Motociletta: the roadtrip of a student in direction to the revolution

In August 19, 1960 Ernesto Che Guevara declare to the Cuban Militia that “After graduation, due to special circumstances and perhaps also to my character, I began to travel throughout America, and I became acquainted with all of it. Except for Haiti and Santo Domingo, I have visited, to some extent, all the other Latin American countries. Because of the circumstances in which I traveled, first as a student and later as a doctor, I came into close contact with poverty, hunger and disease; with the inability to treat a child because of lack of money; with the stupefaction provoked by the continual hunger and punishment, to the point that a father can accept the loss of a son as an unimportant accident, as occurs often in the downtrodden classes of our American homeland. And I began to realize at that time that there were things that were almost as important to me as becoming famous for making a significant contribution to medical science: I wanted to help those people.” This declaration induces that the journey taken by Ernesto Che Guevara influenced him as a man and led him to the revolutionary he was.

Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna also better known as Che Guevara was born in Rosario, Argentina into a family belonging to the bourgeoisie and supporting the socialist ideology. Since he was a kid, Ernesto has always been receptive to the socialist ideology. When he was studying at the medicine university of Buenos Aires he already was sensitive to deprivation of the poor. He did a journey through Latin America with his friend Alberto Granado that made stronger his desire to help those who were fighting against social injustice. From this journey we conserve the travel diary he wrote “Motorcycle Diary”. Later, he will be convinced that only armed revolution can come to after socioeconomic inequalities. After getting graduated from the university of medicine of Buenos Aires in 1952, he was introduced to Marxism and went to Guatemala, then joined the troops of Fidel Castro in 1955. He will then participate in the landing of Cuba and the coup d’état against the dictator Batista. There, Fidel Castro will offer him the Cuban citizenship, and the post of Minister of Industry in Cuba. He will as well write several books on the practice of revolution and guerrilla warfare. However, administration and politics do not satisfy Che and in 1965 he went to Latin America to organize guerrilla warfare. He wanted to create and export the revolution on many fronts against the US imperialism. After failing to extend the revolution in Congo-Leopoldville, he went to Bolivia where he was captured in the Valle Grande area in a clash with the Bolivian army. Ernesto Che Guevara will be summarily executed on the 9th of October 1967 under the orders of the CIA. Although accused by his opponents of being a terrorist and have established torture camps, Che Guevara has become a myth after his death and a symbol for the Marxist revolutionary movements around the world who want to fight for the poor and those who are oppressed but also for those who want to fight against US imperialism and capitalism.
However, even if the man as inspired a lot of people he certainly was inspired and influence himself by something.

So, regarding the fact that Ernesto Guevara is one of the most inspiring revolutionary icon of the twentieth century, it could be interesting to phrase the following research question: How was Ernesto Che Guevara’s worldview influenced by the differences and the social injustices observed during his journey?

1.    Ernesto Guevara’s travel or his encountering with poverty
   

1. The travel as a way to discover Latin America

As mention before, Ernesto Guevara was born and raised in a family from the Argentinian middle-class where he received an education marked by the socialist ideology. When Ernesto Guevara and Alberto Granado decided to go for a road trip across Latin America, it was the result of a pure moment of improvisation even if it appears to them as obvious to do this trip despite their other travel expectation. Indeed, they wanted to discover their continent, to discover the people living there in order to see the reality of the social situation of the world in which they were born and raised, in order to see the other side of their reality. However, the first part of their trip was more like a traditional road trip with pleasant stops and were the only thing they really had the occasion to discover was the landscapes. Indeed, their first stop was at Guevara’s uncle house in north of Mar del Plata were the two traveler enjoyed the hospitality of a family member. Then they visited Miramar. The reason of their visit was mainly and even only because of Guevara’s girlfriend, Chichina. Their stay in Miramar became an eight days stay instead of the initial two days planned. They spend most part of their time with Chichina’s upper-class family in an atmosphere which was different from the one they were looking for when they started their journey. Even if Ernesto Guevara do not really give a lot of details in his travelogue about his stay in Miramar, some tensions were present between this upper class family and the young adventurer Ernesto Guevara. After eight days in this idyllic place, the two friends decided to leave and continue their trip. At the beginning of their journey they were mainly travelling across Argentina and their stops were rarely into “unknown territory”. Most part of the time they were hosted by some friends or by people they known.
On February 14, they crossed into Chile. The fact they were leaving Argentina appears to them as the real start of their travel, the start of discoveries. It is also in Chile they really started to meet people they do not known. Since they were going farer and farer from their starting point, Ernesto Guevara was writing into his travel diary: “We were feeling a little more alone but a good deal more free”.  However, their first stopes into Chile, despites the meetings they did, were still marked by a certain comfort. At one point, they were even received by the locals of Temuco, a small Chilean city as celebrities and inestimable guest. The reason of this incredible hospitality was mainly due because of a local newspaper to which they present themselves as internationally renowned leprosy experts. The two young travelers then used this press clipping as a way to score meals and other favors with locals along the way. Despite some trouble which occurred because Guevara was caught trying to seduce a married woman, they did the rest of their travel to Santiago without any major problems and in a certain comfort due to their “reputation” of leprosery expert. However, when they arrived in Santiago and after “la pederosa” had to endure several accidents, the motorcycle broke down for good. Despite the loss of their main transport mean, the two young man decided two continue their journey by hitchhiking. At this point, even if they did not realize it, the journey which changed them was starting.

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