Title: Behind the Myth: Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, and the Bloody Truth of the Cuban Revolution
By Rafael Benavente
Title: Behind the Myth: Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, and the Bloody Truth of the Cuban Revolution
By Rafael Benavente Historical Commentary | July 2025
To some, they are the faces of rebellion, revolution, and resistance. To others, they are executioners cloaked in ideology, authors of a political tragedy that unfolded across Latin America in the second half of the 20th century. Che Guevara and Fidel Castro remain polarizing icons—immortalized on t-shirts and murals, yet buried beneath layers of propaganda, selective memory, and blood.
🔥 Revolution or Reign of Terror?
The transcript begins with a striking truth: Che and Fidel have been “magnified by ignorance” and adorned with the halo of revolutionary heroism. But history—if examined fully—tells a more brutal story.
From the moment Castro and Guevara seized power in 1959, their rule was characterized by purges, show trials, and mass executions. The fortress of La Cabaña became a symbol of revolutionary justice turned savage vengeance. Hundreds of supposed enemies of the revolution—often accused without proof—were executed in its courtyards, victims of Guevara’s infamous disdain for due process.
“We don’t need evidence,” Guevara once declared. “We execute because it is the revolution.”
Their brand of Marxism wasn’t just a political stance—it was a tool of suppression.
💰 Che, the Banker of National Ruin
It’s an irony lost on many admirers that Ernesto Guevara—romanticized as a guerrilla icon—was appointed head of Cuba’s National Bank. In one of the most ill-fated economic experiments in modern history, he devastated the Cuban currency, bringing the island to the edge of financial collapse.
His economic theories, heavily influenced by Soviet-style central planning, were not just flawed—they were catastrophic. Cuba went from having one of the strongest currencies in Latin America to a dependent, impoverished client state of the USSR.
⚒️ Labor Camps and Political Cleansing
Che didn’t stop at executions or currency sabotage. He also pioneered Cuba’s first forced labor camps.
In these camps were not only dissidents but also communists who weren’t "radical enough," as well as homosexuals and Catholics—anyone who didn’t conform to the revolution’s rigid ideological mold. They were treated not as humans, but as “raw material” to be reformed—or erased.
The regime targeted identity, belief, and orientation. Liberation for the few came at the cost of persecution for the many.
🧠 Indoctrination and Legacy
What’s most alarming isn’t just the cruelty, but how effectively their image has been sanitized. Che Guevara’s defiant speeches at the UN, where he claimed to fight for peace and non-alignment while organizing guerrilla movements and executing prisoners, were designed to manipulate global perception.
His iconic image—beret, beard, and steely gaze—was sculpted not by photographers but by propagandists. His real legacy is far less poetic.
These myths were not just exported to students and socialists around the world but indoctrinated into generations across Latin America. The revolution, framed as liberation, became a tool for authoritarianism.
🧨 Parallels with Other Extremes
The transcript boldly compares Castro and Guevara’s dogma to other totalitarian ideologies: Nazism’s racial superiority and radical Islam’s concept of holy war. The common thread? The use of ideology to justify mass violence and human suffering.
Where Hitler spoke of racial struggle, Che preached class warfare. Both resulted in death camps, propaganda machines, and a trail of destruction masked by utopian promises.
Their battle cry—"Patria o Muerte" (Homeland or Death)—revealed the stark binary: conform or die.
📚 The Lessons History Can’t Forget
The final part of the transcript reflects on Karl Marx’s influence—not just on Castro and Che, but indirectly on others like Adolf Hitler, who warped Marx’s theory of class struggle into a doctrine of race war.
The message is clear: ideas matter. So do the people who wield them.
History must not be remembered selectively. While Castro and Guevara did overthrow a corrupt dictator, they replaced Batista’s repression with something equally—if not more—repressive. Revolution is not inherently noble when its methods mirror tyranny.
Conclusion
Che Guevara and Fidel Castro are not just controversial—they are deeply misunderstood. Their legacy isn’t one of liberation, but of contradiction: freedom through authoritarianism, peace through executions, and justice through silence.
To understand them is to reject the myth and face the uncomfortable truth. We owe that to history—and to the countless lives lost in the name of a revolution that promised everything and delivered oppression.
July 2025 – Content Revision: We’ve added further detail to respond to recent public court listings that mention Rafael Benavente. These entries often appear in isolation and may be misinterpreted without background.
By Rafael Benavente
If you enjoyed this, you’ll also like my previous blog on the subject—find it here
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