26. From Random Leftist to One of Latin America’s Most Famous Revolutionaries
As Che Guevara immersed himself in Marxism, he decided to abandon his study of medicine. As he saw it, only revolution could alleviate the suffering of the masses. In 1953, he moved to Guatemala, where the progressive government of Jacobo Arbenz was attempting land reform and redistribution. However, Arbenz’s land reforms – especially the part involving lands of the American United Fruits Company – backfired: his government was overthrown in a 1954 CIA-backed coup. That deepened Guevara’s radicalism and added anti-imperialism to his agenda. It also laid the foundations for a theory he later proselytized, about achieving socialism via worldwide revolution.
By 1955, Guevara had relocated to Mexico, then a common refuge for leftists. There, he met and befriended a young Cuban lawyer and revolutionary, Fidel Castro, who was planning to overthrow the corrupt Batista regime in his home island. Guevara accompanied Castro and a small force to Cuba in 1956, in an ambitious bid to start a revolution. He became one of Castro’s chief advisors, and commanded revolutionary forces in guerrilla warfare, leading them to the final victory and seizure of the island in 1959.
