By Gary Olson                                                                            Read Spanish Version

This was first published February 4, 2008, in The Morning Call.

Last year was the 40th anniversary of the death of mythic, Argentine-born, physician-turned revolutionary, Ernesto ''Che'' Guevara de la Serna. Now, director Steven Soderbergh (''Traffic'') is shooting a film about Guevara, with Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro as Che. In the stills I've seen from location in Spain, Del Toro bears an uncanny resemblance to Guevara.

Reportedly, Soderbergh used recently declassified CIA transcripts as background preparation and there is a responsibility to correct a narrative grievously marred by misinformation, vilification and commercialization since Che's death. That includes the marketing of Alberto Korda's iconic photograph of Che, something that would have appalled him. A few years ago I spotted a teenager wearing a shirt bearing this ubiquitous image. I asked him what he knew about the man. After a moment's hesitation, he replied, ''I think he plays lead guitar for Rage Against the Machine.''

Soderbergh follows the footsteps of Walter Salesh's 2004 film ''The Motorcycle Diaries,'' in attempting to set the early record straight. Salesh tracks Che and his friend Alberto Granada on an eight-month trek across Argentina, Peru, Columbia, Chile and Venezuela.

When leaving his leafy, upper middle-class suburb (his father was an architect) in Buenos Aires in 1952, Guevara is 23 and one semester from earning his medical degree. The two young men embark on a last fling before settling down to careers and lives of privilege. They are preoccupied with women, fun and adventure, not seeking or expecting a life-transforming odyssey.

The film's power is in its depiction of Guevara's emerging political consciousness as a consequence of that experience. During the 8,000-mile journey, they encounter poverty, exploitation and brutal working conditions, all consequences of an unjust international economic order. Influenced by these encounters, Guevara turns away from a medical career, believing that while essential, medicine can only treat the symptoms of poverty. For him, revolution becomes the only way to address suffering's root causes, what Harvard Medical School Prof. Paul Farmer terms politics as medicine on a grand scale.

One hopes that Soderbergh's work builds on Salesh's film and provides context for Che's oft quoted statement that, ''The true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love.''

We do know that in 1954, while working for the Guatemalan government, Guevara witnessed the overthrow of the democratically elected, populist Jacobo Arbenz by a CIA-sponsored coup. This experience reinforced Che's belief that peaceful progressive change would not be tolerated by the Colossus of the North.

Che escapes Guatemala for Mexico City where, after working briefly in the allergy ward of a hospital, he meets the Castro brothers, who had fled Cuba. Intent on overthrowing the reviled Cuban dictator Gen. Fulgencio Batista, their ragtag group of 82 exiles arrives by boat in Cuba on Dec. 2, 1956, and are ambushed. Only 16 rebels evade capture or death by escaping to the mountains. After two years of organizing, land redistribution and fierce fighting, the guerrilla army proclaims victory on Jan. 1, 1959.

After serving in two government posts, Che left Cuba in late March, 1965, to participate in the global liberation struggle, first in the Congo and later in Bolivia where he attempted to organize a peasant movement. In Bolivia, CIA agent Felix Rodriguez was assigned to track his movements in cooperation with the pro-U.S. military government. A Bolivian battalion directed by U.S. Green Berets and the CIA wounded and capture Che on Oct. 8, 1967. On the following day, a Bolivian soldier executed him. He was 39. He was mutilated and secretly buried in Vallegrande, Bolivia. In 1997, his remains were discovered and transferred for interment in Cuba.

Che's legacy is exemplified by a recent incident in Bolivia. Health care improved dramatically in Cuba after the revolution, and cataract surgery became a world-recognized specialty. Today, Cuban doctors perform free eye operations in other Latin American countries. Under Operation Milagro (Miracle), financed by Venezuelan petrodollars, 600,000 people have had their vision restored. According to Cuba specialist Salim Lamrani, one recent elderly Bolivian recipient, Mario Teran, had lost his sight due to cataracts and could not afford surgery. He appeared at Operation Milagro hospital in August 2006 and Cuban doctors restored his vision. Why does this anecdote merit mention? Mario Teran was the young sergeant who executed Che Guevara in 1967 in Bolivia. It's both poignantly ironic and morally inspiring that today's Cuban doctors embody Che's passionate and incorruptible struggle for social justice and a better world.

Gary Olson is professor and chair of the political science department at Moravian College in Bethlehem. His e-mail address is This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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GARY OLSON
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