“El Che, Guerrillero Heroico”
Letter from Che Guevara to Fidel Castro, October 1965.
“Che wrote a confidential and rather personal letter of resignation to Castro when he left for the Congo. This letter, which Castro made public in October 1965, appears to have been designed among other purposes to absolve the Cuban government of all responsibility for Che’s actions in the Congo in the event he was discovered, captured, or killed there.”
For instance, he wrote:
“I have lived magnificent days at your side and I have felt the pride of belonging to our people in the dark and bright days of the Caribbean crisis [Bay of Pigs invasion by U.S.-backed Cuban exiles]. Rarely has a statesman shone as brightly as you in those days. I feel proud of having followed you without hesitation, identifying myself with your way of thinking, seeing and appreciating both the dangers and principles.
“Other lands of the world now claim the assistance of my modest efforts. I can do what you now are prevented from doing because of your responsibility at the helm of Cuba, and so the time has come to separate. Let it be known that I do this both in pleasure and sorrow: here I leave the purest of my hopes as a builder and the most cherished of my loved ones and I leave a people who admitted me as one of their sons; this lacerates part of my spirit.”
“El Che, Guerrillero Heroico!”
Source:Richard L. Harris, “Che Guevara: A Biography”, Greenwood, 2011.
Castro K
