page_title: Legacy of Che Guevara
section_title: In Latin America
hierarchical_section_title: Legacy of Che Guevara / Personal legacy / In Latin America
caption_attribution_description: Plaza Che de Frente el Edifico de Enfermeria y el auditorio leon de greiff
context_page_description: The legacy of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara is constantly evolving in the collective imagination. As a symbol of counterculture worldwide, Guevara is one of the most recognizable and influential revolutionary figures of the twentieth century. However, during his life, and even more since his death, Che has elicited controversy and wildly divergent opinions on his personal character and actions. He has been both revered and reviled, being characterized as everything from a heroic defender of the poor, to a cold-hearted executioner.
context_section_description: In Latin America, the perceived failures of the liberal reforms of the 1990s intensified ideological antagonism towards the United States, leading to a resurgence in support for many of Guevara’s political beliefs: including Pan-Americanism, support for popular movements in the region, the nationalization of key industries and centralization of government. In nearly every upsurge of revolutionary movements in Latin America over the last forty years, from Argentina to Chile, from Nicaragua to El Salvador, from Guatemala to Mexico and Chiapas, there are traces of "Guevarismo" – sometimes clear, sometimes faint. In the view of the indigenous rights activist Rigoberta Menchú, "In these present times, when for many, ethics and other profound moral values are seen to be so easily bought and sold, the example of Che Guevara takes on an even greater dimension."
  In Nicaragua, the Sandinistas, a group with ideological roots in Guevarism were re-elected to government after 16 years. Supporters wore Guevara T-shirts during the 2006 victory celebrations. Bolivian president Evo Morales has paid many tributes to Guevara including visiting his initial burial site in Bolivia to declare "Che Lives", and installing a portrait of the Argentine made from local coca leaves in his presidential suite. In 2006, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez who has referred to Guevara as an "infinite revolutionary" and who has been known to address audiences in a Che Guevara T-shirt, accompanied Fidel Castro on a tour of Guevara’s boyhood home in Córdoba Argentina, describing the experience as "a real honor." Awaiting crowds of thousands responded with calls of "We feel it! Guevara is right with us!" Guevara’s daughter Aleida also transcribed an extensive interview with Chávez where he outlined his plans for "The New Latin America", releasing the interview in book form. Guevara also remains a key inspirational figure to the Colombian guerrilla movement, the FARC, and the Mexican Zapatistas led by Subcomandante Marcos. In addition, the various "expressions of the popular will" that Che favored over ballot-box democracy – neighborhood courts and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution – have found new expression in Venezuela and Bolivia.
  Amongst the youth of Latin America, Guevara's memoir The Motorcycle Diaries has become a cult favorite with college students and young intellectuals. This has allowed Guevara to emerge as "a romantic and tragic young adventurer, who has as much in common with Jack Kerouac or James Dean as with Fidel Castro." Speaking on this phenomenon, biographer Jon Lee Anderson, has theorized that Che is "a figure who can constantly be examined and re-examined, to the younger, post-cold-war generation of Latin Americans, Che stands up as the perennial Icarus, a self-immolating figure who represents the romantic tragedy of youth. Their Che is not just a potent figure of protest, but the idealistic, questioning kid who exists in every society and every time."
caption: In Bogotá, the National University of Colombia gave their "Santander Square" the nickname "Che Square".
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