Nikos Mottas: Che Guevara is today more alive than ever before (VIDEO)

On October 8, 2022, in the fully-packed Studio New Art Cinema in Athens, in presence of Dr. Aleida Guevara March who traveled especially from Havana to attend the event, numerous friends of Cuba in Greece commemorated the 55th anniversary of Ernesto Che Guevara's assassination in Bolivia (read Cuban Embassy's report here). 

 

Among the speakers was Nikos Mottas, editor-in-chief of "In Defense of Communism", author of the book "Che Guevara, Ambassador of the Revolution" (2021), whose greeting speech is presented below:

Book on Ernesto Che Guevara presented in Greece

The book about communist revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara, written by Nikos Mottas, was presented during an event in Athens on June 23rd. 

The book, published by "Atexnos" publishing house, focuses to the role of Che as a leader of Cuba's Foreign Policy during the first post-revolutionary years, outlining the Argentinian communist's internationalist activity in world politics (read more here). 

Nikos Mottas: "Che Guevara, Ambassador of the Revolution"

A new book about communist revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara, written by Nikos Mottas, has been published in Greece under the title "Che Guevara, Ambassador of the Revolution". The book, published by "Atexnos", focuses to the role of Che as a leader of Cuba's Foreign Policy during the first post-revolutionary years, outlining the Argentinian communist's internationalist activity in world politics.

As a leading member of the Cuban revolutionary government, Ernesto Che Guevara played a major role in the formation of the country's foreign policy during the first post-revolutionary years. One of the tasks he undertook, immediately after the Revolution's triumph, was to establish diplomatic, political and economic relations between Cuba and other countries, mainly of those of the socialist camp.

Cuba triumphs where capitalism has failed

By Nikos Mottas.

Speaking to medical students in Havana, on 19 August 1960, communist revolutionary, guerrilla fighter and doctor Ernesto Che Guevara was pointing out: 

"The work that today is entrusted to the Ministry of Health and similar organizations is to provide public health services for the greatest possible number of persons, institute a program of preventive medicine, and orient the public to the performance of hygienic practices [...] Some day, therefore, medicine will have to convert itself into a science that serves to prevent disease and orients the public toward carrying out its medical duties [....] The doctor, the medical worker, must go to the core of his new work, which is the man within the mass, the man within the collectivity" [1].

Miguel Díaz-Canel: "We will be like Che, today, tomorrow and forever. Until the victory forever"

The President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, today evoked the example of Argentine-Cuban communist revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara after the 52nd anniversary of his fall in combat.

In his Twitter account, the Cuban President wrote: "We will be like Che, today, tomorrow and forever. Until the victory forever. We are Cuba. We are continuity."

Ernesto Che Guevara: 90 years after his birth, his example continues to inspire

Ernesto Guevara: The man who gave himself

By Yisel Martinez / Source: Granma International. 

There are figures who never die, who cease being mere mortals to remain inevitably in history. People of thought, of character, of passion and sacrifice, who exalt human nature and attest to how much we can do as a species. Ernesto Che Guevara de la Serna is one of these figures.

It was no coincidence that his life should turn out like that. His asthma always accompanied him and made him a fighter. His father got used to sleeping up against the headboard of his bed, and Ernesto learned to control the asthma attacks lying on his father’s chest. 

He didn’t always go to school, and was taught at home. However, he became independent and determined. He practiced sports and studied medicine. The books written about his life note that he attended practice with a fever, that he was never absent or stopped working.

Miguel Díaz-Canel in Santa Clara: Che’s colossal example lives on and multiplies day after day

Source: Granma Internacional.

Miguel Díaz-Canel, first vice president of Cuba’s Councils of State and Ministers gave a speech during the ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the death of Che and his compañero.

It is with great emotion that we gather here at this sacred place of the homeland to pay tribute to the protagonists of one of the most important internationalist exploits, an example of the struggle for the liberation of peoples subjected to imperialism. Today, the feat undertaken by Comandante Ernesto Guevara and a small but brave army during an 11 month campaign in Bolivia, moves tender-hearted men and women across the world, stated Party Political Bureau member and First Vice President of Cuba’s Councils of Sate and Ministers, Miguel Díaz Canel- Bermúdez.

Recalling the landscapes where he struggled between life and death, firm in his redemptive commitment, proves to us his altruism, the depth of his convictions, his legacy, his revolutionary and internationalist dimension, he added. 

The 50th anniversary of Che Guevara's assassination to be commemorated in Greece

With political and cultural events the friends of Cuba in Greece will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Ernesto Che Guevara's assasination. 

In Athens:

On Monday 9 October, "Alkyonis" cinema will host an event in honor of Che. The major speaker will be the Ambassador of Cuba in Greece Zelmys Maria Dominguez Cortina, while the president of the Hellenic-Cuban Association of Friendship and Solidarity Nikos Karandreas will deliver a greeting message. The event will also include the projection of the film "Donde nunca jamas se lo imaginan" by Manuel Perez. 

Aleida Guevara: "The Cuban Revolution will endure because of social consciousness"

Major abstracts of an interview by Aleida Guevara, daughter of the heroic Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara, during her recent visit in Cyprus. The interview was published in the portal Dialogos / Translation in english: In Defense of Communism:

We talked about great personalities like Fidel, Che, Raul, Camilo. Their personalities frequently overshadow the Revolution of the Cuban people and the resistance which lasts for so many years. Something that imperialism feeds with illusions is (the perception) that the biological death of Fidel and Revolution's leaders will result to her collapse. How do you comment? 

Cuba honors the 89th anniversary of Che Guevara’s birth

Source: Granma via Guevaristas.org.

SANTA CLARA– The presence of Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara in this city will be remembered with a series of activities this June 14, on the occasion of the 89th anniversary of his birth.

In the early morning, 39 children and young people from two local schools named after the guerrilla leader will carry out the traditional exchange of floral wreaths at the Memorial where his remains and those of his fellow comrades in arms in Bolivia rest, explained Yoel Padrón, head of the Young Communist League’s (UJC) Ideological Department in Villa Clara.

This ceremony will be followed by a march of the people of Santa Clara from Antonio Maceo Park, led by young workers from factories founded by the Heroic Guerrilla in this city.

Ernesto Che Guevara: The speech at the General Assembly of the United Nations (1964)

Ernesto Che Guevara's  speech at the United Nations General Assembly, 

11 December 1964.

Mr. President;
Distinguished delegates:

The delegation of Cuba to this Assembly, first of all, is pleased to fulfill the agreeable duty of welcoming the addition of three new nations to the important number of those that discuss the problems of the world here. We therefore greet, in the persons of their presidents and prime ministers, the peoples of Zambia, Malawi and Malta, and express the hope that from the outset these countries will be added to the group of Nonaligned countries that struggle against imperialism, colonialism and neocolonialism.

Ernesto Che Guevara * Эрнесто Че Гевара * إرنستو "تشي" جيفارا

Ernesto Che Guevara- What a young Communist should be

What a young Communist should be.

Source: Guevaristas.org.

Below are excerpts of a speech given by Ernesto Che Guevara, one of the central leaders of the Cuban revolution, at a ceremony marking the second anniversary of the formation of the youth organization. It was first published in Obra Revolutionaria, Oct. 23, 1962. 

The Union of Young Communists, with different names and organizational forms, is almost as old as the revolution. At the beginning it emerged out of the Rebel Army – perhaps that’s where it also got its initial name [Association of Young Rebels]. But it was an organization linked to the army in order to introduce Cuba’s youth to the massive tasks of national defense, the most urgent problem at the time and the one requiring the most rapid solution….

Later, as the revolution was consolidated and we could finally talk about the new tasks ahead, Compañero Fidel proposed changing the name of the organization, a change of name that fully expresses a principle. The Union of Young Communists [Applause] has its face to the future. It is organized with the bright future of socialist society in mind….

Ernesto Che Guevara- Transcript of CBS 'Face the Nation' Interview (1964)

The text below is the trascript of an interesting interview that Ernesto Che Guevara, then Minister of Industry, gave to CBS Television Network in New York. 

Source: Guevaristas.org.

“FACE THE NATION" as broadcast over the CBS Television Network and the Sunday, CBS Radio Network December 13, 1964 – – 12:30 – 1:00 PM EST.

GUEST: MAJOR ERNESTO GUEVARA, Minister of Industry of Cuba.

NEWS CORRESPONDENTS: Paul Niven, CBS News, Tad Szulc, New York Times, Richard C. Hottelet, CBS News. PRODUCERS: Prentiss Childs, Ellen Wadley. DIRECTOR: Robert Vitarelli.

MR. NlVEN: Major Guevara, in your speech to the General Assembly the day before yesterday, you accused the United States of helping Cuba’s neighbors prepare new aggression against her. We, in turn, have often accused your government of abetting subversion in other Latin American countries. Do you see any way out of this situation, any way to improve relations?

MAJOR GUEVARA: I think with regards to solutions, there are solutions, and I think there is only one. we have said repeatedly to the government of the United States that we do not want anything but to forget us, that they do not consider us even for good or evil.

Fidel Castro- Che’s ideas are absolutely relevant today

Fidel Castro Ruz- Che’s ideas are absolutely relevant today.

Source: Guevaristas.org.

The following speech was given by Fidel Castro on 8 October 1987 at the main ceremony marking the twentieth anniversary of Guevara’s death. It was held at a newly completed electronics components factory in the city of Pinar del Río.

Nearly twenty years ago, on October 18, 1967, we met in the Plaza of the Revolution with a huge crown to honor Compañero Ernesto Che Guevara, Those were very bitter, very difficult days as when we received news of the developments in Vado del Yeso, in the Yuro Ravine, when news agencies reported Che had fallen in battle.

Che Guevara: “I came to communism because of Stalin”

By Nikos Mottas.

Originally published in atexnos.gr.

Translated from Greek.

Ernesto Che Guevara is undoubtedly a historical figure of the 20^th century's communist movement who attracts the interest of people from a vast range of political ideologies. The years followed his cowardly assassination in Bolivia, Che became a revolutionary symbol for a variety of marxist-oriented, leftist and progressive parties and organisations- from Trotskyists to militant leninists and from Social Democrats to anarcho-libertarians. A significant number of those who admire the argentine revolutionary identify themselves as “anti-stalinists”, hate and curse Stalin while they often refer to the so-called “crimes” of Stalin's era. What is a contradiction and an irony of history is the following: Che Guevara himself was an admirer of Joseph Stalin.