| Ernesto "Che" Guevara
de la Serna
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| June
14, 1928 |
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Ernesto Guevara is born in Rosario, Argentina. His parents are Ernesto Guevara Lynch and Celia de la
Serna. He will be the
oldest of five children.
(picture shows Che with his parents after the Cuban Revolution)
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| 1945 |
Guevara family moves to Buenos Aires. |
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| 1945–51 |
Ernesto Guevara is enrolled at medical school in Buenos Aires. |
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| January–July
1952 |
Guevara visits Peru, Colombia and Venezuela. While in Peru he
works in a leper colony treating patients. |
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March 1953 |
Guevara
graduates as a doctor.
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July 6, 1953 |
After
graduating, Guevara travels throughout Latin America. He visits Bolivia,
observing the impact of the 1952 revolution.
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| December 1953 |
Guevara
has first contact with a group of survivors of the Moncada attack in San
José, Costa Rica.
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| December 24, 1953 |
Guevara
arrives in Guatemala, then under the elected government of Jacobo Arbenz.
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| January
4, 1954 |
Guevara
meets Nico López, a veteran of the Moncada attack, in Guatemala City.
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| January–June
1954 |
Unable
to find a medical position in Guatemala, Guevara obtains various odd jobs.
He studies Marxism and becomes involved in political activities, meeting
exiled Cuban revolutionaries.
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| June 17, 1954 |
Mercenary
forces backed by the CIA invade Guatemala. Guevara volunteers to fight.
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| August
1954
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Mercenary
troops enter Guatemala City and begin massacring supporters of the Arbenz
regime. Arbenz resigned at June 27, 1954. Che Guevara takes refuge in Argentine
Embassy.
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| September
21, 1954
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Guevara
arrives in Mexico City after fleeing Guatemala; subsequently gets a job as
a doctor at the Central Hospital.
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| June
1955
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Guevara
encounters Ñico López, who is also in Mexico City. Several days later
López arranges a meeting for him with Raúl Castro.
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| July
1955
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Guevara
meets Fidel Castro and immediately enrolls as the third confirmed member
of the future guerrilla expedition. Guevara subsequently becomes involved
in training combatants, with the Cubans giving him the nickname “Che,”
an Argentine term of greeting.
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| June
24, 1956
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Guevara
is arrested as part of a roundup by Mexican police of 28 expeditionaries,
including Fidel Castro. Guevara is detained for 57 days.
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| November
25, 1956
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Eighty-two
combatants, including Guevara as doctor, sail for Cuba aboard the small
cabin cruiser Granma, leaving from Tuxpan in Mexico.
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December 2, 1956
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The Granma
reaches Cuba at Las Coloradas beach in Oriente Province (Today's Granma
province).
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December 5, 1956
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The
rebel combatants are surprised by Batista’s troops at Alegría de Pío
and dispersed. A majority of the guerrillas are either murdered or
captured; Guevara is wounded.
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December 21, 1956
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Guevara’s
group reunites with Fidel Castro; at this point there are 15 fighters in
the Rebel Army.
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| July
1957
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Rebel
Army organizes a second column. Guevara is selected to lead it and is
promoted to the rank of commander.
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| August
31, 1958
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Guevara
leads an invasion column from the Sierra Maestra toward Las Villas
Province in central Cuba, and days later signs the Pedrero Pact with the
March 13 Revolutionary Directorate, which had a strong guerrilla base
there. Several days earlier Camilo Cienfuegos had been ordered to lead
another column toward Pinar del Río Province on the western end of Cuba.
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| October
16, 1958
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The
Rebel Army column led by Guevara arrives in the Escambray Mountains.
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| December
1958
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Rebel
columns of Guevara and the March 13 Revolutionary Directorate, and Camilo Cienfuegos with a small guerrilla troop of the Popular Socialist Party,
capture a number of towns in Las Villas Province and effectively cut the
island in half.
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| December 28, 1958
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Guevara’s column begins the battle of Santa Clara, the
capital of Las Villas.
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| January 1, 1959
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Batista flees Cuba. A military junta takes over. Fidel
Castro opposes the new junta and calls for the revolutionary
struggle to continue. Santa Clara falls to the Rebel Army.
Guevara and Cienfuegos are ordered immediately to Havana.
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| January 2, 1959
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Cuban workers respond to Fidel Castro’s call for a general
strike and the country is paralyzed. The Rebel Army columns of
Guevara and Cienfuegos arrive in Havana. Guevara’s column
occupies La Cabaña fortress, a former bastion of Batista’s
army.
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| February
9, 1959
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Guevara
is declared a Cuban citizen in recognition of his contribution to Cuba’s
liberation.
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| June
12–September 8, 1959
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Guevara
travels through Europe, Africa and Asia. He signs a number of commercial,
technical and cultural agreements.
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October 7, 1959
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Guevara
is designated head of the Department of Industry of the National Institute
of Agrarian Reform (INRA).
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November 26, 1959
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Guevara
is appointed president of the National Bank of Cuba.
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| October
20, 1960 |
Che writes "To
be a young Communist".
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| October
21, 1960
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Guevara
leaves on extended visit to Soviet Union, German Democratic Republic,
Czechoslovakia, China and North Korea.
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| January
6, 1961
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Guevara
reports to Cuban people on economic agreements signed with Soviet Union
and other countries.
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| February
23, 1961
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Ministry
of Industry established, headed by Guevara.
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| August
8, 1961
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Guevara
delivers speech to Organization of American States (OAS) Economic and
Social Conference in Punta del Este, Uruguay, as head of Cuba’s
delegation.
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| March
8, 1962
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Guevara
becomes a member of the National Directorate. The National Directorate of
the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations (ORI) is established, based on
fusion of the July 26 Movement, Popular Socialist Party and Revolutionary
Directorate;
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| August
27 – September 7, 1962
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Guevara
makes second visit to the Soviet Union.
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| October
22, 1962
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President
Kennedy initiates the “Cuban Missile Crisis,” denouncing Cuba’s
acquisition of missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads for defense
against U.S. attack. Washington imposes a naval blockade on Cuba. Cuba
responds by mobilizing its population for defense. Guevara is assigned
to lead forces in Pinar del Río Province in preparation for an imminent
U.S. invasion. |
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| 1963
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United
Party of Socialist Revolution (PURS) is formed. Guevara becomes a member
of its National Directorate.
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| July
3–17, 1963
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Guevara
visits Algeria, then recently independent under the government of Ahmed
Ben Bella.
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| March
1964
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Guevara
meets with Tamara Burke (Tania) and discusses her mission to move to
Bolivia in anticipation of a future guerrilla expedition.
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| March
25, 1964
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Guevara
addresses UN Conference on Trade and Development in Geneva, Switzerland.
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| November
4–9, 1964
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Guevara
visits the Soviet Union.
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| December
9, 1964
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Guevara
leaves Cuba on a three-month state visit.
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| December
11, 1964
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Guevara
addresses the United Nations General Assembly
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| December
17, 1964
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Guevara
leaves New York for Africa, where he visits Algeria, Mali, Congo
(Brazzaville), Guinea, Ghana, Tanzania and Egypt.
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| February
24, 1965
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Guevara
addresses the Second Economic Seminar of the Organization of Afro-Asian
Solidarity in Algiers.
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| March
14, 1965
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Guevara
returns to Cuba and shortly afterwards drops from public view.
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| April
1, 1965
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Guevara
delivers a farewell letter to Fidel Castro. He subsequently leaves Cuba on
an internationalist mission in the Congo (now Zaire), entering through
Tanzania. Guevara operates under the name Tatú, Swahili for “number
two.”
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| April
18, 1965
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In
answer to questions about Guevara’s whereabouts, Castro tells foreign
reporters that Guevara “will always be where he is most useful to the
revolution.”
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| June
16, 1965
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Castro
announces Guevara’s whereabouts will be revealed “when Commander
Guevara wants it known.”
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October 3, 1965
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Castro
publicly reads Guevara’s letter of farewell at a meeting to announce the
Central Committee of the newly formed Communist Party of Cuba.
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December 1965
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Castro
arranges for Guevara to return to Cuba in secret. Guevara prepares for an
expedition to Bolivia.
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| March
1966
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Arrival
in Bolivia of the first Cuban combatants to begin advance preparations for
a guerrilla detachment.
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| July
1966
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Guevara
meets with Cuban volunteers selected for the mission to Bolivia at a
training camp in Cuba’s Pinar del Río Province.
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| November
4, 1966 |
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Guevara
arrives in Bolivia in disguise and using the assumed name Adolfo Mena
Gonzalez.
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| November
7, 1966
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Guevara
arrives at site where Bolivian guerrilla movement will be based. The first
entry in Bolivian diary.
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| November–December
1966 |
More
guerrilla combatants arrive and base camps are established.
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| December
31, 1966
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Guevara
meets with Bolivian Communist Party secretary Mario Monje. There is
disagreement over perspectives for the planned guerrilla expedition.
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| February
1–March 20, 1967 |
Guerrilla
detachment leaves the base camp to explore the region.
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| March 23, 1967 |
First
guerrilla military action takes place with combatants successfully
ambushing a Bolivian army column.
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| April
10, 1967 |
Guerrilla
column conducts a successful ambush of Bolivian troops.
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| April
16, 1967
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Publication
of Guevara’s Message to the Tricontinental with his call for the
creation of “two, three, many Vietnams.”
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| April
17, 1967
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Guerrilla
detachment led by Joaquín is separated from the rest of the unit. The
separation is supposed to last only three days but the two groups are
unable to reunite.
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| April
20, 1967
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Régis
Debray is arrested after having spent several weeks with a guerrilla unit.
He is subsequently tried and sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment.
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| May 1967 |
U.S.
Special Forces arrive in Bolivia to train counterinsurgency troops of the
Bolivian army.
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| July 6, 1967 |
Guerrillas
occupy the town of Sumaipata.
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| July
26, 1967
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Guevara
gives a speech to guerrillas on the significance of the July 26, 1953,
attack on the Moncada garrison.
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| July
31–August 10, 1967 |
Organization
of Latin American Solidarity (OLAS) conference is held in Havana. The
conference supports guerrilla movements throughout Latin America. Che
Guevara is elected honorary chair.
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| August
4, 1967
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Deserter
leads the Bolivian army to the guerrillas’ main supply cache; documents
seized lead to arrest of key urban contacts.
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| August 31, 1967 |
Joaquín’s
detachment is ambushed and annihilated while crossing a river after an
informer leads government troops to the site.
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| September 26, 1967 |
Guerrillas
walk into an ambush. Three are killed and government forces encircle the
remaining guerrilla forces.
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| October
8, 1967
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Remaining
17 guerrillas are trapped by Bolivian troops and conduct a desperate
battle. Guevara is seriously wounded and captured.
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| Last
picture of Che alive |
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| October
9, 1967
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Guevara
and two other captured guerrillas are murdered following instructions from
the Bolivian government and Washington.
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| October
15, 1967
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In a
television appearance Fidel Castro confirms news of Guevara’s death and
declares three days of official mourning in Cuba. October 8 is designated
Day of the Heroic Guerrilla.
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| October
18, 1967
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Castro
delivers memorial speech for Guevara in Havana’s Revolution Plaza before
an audience of almost one million people.
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| February
22, 1968
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Three
Cuban survivors cross border into Chile, after having traveled across the
Andes on foot to elude Bolivian army. They later return to Cuba.
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| Mid–March
1968
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Microfilm
of Guevara’s Bolivian diary arrives in Cuba.
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| July
1, 1968
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Guevara’s
Bolivian diary published in Cuba is distributed free of charge to the
Cuban people. The introduction is by Fidel Castro.
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Republic of Cuba
