Why a Booktrail?
1955 – 1967: Two iconic figures of the 20th century and how they met.
Fidel and Che
What you need to know before your trail
Fidel Castro and Ernesto (Che) Guevara met in 1955 while both in exile in Mexico City. Guevara, the Argentine doctor plagued by asthma, had reached the end of the travels he began by motorcycle several years before. Fidel Castro, peasant’s son, scholar and rebel, had just fled Cuba, fearing for his life. Over the next twelve years, until Guevara’s death in 1967, their journey together would take them from the safe houses of Mexico’s political underground, to war in the Cuban mountains and ultimately into the heart of the Cold War.
Locations
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Travel Booktrail style through the life and locations of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro
Ernesto “Che” Guevara was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, guerrilla leader, and was also a keen traveller and author. He was a major figure of the Cuban Revolution.
As a young medical student, Guevara travelled throughout South America and was radicalized by the poverty, hunger and disease he saw whilst on his travels. He wanted to help reverse the USA’s capitalist exploitation of Latin America. In Mexico City, Guevara met Raúl and Fidel Castro, joined their 26th of July Movement and sailed to Cuba aboard the yacht Granma with the aim of overthrowing the U.S.-backed Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.
Following the Cuban Revolution, Guevara performed a number of key roles in the new government. He played a central role in training the militia forces who repelled the Bay of Pigs Invasion and bringing Soviet nuclear-armed ballistic missiles to Cuba, which precipitated the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Guevara remains both a revered and reviled historical figure. His face has been used on posters and in campaigns as a revolutionary figure for the dispossesed across the world.
FIDEL AND CHE is set against the tide of revolution that swept across the world during the middle of the twentieth century. It is the story of two men who shared a common dream; who became friends, comrades and brothers-in-arms; and who, finally, would make an epic choice between their friendship and their beliefs.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: Fidel and Che
Destination: Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Cuba Author/guide: Simon Reid-Henry Departure Time: 1928, 1952, 1967
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