por Jan Lust
It is a well-known fact that Ernesto “Che” Guevara wanted to contribute to the generalization of revolutionary processes all over the world, especially in countries considered to pertain to what is called the Third World. His participation in guerrilla fighting in the Congo (currently named the Democratic Republic of Congo) and Bolivia demonstrates his intentions. In this paper we discuss the contribution of the Cuban Revolution, and especially of Ernesto Guevara, to guerrilla struggle in South America. It was exactly the example of the first socialist revolution in the Americas and the ideas of Guevara regarding the development of the possibilities and positive effects of revolutionary armed struggle that stimulated the emergence of guerrilla organizations in South America.
The ideas of Guevara on the necessity of continental revolutionary processes were developed in the context of the answer of North American imperialism to the Cuban Revolution and the possibilities of survival for a socialist development path of the revolutionary process initiated by the Cuban Movimiento 26 de Julio, led by Fidel Castro. Guevara’s participation and planned participation in guerrilla struggle outside Cuba departed from the consideration that for local socialist revolutions to survive, such as the Cuban Revolution, the multiplication of revolutionary processes throughout Latin America or the creation of “many Vietnams” was essential.
This article is organized in seven sections. In section one we describe the effects of the Cuban Revolution on the Latin American Left. This section includes parts of Guevara’s ideas on the positive contribution of guerrilla struggle on revolutionary processes. Section two delves briefly into the answer of the United States to the Cuban Revolution. In the third section we present the ideas of Ernesto Guevara on the internationalization of revolutionary processes. Section four describes Guevara’s involvement in guerrilla preparations and in section five we examine Che’s continental guerrilla strategy. In section six we discuss the role of Bolivia, Peru and, supposedly, Argentina, in a supposed continental revolutionary guerrilla process. Section seven presents our conclusions.
1. The Cuban Revolution and the Latin American Left
The Cuban Revolution has contributed significantly to the formation and development of various guerrilla organizations in Latin America. However, it was not the cause of the rise of revolutionary movements in the 1960s.
