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Luis Suarez Salazar, Ivette Zuazo and Ana María Pellón
Manuel Pineiro, whose friends and enemies all
referred to him as "Barba Roja" (Red Beard) in the turbulent '60s,
was an active witness to Che's international actions from 1959 up
until his assassination in Bolivia in 1967.
Throughout those years, Pineiro headed the Intelligence Department of
Cuba's Interior Ministry. Among other things, he was responsible for
maintaining ties with Third World Revolutionary Movements. The
liberation insurgency was then at its height. Among Che's many tasks
within the leadership of the Cuban Revolution was the promotion of
anti-imperialist solidarity and the preparations to extend the
struggle to other lands. In this, Pineiro, who earned his position
primarily during the anti-Batista guerrilla struggle in the Sierra
Maestra Mountains, was very closely associated withChe.....
HOW AND WHEN DID YOU MEET CHE ?
MP: The first time I saw him in passing, when our
columns passed by each other after the battle of Pino del Agua
(September 10, 1957). I had already heard from other combatants, who
spoke of him with great love and respect, that he was a brave,
audacious Argentinian blessed with great intellect and solid
political ideas.
Later, I encountered him again in El Hombrito, another site in the
Sierra Maestra, where his command post was located. This included an
armory, a bakery, and a post for medical and dental services -- of
which he was the dentist, with a pair of pliers as his only
instrument.
Coincidentally, the day I went there I had a tremendous toothache,
but when I went looking for Che I heard a man screaming and moaning,
and I saw him holding a peasant farmer by the head and, pliers in
hand, extracting a molar. I said to myself right then and there: I
will never fall into the hands of that man, I don't think I'll ever
forget that image.
BEYOND THAT FIRST SHOCK, WHAT KIND OF IMPRESSION DID HE MAKE ON YOU?
MP: That of a serene man, very self-confident, a man
who inspired respect. In the beginning he seemed very serious or
introverted, but once you got to know him personally he was very
communicative, with a sharp sense of humor, sometimes touched with
irony.
I think that some "compañeros" didn't understand his jokes
because his psychology and idiosyncrasies were different from ours;
he had a different cultural upbringing. Some thought his jokes were
very acid, very "Argentinian". It's true his jokes sometimes had a
biting edge, but they were always affectionate and educational; they
were never meant to offend anyone, but rather to appeal to one's
personal sense of dignity....
I was struck by Che's eternal capacity for listening, his respect for
the opinions of the speaker, even when that person's ideas didn't
coincide with his own. But that didn't mean he failed to represent
his own viewpoints, and very convincingly. And even if he didn't know
the visitor, he was able to create a relaxed atmosphere, a sense of
trust and fraternity, which enabled them to speak freely with each
other.
Although he was usually on top of the political situation and the
actions of the revolutionary movement in the Third World, especially
in Latin America, Che always read as much material as we had about
the economic, social and political situation of the country in
question before each meeting.
It was inconceivable to him not to have a map of that country on top
of the table because, as someone very concerned with detail, he liked
to analyze the geography, the topography of the territory, the
characteristics of the rural population, the forms of land ownership,
the social struggles and their antecedents, the peasant, worker and
student movements, the political organizations, the intellectual
world.... He was extremely meticulous in seeking data and figures on
all those topics.
In a pedagogical fashion, without any dogma or rigidity, he would
explain the Cuban revolutionary experience --not just his own, but
that of other leaders like Fidel and Raul Castro, Juan Almeida,
Camilo Cienfuegos.
He never failed to point out to the visitor that whenever there was
the most minute chance for engaging in legal activities, they should
take advantage of that-- but without any illusions. They should
always be aware, he told them, how indispensable it was to strengthen
their forces as much as possible and prepare militarily for the
repression of the popular and revolutionary movement that would occur
as soon as these became a serious threat to the ruling system. He
would warn them of the probable aggressive reaction of the
imperialists when confronted with the advances of the revolutionary
struggles. Sometimes, he would get into philosophical or cultural
discussions....
CAN WE SAY THAT FROM THE VERY BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION, THERE WAS A CONVERGENCE OF THE CUBAN PRACTICE OF POLITICAL SOLIDARITY TOWARD OTHER COUNTRIES OF THE REGION, WITH CHE'S IDEAS OF EVENTUALLY JOINING THE BATTLE FOR LIBERATION IN OTHER LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES ?
MP: You shouldn't forget two things: Ever since he
wrote "History Will Absolve Me" in 1953, Fidel has made clear that
this Revolution was seeking the liberation and integration of all of
Latin America. He himself had participated in the "Bogotazo" [a
popular uprising in Bogota, Colombia], and in actions on behalf of
Puerto Rican independence, for the sovereignty of the Malvinas, for
the recovery of the Panama Canal; he had also taken part in the
Confite Key expedition, which was an unsuccessful attempt; Che had
come here already marked by his experience in Guatemala during the
CIA's overthrow of Guatemalan president Jacobo Arbenz in 1954.
Che had met many Latin American revolutionaries in Guatemala, and
that strengthened his anti-imperialist and Latin-Americanist
convictions.
The other thing is that before setting out for Cuba in the "Granma",
Che told Fidel that as soon as he had fulfilled his responsibilities
to the Cuban Revolution, when the right moment came, he wanted to be
free to join the revolutionary struggle in another Latin American
country, preferably Argentina. He was always interested in any plan
that showed some possibility for the development of revolutionary
armed struggle --whether in Nicaragua, Venezuela, Colombia-- and in
the possibility of being accepted as a participant in the struggles
of other countries.....
HOW DID CHE SEE THE DEVELOPMENT AND OF THE REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE IN LATIN AMERICA ?
MP: His concept, rooted in the Cuban liberation war,
consisted in founding a "mother column" made up of revolutionaries
from various Latin American countries.
Once they had overcome the initial period of basic survival and had
combat and leadership training, they would enter the next stage of
growth and development, during which they would create the conditions
for initiating other columns. Thus, they would spread the battle to
other countries throughout Latin America, especially those whose
governments had united with US imperialism against the cause of the
people.
As the Cuban experience demonstrated, the original guerrilla nucleus,
if well-directed, could be the small motor whose political and
military actions could set in motion a big motor of the masses of
people. Che's anti-imperialist, continental concept of armed
revolutionary struggle was based on this. It is essentially a
political and military concept based on the masses, which contradicts
that reductionistic interpretation of the "guerrilla foco" which has
been falsely attributed to Che. He always spoke of an insurrectionary
guerrilla foco linked to the people, not of a small group of armed
men who acted divorced from the popular movement and from the people
in general.
He also said that a guerrilla struggle couldn't be carried out in
countries where the governments were the result of some form of
popular choice, and where all possible forms of civic struggle had
not been exhausted. But one of Che's main ideas should be emphasized:
it is not necessary to wait for all the proper conditions to exist
before starting the revolutionary struggle; the struggle itself will
create the conditions as it goes along.
It wasn't Che's fault that some Latin American revolutionaries,
albeit with the best of intentions, oversimplified and misinterpreted
his ideas.
WAS CHE'S PREFERENCE FOR ARGENTINA THE ORIGIN OF THE GUERRILLA FORCE LED BY HIS COMPATRIOT JORGE RICARDO MASETTI IN 1963 ? WHAT WAS CHE'S ROLE IN THAT ?
MP: Che met Masetti when he came to the Sierra Maestra as a journalist. After January 1959, Masetti returned to Cuba; he carried out some missions in support of the Algerian Revolution with the National Liberation Front (NLF) there, so he had acquired some combat experience. He received some military training in our country and then Che gave him the task of organizing a guerrilla column whose main mission was to install itself in Argentinian territory near the border with bolivia, in a place called Salta, with the idea that when the minimum conditions had been achieved, he would join them, to initiate armed struggle in Argentina. Che dedicated a lot of time to preparing that detachment, called the guerrilla Army of the Poor.....
WHEN MASETTI LEFT FOR SALTA HE WAS CALLED "SEGUNDO" (SECOND). WAS THIS BECAUSE HE WAS ONLY GOING TO HEAD THE GROUP FOR A SHORT WHILE?
MP: Yes, because the first was Che, that was the meaning of
Masetti's pseudonym. Che wanted to be the one to initiate it, but
Fidel persuaded him that he should only return to Argentina after an
advance group laid the groundwork. That is, he shouldn't be here
during the riskiest and most difficult stage faced by any guerrilla
movement, that of survival, when the guerrillas are basically left to
their own devices.
The criteria has its antecedents in the cadre policy Fidel developed
in the Sierra Maestra. He always tried to preserve the best of the
intermediate-level column leaders for later actions. This policy was
shown to be correct during our war. Fidel didn't want to risk losing
someone with the experience and continental stature of Che in the
first stage of the guerrilla struggle.
NEVERTHELESS, THAT EFFORT HAD CUBA'S SOLIDARITY ?
MP: Yes --at all stages. First it was necessary to establish a logical support base from the Bolivian side, and there were Cubans assigned to do that..... We also should acknowledge here the cooperation provided by the leadership of the Algerian NLF.
EVENTUALLY, MASETTI'S INSURGENCY WAS DISCOVERED AND ALMOST ALL ITS MEMBERS WERE KILLED OR DISAPPEARED. WHAT EFFECT DID THIS HAVE ON CHE ?
MP: It had a profoundly emotional and human effect:
it meant the deaths of compañeros who had been very close to
him during many years of struggle. He said more than once that what
most upset him was the idea that while that was happening, he was
here in an office.
When we lost contact with Masetti in April of 1964, Che made every
effort possible to find out what happened, to learn if there were
many survivors and, if so, to reorganize them... but up to now
nothing has been found to indicate how that guerrilla attempt ended
or about Masetti's death.
DURING THAT SAME PERIOD CHE WAS VERY INTERESTED IN THE EFFORTS OF THE PERUVIAN INSURGENCY. IS IT TRUE THAT PERU WAS ANOTHER OF THE ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED BEFORE HE SELECTED BOLIVIA. ?
MP: Argentina, Peru, Bolivia.... they were all part
of his unified plans carrying out his strategy to spread the
revolution to all the rest of Latin America. [....] there was
certain amount of organization and popular movements in Peru, social
struggles, such as the land takeovers led by Hugo Blanco.
Peru also held an attraction for Che because it was closer to
Argentina. Besides, there was a democratic government in Bolivia at
that time, which had arisen out of the 1952 revolution and lasted
till 1964. But both the guerrilla movements of the MIR and the ELN
were wiped out. Luis de la Puente Uceda died in November of '65 and
Lobaton in January '66. Hector Bejar had already been captured in
1965 and the guerrilla column he led had been beaten....
HOW DID HE REACT TO ALL THESE SETBACKS, WHICH OBVIOUSLY INTERRUPTED HIS PLANS FOR CONTINENTAL STRUGGLE ?
MP: You could see he was very impatient. He never
stopped exploring the possibilities of joining the armed struggle in
other countries, such as Venezuela and Colombia. But none of them
achieved the favorable conditions needed to incorporate a
revolutionary of this political and military stature into their
movement, with all that that implied.
That's why I agree with what Fidel stated on October 12, 1987, during
the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the death in combat
of Che and his companeros: "Now more that ever, Che is alive; he is
with us; and he is more powerful adversary of imperialism than ever
before."
more powerful adversary of imperialism than ever before."
WHEN DID HE START TO THINK OF BOLIVIA AS A POSSIBLE SCENE OF STRUGGLE, AND NOT JUST AS SUPPORT ZONE ? WHY DID HE DECIDE ON THAT COUNTRY ?
MP: In 1964 General Barrientos staged a coup d'etat.
That initiated a period of intense repressions in Bolivia, but at the
same time of resistance by the popular movement, particularly the
miners and students. From then on, Che began closely observing the
unfolding of events.
Two years later, while he was in Tanzania, Che decided to send Papi
to Bolivia to evaluate the situation. He confirmed that Bolivia was
the only option, in the sense that the minimum political conditions
existed, and there were Bolivian cadre with experience, who had
helped Masetti and the Peruvian guerrillas. That is, they were people
who had been trained in combat and who had a political- ideological
commitment to solidarity with any revolutionary movement that should
appear in the area.
HOW DID CHE'S PLANS FOR BOLIVIA FIT INTO THIS CONTINENTAL STRATEGY ?
MP: From his viewpoint, this guerrilla struggle end up as a
training school for Latin American cadre, above all those of the
Southern Cone --among them, Argentinians -- which would help extend
the armed struggle to other bordering countries. At the same time, it
gave him the chance to gather political and military forces and to
wait for a more opportune occasion to move on to his native
country.
This would depend on the growth and development of the "mother
column" based in Bolivia. Without that, it would be impossible to
continue toward Argentina, where there was also a vicious military
dictatorship installed by the United States and repudiated by the
most militant sectors of the Argentinian people.
Che analyzed realistically what would happen if other guerrilla
columns, made up of combatants from various countries of the Southern
Cone, were to develop and emerge fro the Bolivian experience. The
reaction to this would be an alliance among the governments and
armies of the bordering countries, supported by U.S. imperialism.
that in turn would contribute to the spread of revolutionary armed
struggle in the region, which would produce a scenario of long,
bloody and difficult battles that sooner or later would lead to
Yankee intervention. That would constitute, therefore, another of the
"Viet Nams" he'd called for in his historic "Message to the Peoples
of the World"......
WAS THE ORIGINAL IDEA AND PLAN FOR BOLIVIA ENTIRELY CHE'S ?
MP: Yes, the selection of the place, the combatants, the
design and preparation of that plan well conceived by Che. Of course,
Fidel offered all the support and cooperation possible. He again
urged that Che not to be among the first group, to wait to join in
when they were installed and had created the minimal conditions:
logistics, armaments, urban support networks and the incorporation of
some Latin American cadre, especially the Bolivians. And also to wait
till they had sufficient information, had adapted to the terrain, in
short, to wait till the guerrilla movement had passed the initial
survival stage. But Che was already eager to begin the struggle,
especially in the country neighboring the one where he was most eager
to take the revolution: Argentina.
In addition, from the psychological viewpoint, he felt very pressured
by the passing of the years. He knew more than anyone that you need
certain basic physical conditions to engage in guerrilla warfare, and
that it wouldn't be an easy task to carry out that struggle at this
particular juncture in Latin America. Remember, this was when the
United States had just initiated the destabilizing "Alliance for
Progress", while at the same time was carrying out a
counterinsurgency campaign to aid the regimes in the area, supplying
them with weapons, money, and training their armies. The U.S. wanted
at all cost to halt the spread of the example of the Cuban
Revolution.
SOME PEOPLE SAY THAT AFTER HIS FAREWELL LETTER WAS PUBLISHED, CHE FELT THAT HAD A MORAL COMMITMENT TO NEVER RETURN TO CUBA OR, IF HE DID SO, NOT TO HOLD ANY VISIBLE LEADERSHIP POSITION.....
MP: In my opinion, with or without a farewell letter, Che's plans were unalterable. He was determined to fulfill what he had set out as his historic and strategic objective: to wage an anti-imperialist struggle throughout the Americas.
NOT COUNTING CIRO BUSTOS, THERE WAS ONLY ONE OTHER ARGENTINIAN, TANIA, I THE BOLIVIAN GUERRILLA MOVEMENT. WHY DO YOU THINK THERE WERE SO FEW ARGENTINIANS INVOLVED ?
MP: Bustos operated as the liaison for the whole series of
interrelated networks provided by Che to contact Argentinians from
various organizations and take them to the area where Che was
operating in Bolivia.
When Bustos was captured and turned traitor -- offering data, maps
and drawings identifying Che and the guerrillas and showing where
they were -- that "froze'' Argentina. Remember, too, that when the
Bolivian Army discovered the guerrilla base, the whole plan unraveled
precipitously. The guerrillas had to be constantly on the move, and
in this stage it was very difficult to maintain contacts with the
urban base and with those abroad.
I think that if this hadn't happened, once Che's presence in Bolivia
was known, cadre and combatants from various revolutionary forces in
Latin America would have sought some way to link up with them and to
participate. Che's call had great influence on many revolutionaries
inside and outside of Latin America.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE STORY SPREAD AROUND THE WORLD THAT CUBA'S POLITICAL LEADERS ABANDONED CHE IN BOLIVIA AND DIDN'T GIVE HIM THE SUPPORT NECESSARY FOR THE SUCCESS OF HIS OPERATION ?
MP: From the very beginning of the Cuban REvolution
--and long before, from the time of our wars of independence -- the
strategy of the U.S. empire has been to attempt to divide the
revolutionary forces. First, they initiated a campaign saying that
the disappearance of Camilo Cienfuegos, [a revolutionary leader whose
light plane disappeared at sea in October, 1959, while returning to
Havana after putting down an attempted counterrevolutionary uprising
in the central provinces] as the intentional result of contradictions
with the revolutionary leadership.
Later they spoke of supposed discrepancies between Fidel and Raul;
and later, bweteen Fidel and Che. They mounted a disinformation
campaign that still persists today, trying to create confusion not
just in Cuba, but in the Latin American and worldwide Revolutionary
movements, and international public opinion in general. One of the
centerpieces of these slanders campaigns presents the alleged
"abandoning" of Che's guerrilla movement, questioning why Cuba didn't
send in military reinforcements to aid him and break the Bolivian
encirclement.
Anyone who knows the laws of guerrilla warfare known that, in the
initial and most difficult phase, the column has to be constantly on
the move to prevent ambushes by the enemy army, especially if it is
outnumbered. During this phase, the guerrillas must depend on their
own strength, plus the backing they can get from the urban networks -
- which at that time had been beaten. So the idea that we could have
sending military reinforcements from Cuba is absurd, it was
logistically impossible --that's pure fantasy.
AND IT IS ALSO FANTASY TO COMPARE THE ALLEGED LACK OF SUPPORT FOR CHE WITH THE SUCCESSFUL CUBAN EFFORTS TO RESCUE THE OFFICERS WHO WERE TRAPPED IN VENEZUELA UNDER SIMILAR CIRCUMSTANCES ?
MP: I can assure you, based on my own knowledge and responsibility, that the two situations were completely different, although the militants [who were backing the guerrilla struggle] from the Venezuelan Communist Party, the MIR and other revolutionary forces had suffered some defeats, they maintained enough clandestine structures and operational resources to facilitate the patient and thorough operation of extracting these companeros. Those circumstances were not duplicated in Bolivia.
GOING BACK TO 1965: YOU WERE HEAVILY INVOLVED IN THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE CUBAN INTERNATIONALIST MISSION IN THE CONGO THAT CHE LED THAT YEAR. IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT DID THAT STAGE MEAN FOR HUM IN RELATION TO LONG-TERM STRATEGY ?
MP: At that time, there were certainly signs of
revolutionary movement throughout the world, impelled by the heroic
example of the Vietnamese, and the heady success of the Cuban
Revolution. But the minimal conditions still didn't exist for Che to
be able to carry out his plans in Latin America. Given that, and the
request for help that the Congo Supreme Revolutionary Council had
transmitted to Cuba via Che, Fidel suggested that the big thing Che
could do would be to lead a group of Cuban military advisers who were
heading for that African country. That would give him time to acquire
more experience, prepare himself militarily again, and at the same
time train some Cuban cadre and combatants who later would accompany
him to Bolivia.
For Che the Congo phase was like a rung in a ladder, an intermediary
phase to prepare himself for the final goal, waiting for events in
Latin america to evolve enough to create favorable conditions for
carrying out his long-term plans.....
WHAT WAS THE ROLE OF THE VICE MINISTRY YOU HEADED IN THE DELICATE OPERATIONS OF GETTING CHE AND HIS COMPANEROS TO AFRICA, BRINGING THEM BACK TO CUBA AND LATER GETTING THE INTO BOLIVIA ?
MP: Our department was in charge of all the
technical and operational preparations in the Congo mission: getting
them their documents, preparing their travel itineraries, their cover
stories.
We formed a support group based in out Tanzanian embassy which was
responsible for information-gathering and help in moving logistical
support from there to Che's base in the Congo. They were also in
charge of training the radio operators and of other forms of
communication and contact with Che....
WHAT WAS CHE'S MOOD IN THE MONTHS BETWEEN HIS RETURN FROM THE CONGO AND HIS DEPARTURE FOR BOLIVIA. HE WAS COMING FROM A DEFEAT IN AFRICA....
MP: Well, it was defeat whose causes he explained,
with ample self- criticism, because that was typical of his
personality, his ethics, But we have to remember that he was there to
pass on his experience and advise, not to lead that war of national
liberation....
What was Che's frame of mind prior to leaving for Bolivia ? He was
like a kid with a new toy... he was euphoric.....
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SAW CHE ? DID YOU THINK IT WOULD BE THE LAST TIME ?
MP: I saw him after midnight on the day he left for
the airport to join the guerrilla struggle in Bolivia. It was in a
safe house where he had what I think was his last talk with Fidel.
Raul Castro and Vilma Espin were there, too.
Fidel and Che were sitting on a sofa in the living room speaking
alone, in soft voices, for a very long time. I didn't think it would
be the last time I'd see him, although those of us who commit our
selves to this kind of struggle know that in it we will win or
die.
We were very optimistic and had lots of confidence in the
determination, will and capacity of Che and the Cubans who
accompanied him, and of the Bolivians who had been tested in other
tasks. We believed they would be able to achieve their objective,
overcome whatever obstacles or dangers they encountered. Actually,
the Bolivian guerrilla struggle succeeded in carrying out a number of
successful military actions, causing casualties to the Bolivian army
and taking some of their soldiers captive.
It's not true that Che felt "a certain mysticism about death", as
some writers have claimed. Even if he had been te last one left, or
if he was left with just one combatant at his side, he should have
tried to reorganize the guerrilla movement and continue fighting. He
wasn't a man who would easily let his enemies take his life, nor did
he have a martyr complex. Proof of that is that when he was wounded,
with his gun useless, he tried to escape the encirclement to regroup
with his men. He never left defeated or demoralized; he defended his
ideas with hid body, regardless of the possibility that he might lose
his life in the effort.
HOW DID YOU HEAR THE NEWS OF HIS DEATH ?
MP: By a radiofoto that I received on October 10, in
which Che's body appears on the table in a village laundryroom. I
called Fidel and he came to my house. I remember Fidel's face,
dubious.
Although the foto looked something like Che, he wasn't convinced it
was him. He went back home and was there with Companera Celia Sanchez
when I took him a second radiofoto I had received, which left no
doubt that it was Che. That moment is engraved in my mind like an
unforgettable photograph. There was a profound silence in the
room.....
Fidel asked Celia to locate Che's wife, Aleida, who was doing
historic research in the Escambray mountains. Celia sent a plane to
bring Aleida to Habana, picked her up at the airport, and took her to
the house where Fidel was waiting to break the news to her
personally. Meanwhile, Fidel was calling other Party leaders, giving
instructions about how to transmit the information, how to prepare
our people for this harsh news. It was a tremendous blow. But on
these revolutionary missions, we say "you leave your life under the
pillow".
WHAT IS YOUR OPINION OF THE VARIOUS BIOGRAPHIES OF CHE THAT HAVE APPEARED RECENTLY ?
MP: Well, I haven't read them all... Not all the
biographies are bad, of course. But some of them claim that all of
Che's economic, political and military theses have failed, are out of
date, and that the course of the Cuban Revolution has abandoned his
ideals.
In my opinion, if the Cuban Revolution had abandoned Che's ideals, it
would not be the bastion it is for the popular anti-imperialist,
anti- capitalist, pro-socialist struggles that are still being
carried out in the world. Even under the harsh circumstances of
economic, political and ideological aggression by imperialism, the
Cuban people today exhibit the heroism that Che called for, and that
Fidel --whom Che referred to as his "father and guide" -- still calls
for every day.
The proof that Che's ideals, thought, action and example have not
failed and they are spreading --now and into the future -- is
that every day there is growing interest and awareness in Cuba and
the world by people who want to study and interpret his writings,
recover the essence of his ideas, taking into account the historic
differences between the times he lived and today.
I've seen some commentaries published in Latin American newspapers in
which one of them in particular tries to present Che as just a
cultural symbol --above all, among the young; it tries to obliterate
his political-ideological message and his example.
In many countries, consumer societies have tried to turn him into
merchandise, but the paradigm force of Che rises above these
intentions, much to the chagrin of the triumphalist neoliberals and
the powerful of this world. To try to reduce him to a mere cultural
symbol is a vulgar over-simplification.
I don't think that the attraction and the solidarity that his
character incites today among young people all over the world, within
the revolutionary movements and the progressive and democratic
sectors of the earth, correspond to that narrow perception of Che's
legacy. Rather, they see him as a man of tremendous moral strength,
very honest, sensitive, humane, capable of putting his convictions to
the test through his actions; as a symbol of internationalism,
anti-imperialism, of solidarity; of genuine socialism.
Finally, Che is an example for present and future generations, who
see him as a standard of revolutionary intransigence, ethical values
and social justice.
I think that Che's ideas and example will survive while there are
oppressed and oppressors, social injustice and imperialist domination
--as long as there is also hope for a more just world, with
fraternity and solidarity among men and women, people and
countries.
That's why I agree with what Fidel stated on October 12, 1987, during
the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the death in combat
of Che and his companeros: "Now more that ever, Che is alive; he is
with us; and he is more powerful adversary of imperialism than ever
before."
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