I spent a great deal of time with Che Guevara while I was in Havana. I believe he was far less a mercenary than he was a freedom fighter.

In this remark O’Hara contrasts two moral framings of revolutionary violence: the “mercenary,” motivated by pay or opportunism, versus the “freedom fighter,” motivated by political conviction and perceived liberation. By grounding her judgment in personal proximity (“I spent a great deal of time with…”), she presents her view as eyewitness character assessment rather than ideological argument. The quote also reflects how celebrity encounters can humanize polarizing figures and how Cold War-era reputations were contested in Western discourse. Its significance lies less in historical evaluation of Guevara than in illustrating how firsthand impressions can shape public memory and complicate simplified labels.