The legendary Cuban and Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara was killed 50 years ago. As a young medical student, Guevara traveled throughout South America and was radicalized by the poverty, hunger and disease he witnessed. In 1954, he met Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro and his brother Raul. Guevara became part of Fidel Castro’s efforts to overthrow the Batista government in Cuba. He served as a military advisor to Castro and led guerrilla troops in battles against Batista forces. When Castro took power, Guevara was appointed president of the Cuban central bank and then minister of industry. Che Guevara left this post in 1965 to export the ideas of Cuba’s revolution to other parts of the world. In 1966, he began to try to incite the people of Bolivia to rebel against their government, but was captured by Bolivian army and executed on October 9, 1967.
50 years on: Remembering Che Guevara
On October 9, 1967, socialist revolutionary and guerilla leader Che Guevara was killed in Bolivia
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Latin American revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara is a national hero in Cuba where his image adorns the three peso banknote and is iconic figure whose image became a symbol of protest
© TASS In 1952 and 1953 Che Guevara travelled across Latin America and was shocked to see the economic disparity in the region. It convinced him violence was necessary to overturn Latin America's unjust social order. Photo: Ernesto Che Guevara is flanked by his parents on their arrival at airport in Havana, Cuba, 1959
© AP Photo Fidel Castro called Che Guevara an "artist of revolutionary warfare". Photo: Raul Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara in their Sierra de Cristal mountain stronghold south of Havana, Cuba, 1958
© AP Photo/Andrew St. George Major Ernesto Che Guevara, 34, Argentine hero of the Cuban revolution, and his bride Aleida, stand before the wedding cake following their marriage at a civil ceremony at La Cabana Military fortress, 1959
© AP Photo Latin American revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara attends rally, 1960
© TASS Cuban Economic Minister Ernesto Che Guevara and Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev as they met in in Moscow, 1960, to discuss development of Soviet-Cuban trade relations
© AP Photo Cuba's Economic Minister, Ernesto Che Guevara speaks before the afternoon session of the Inter-American Economic and Social Conference at Punta del Este, Uruguay, 1961
© AP Photo Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and Ernesto Che Guevara at the session of the Society "Soviet-Cuban Friendship", 1964
© Vladimir Musaelyan/TASS Cuba's Ernesto Che Guevara listening to the speech of the Brazilian delegate, at the Inter-American Economic and Social Conference at Punta del Este, 1961
© AP Photo/Franco Mattiolo Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova and Ernesto Che Guevara, 1963
© TASS Cuban Industry Minister Ernesto Che Guevara speaks before the United Nations General Assembly in New York, 1964. Guevara charged the US with violating Cuba's territory, and attacked US actions in the Congo, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos
© AP Photo