascist rednecks go crazy and call Castro all insane things, is just a prove of their stupidity. They wouldn’t complain if Castro had been 100 times worse, like USA’s friends in El Salvador and Guatemala, who had no political prisoners, they just killed all the ten thousands who did not like to live in the slum and misery forced upon them by USA and their puupets assoon as they protested. Send all right wing red necks to the poorest sheds in Latin America and let them suffer there some years. Maybe they leartn something.
“Viva Che! A hero for the opressed poor masses…”
The poor masses in Cuba yearn to hop on rickety boats and escape the prison island under threat of death and threat of imprisonment for their families.
And why do you suppose that the poor and oppressed Mexicans and Central Americans flood across the border into the U.S. instead of Cuba? Because they know life is much better for the poor in the U.S. and worse in Cuba than in their own countries.
Che helped create and support a nightmare for the poor and brutal oppression for all except those who worshipped him and Castro. I pray that the Cuban poor will one day be empowered to throw off the chains of oppression and win their freedom. Viva Cuba!
Che lives