This Day in History: 9 October 2020
9 October 1967
53 years ago, today, Che Guevara, a socialist revolutionary and guerrilla leader, was executed by the Bolivian army. They had captured Guevara the day prior while battling his band of guerrillas in Bolivia. Guevara was shot nine times: five times in his legs, once in the right shoulder and arm, and once in the chest and throat. His hands were cut as a proof of his death and his body was buried in an unmarked grave. Ten years later, in 1997, his remains were found and sent back to Cuba, where they were reburied in a ceremony attended by President Fidel Castro and thousands of other Cubans.
In the mid 1950s, Guevara joined Fidel Castro and his group of exiled revolutionaries in Mexico. With them, he played a key role in Castro's seizure of power and later served as his right-hand man and minister of industry. He strongly opposed US domination in Latin America and advocated peasant-based revolutionaries to combat social injustice in third world countries. Guevara resigned from his government post in April 1965, possibly due to differences with Castro, then disappeared from Cuba. After his death, he gained a status as a hero among people and became a symbol of anti-imperialism and revolution.
Want to find out more about Che Guevara? Click here for more information, or here for more about his life-changing motorbike trip.
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