Che Guevara

In 1928, Ernesto “Che” Guevara was born into an intellectual Argentine family with leftist leanings. The young Che was interested in literature and chess. Guevara studied medicine at the University of Buenos Aires and traveled throughout South America as a young medical student. Galvanized by the poverty he witnessed, Guevara became involved in Guatemala’s social reforms under President Jacobo Árbenz. He later joined the Cuban Revolution, playing a pivotal role in deposing the Batista regime. Following the revolution, Guevara was active in the new Cuban government, helping spread literacy and instituting agrarian land reform. Guevara traveled to Bolivia in 1966 in an attempt to start a revolution there, but CIA-assisted Bolivian forces captured and executed him. He was 39.