Abstract
On 2 May 2024, a special meeting was arranged with Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara's daughter, Dr Aleida Guevara at their home in Havana which was followed at the end with a greeting from Che's wife Aleida March. The authors (migrant-settler in Canada originally from India and Cuban friend/colleague who had arranged for the visit – both Human Geographers) along with three Brazilian friends (Doctor, Dentist, and Sociologist) were invited. For more than 3 hours, an intense dialogue ensued. We recount three intellectual lessons that emerged during our discussion. Each of the topics addressed by Aleida reflected her stance as an anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist, anti-neocolonialist, and internationalist revolutionary. The discussions included the essential concepts in Che's Marxism, which were integral during the construction process of the Cuban Revolution. Three main themes that emerged included: Cuban Revolution and the socialism of care; challenges facing Cuban socialism today; and the continuing importance of international solidarity. The discussions were interspersed with personal stories, recounts of her father, and humorous anecdotes. Dr Aleida Guevara's tricontinental solidarity work that she shared with us and lessons learned across different historical and geographical contexts in the spirit of her father's intellectual insights towards struggles for freedom provide a theoretical foundation for us to consider today.
Let me say, at risk of sounding ridiculous, that a true revolutionary is guided by deep feelings of love. It is impossible to think of an authentic revolutionary without this quality….(Ernesto ‘Che' Guevara)
He left us his revolutionary thinking, he left us his revolutionary virtues, he left us his character, his will, his tenacity, his spirit of work. In a word, he left us his example! And the example of Che should be a model for our people, the example of Che should be the ideal model for our people! Fidel Castro (1967, Memorial for Che)
Context of the meeting
It was May Day in Havana, 2024 and as always, a spectacular event and celebration of over 65 years of the Cuban Revolution. Previous celebrations I had attended 1 were held at the famous Revolution Square, where masses from the nearby region and countryside participated. After Covid-19, however, due to the limited availability of fuel owing to the blockade imposed by the United States, May Day celebrations across the country had moved to local neighbourhoods or barrios. At the Tribuna Anti-Imperialista José Martí, a public square on the Malecon seaside across the US Embassy, where we participated, rallies enthusiastically started gathering from 3 a.m. and ranged from local communes, industrial workers, public sector workers, cooperatives, musicians, school children, elderly to international solidarity groups who collectively flooded the streets before dawn. The event ended by 11 a.m. as new and old alliances were forged and reestablished on this historic day. This year the May Day rally was in strong support dedicated to the Palestinian anti-war efforts. The following day on 2 May and keeping in its tradition, international delegates were invited to attend the annual meeting at the Havana Convention Palace to continue discussions on solidarity. I was prepared to attend this meeting, but there was an unexpected change of plans.
That evening at the hotel I received a phone call from my dear friend and colleague Professor Luisa Iñiguez Rojas, [Professor Emeritus and well renowned Cuban geographer at the University of Havana and FLACSO and co-author of this article], inviting me to meet Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara's eldest daughter, Dr Aleida Guevara, the next morning at 10 a.m. This was an unexpected and exceptional surprise as Aleida Guevara, his eldest daughter, was well known not only for carrying and sharing the legacy of her father's immense work, but also as a scholar, pediatrician, international solidarity worker, and comrade in her own right – advocating for the voices of women and children of the Revolution in Cuba and abroad. Professor Luisa Iñiguez was familiar with the intellectual, social, and political context of my work in relation to this visit and had arranged for a 2-hour meeting along with three of her Brazilian friends (a doctor, dentist, and sociologist). This included intellectual interests based on my long-term SSHRC project Subalterity, public education, and welfare cities: Comparing the experience of displaced migrants in three cities (Havana, Toronto, Kolkata) alongside questions related to the geopolitics of education for peace, urbanization of forced displacement, and the social geographies of state-funded school–community relations – all within the historical context and struggle against anti-imperialism and anti-colonialism. She was also familiar with my involvement in the Canadian–Cuban solidarity movement, the Che Guevara Brigades (ICAP), and engagement with Movimiento Cubano por la Paz (Cuban movement for peace) in Guantanamo over many years. My work in India (particularly with municipal schools in Kolkata and the Sunderbans) was closely intertwined with the socialist exploration of school-based praxis in community care and education. Previous decades of work had included exploring the neoliberalization of education and the politics of school closures in Toronto within the context of a settler-colonial society in Canada. It is within this context that I had not only the enormous privilege of meeting with Dr Aleida Guevara the day after May Day but also the opportunity to have a meaningful conversation with her about her thoughts and reflections on many critical themes. Her father, Ernesto Che Guevara's work on ‘Ideas on Pedagogy’ alongside Fidel Castro's work on ‘Education is Revolution’ had greatly influenced my own understanding of political education and the cultivation of the post revolutionary socialist person – as the pillars of the construction of a new society.
On Thursday, 2 May we arrived at 10 a.m. and were welcomed by Dr Aleida Guevara at her home – the home of Che Guevara, his wife Aleida March, and their children. The home located in front of the Che Guevara Study Centre remains under the directorship of her mother, Aleida March and was closed for repairs.
The room we were greeted in had a few chairs, an iron bust of Che Guevara, and two paintings – one engraved with the historical revolutionary message Hasta Victoria Siempre. We introduced ourselves, and Luisa had arranged for a friend to translate. At the centre of the room there was a miniature marble model of the Taj Mahal placed on the table. I introduced myself as a resident of Toronto originally from the city of Kolkata. This sparked her interest as she had visited India many times including Kolkata twice (most recently a year ago in 2023, visiting nine cities), where she had been warmly and enthusiastically received by packed audiences and rallies on the street! The deep respect and admiration for the Cuban people, the Revolution and its leaders, especially extended to Fidel and Che – imagery of leaders, I recall seeing as a child in the streets of Kolkata (alongside Netaji and Tagore in Bengal) and the stories of struggle and freedom, I had learned from extended family and elders. Her father had visited India in 1959 and made a lasting impact on the people carried over generations. Those legacies continue as was evident in her recollection of the visit and the emotional outpouring of support and events. I explained to her the tri-city component of my intellectual/solidarity work and a long conversation ensued. Our Brazilian friends arrived soon after and she warmly recalled her visit to several places near their hometowns. Similar sentiments and experiences were expressed by our Brazilian friends and similar outpourings of love were expressed in the streets of Brazil.
For more than 3 hours, an intense dialogue ensued. She spoke of many urgent themes that cut across Cuba, India, Brazil and other places of the Global South. Aleida shared an encyclopaedic knowledge and real-world experience carrying the heavy load and responsibilities on her shoulder as the daughter of an international legend. Despite these obligations, her humility, sharp wit and sense of humour was infectious, and we laughed at her many experiences (including the time her mother, Aleida March, had stopped talking to her for months for taking pictures with someone who had impersonated her father at a carnival in Brazil!) Our conversation continued for 3 h and even though none of us took any notes or recordings, there were countless stories, intellectual themes, debates and personal reflections and memories of her father. Most importantly interspersed between our conversations she shared the tender recollections of her father – sitting close to him, his last farewell disguised as an uncle, his correspondence from distant lands, his love for photography (including his photos of cows on the streets of Calcutta (now Kolkata) during his visit in 1959!), his loving presence and humour with his family, and her acceptance of his struggle and sacrifice for a much larger cause.
At the end of our conversation she invited her mother, Aledia March (at the time of this meeting, eighty-eight years of age), to meet with us. Cuban women have been involved in revolutionary movements since the early 1800s ranging from – abolition struggles, independence movements, freedom from colonialism and imperialism to social justice and gender equity. Examples during the 1959 Cuban Revolution included Haydée Santamaría Cuadrado, Vilma Espín, Celia Sánchez, Aleida March amongst countless others. Fidel Castro described the impact of these women as ‘the revolution within the revolution’ and in this regard, Aleida March had played a significant role in the historical transformation and struggles for rights and emancipation.
We learned from Professor Luisa Iñiguez that Aleida March was one of the first clandestine activists of the 26 July revolutionary movement based in the central part of the country and had participated in various tasks of the movement's support network. In 1958 she joined the urban guerilla movement in the city of Santa Clara where she met Guevara on the eve of the revolutionary offensive that he led against the Batista dictatorship. Her fellow fighters characterized her as ‘brave and courageous in the face of anything’.
We were overcome with emotion as she shared short anecdotes of her life with Che. She was a revolutionary in her own right and had fought beside him in Santa Clara. She shared with us her treasured time with him and noted that ‘though her own life has been long, her time with him had been brief but everlasting’. As Professor Luisa Iñiguez recounts this emotional exchange:
La conversación con Aleida esposa del Che, su viuda, transcurrió en un ambiente calmado, jovial, con un momento de particular emoción. Con las manos bien separadas dijo ‘mi vida ha sido así’, y al casi juntar las manos continuó ‘con el fue así’, indicando su brevedad. Y continuó ‘me dijo que tenía que marcharse y yo lo comprendí’. Tenía cuatro hijos y la mayor con 4 años y medio. Fue realmente conmovedor, con la paz que recordaba el hecho.
[Translated: The conversation with Che's wife Aleida, his widow, took place in a calm, jovial atmosphere, with a moment of particular emotion. With her hands wide apart she said ‘my life has been like this’, and then she joined her hands and continued ‘with him it was like this’, indicating its brevity. And she continued ‘he told me that he had to leave and I understood it.’ They had four children and the oldest was 4 and a half years old. It was really moving, with the peace that she remembered the event].
Intellectual lessons
We recount three intellectual lessons that emerged during our discussion. Each of the topics addressed by Aleida, reflected her stance as an anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist, anti-neocolonialist, and internationalist revolutionary. The discussions included the essential concepts in Che's Marxism, which were integral during the construction process of the Cuban Revolution.
Cuban Revolution and the Socialism of Care: historical context of the role of women, education, and communal care. Challenges facing Cuban Socialism today: Debilitating impacts of the imperialist US blockade and ongoing resistance through everyday life. Continuing importance of International Solidarity
Cuban revolution and the socialism of care: Historical context of the role of women, education, and communal care
Dr Aleida Guevara highlighted the critical importance of
The Revolution also resulted in the emancipation of the role of women in the Cuban society, through the establishment of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) a mass organization that brought together 92% of Cuban women over 14 years of age. She noted that this was one of the main themes discussed during her visit to India, and amongst many of her activities spoke at the All India Democratic Women's Association as a representative of FMC. In her lectures she highlighted the involvement of women in the labour force in all sectors – managerial, finance, Public Health, education, science and technology, culture and sport and agricultural activities. In the challenges of food security in the midst of the devastating impacts of the financial and commercial blockade, a number of initiatives including the urbanization and initiatives of Family Agriculture were critical. The political involvement of women in powerful governing positions such as the National Assembly of People's Power, positions as governors, mayors and international representatives has allowed the Revolutionary policies to dismantle and challenge patriarchal and machismo structures – including domestic and gender-based violence. The local geographies of community institutions – such as the Guidance Houses for Women and Families – allowed the services and support to be available at the local level. Finally, the implementation of the new progressive Family Code, approved in a referendum by over 66% of the population has given rise to socialist and feminist debates in broadening accessibility, gender discrimination including to LGBTQIA rights, through the improvement of laws. Aleida reminded me to keep in mind the historical and structural context of the two nations and that by speaking of the Cuban Revolution and the transformational impacts over six decades it has had on the lives of women – was worth sharing.
Within this context she explained to me how the
The new ‘man’/person (needed in preparation of a new socialist society) that the Cuban society and community depended upon and had struggled and fought for (many of them, including her father, with their own lives), straddled the dialectic between an individual and society (see Guevara 1965/2014). The methods to cultivate these complex links were specific to the aspirations and challenges of building a new socialist society. Further, the need for a deep study of their
As Lidia Turner Marti (1999/2013) notes, this historical legacy has a permanent value to define a praxis scientifically geared to the education of the present and future generations of Cubans (p. 15). The combination of study and work (
Challenges facing Cuban socialism today: Debilitating impacts of the imperialist US blockade and ongoing resistance through everyday life.
Dr Aleida Guevara spoke of the detrimental impacts of the US imperial blockade on the day-to-day life of the Cuban people that are struggling through its effects. The impacts of the economic, commercial and financial blockade for over six decades and the devastating impacts this has had on the daily living conditions had worsened and became particularly harsh and exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, in recent years, in addition to the limited access to food and medicine, basic goods and resources, industrial parts and accessories, there is a serious shortage of fuel that further limits the means of transportation and energy leading to frequent blackouts across the island. As a paediatrician she noted the absence of life-saving medications she needed for children, the dearth of milk for infants, amongst other basic needs that were essential in maintaining provisions of a socialist welfare state. On their visits to dental and other health clinics the Brazilian dentist and doctor learned about the difficulty of finding anaesthesia for patients who needed surgery and medical workers who were often compelled to operate without it. These were the daily and harsh realities of the blockade on civil society.
The 60-year US economic blockade that seeks to weaken the Cuban government is further reinforced through 243 unilateral coercive measures. These were implemented during the term of US President Donald Trump and continue under the current President Joe Biden. Maliciously, it continues to have an extraterritorial effect whereby other nations are prohibited from trading with Cuba or face the consequence of heavy fines or expulsion. Furthermore, strategies of alienation persist as Cuba continues to be categorized under the capricious dictates of US hegemony as a ‘State Sponsor of Terrorism’ (SSOT), and the tightening of the blockade in recent years has further strained or eradicated global trade relations. The blockade, according to these impacts, is ‘similar to genocidal policies aligned with colonial histories that attempt to create famines – an imperial territorial strategy of strangulation by isolation – as a continuous measure of warfare’ (Basu, 2022).
The pandemic, the tightening of the US sanctions, and failed economic and monetary policies have aggravated structural problems of the Cuban economy since 2020. These extraordinary structural impediments have invariably led to endogenous challenges through which the state confronts harsh economic realities, ‘governing’ the suffering and difficulties of civil society, whether to mitigate internal conflicts or to address large-scale emigration. In the last 2 years, for example, there have been unprecedented volumes of migration not only because of the large numbers emigrating, but also because of the increase in young people and professionals whose departure from the country has caused difficulties in providing services, including health care. Aleida Guevara in a recent interview (July 2024) criticized the proliferating effects of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Cuba. She notes the uneven societal impacts that have ensued as a result of failed economic policies, whereby ‘MSMEs have become importers instead of producers, which has exacerbated the economic inequalities in the country’. This in turn, she argues, has led to rampant inflation and black-market prices of basic goods, usage of multiple currencies and the growing dollarization of the economy, insufficient access of goods (despite basic-basket (rations) being subsidized by the state), and serving potential security risks in facilitating the entry of drugs and other illicit goods in the country, amongst other challenges. The President of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermúdez (July 2024) in addressing the complexity and magnitude of these adverse challenges notes that such ‘negative tendencies emerge like weeds in difficult moments’ and work against the principles of the revolution.
The blockade remains in place despite the overwhelming response of the international community of UN member states to ‘immediately end the sanctions, particularly amid global efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic’ (where 187 voted in favour of lifting the blockade and only two voted to maintain it). Despite these immense structural barriers (very often minimized or undermined by academic and corporate media, through which the blame-game is strategically shifted to the inefficiencies of the ‘state’ and ‘socialist regimes’) to deter and crush any type of potential economic development, the Cuban society's determination to maintain the premise of its revolutionary ideals and commitments has endured (to the chagrin of critics and amazement of supporters). Aleida noted how Cuba was able to develop five vaccines, thanks to its own research and technological advancement, and through global solidarity efforts had received the necessary supplies (including syringes) from international workers and continued to provide the best community care to the Cuban people. Even during this precarious time, she reminded us, in the spirit of Cuban socialist internationalism, how Cuban doctors offered their support to Italy in the midst of the evolution of the pandemic and had helped abandoned and marginalized countries in their fight against Covid-19 with the resources and skills they were able to share. Once again, the principle of international solidarity that has accompanied the Cuban revolution since 1960 was materialized.
Continuing importance of international solidarity
Four hundred eighty students from my class stepped forward, and I went with them to But in For example, the Kichwa midwives from northern
Cuba is known for its international solidarity work since the beginning of the Revolution – especially for the efforts of doctors and teachers working in far-reaching developing countries of the world; special programmes in Cuba such as the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM – training doctors from the global south free of cost); and the efforts at international peace building (‘Zone of Peace’ through the Proclama de America Latina y el Caribe como Zona de Paz). These numerous global south-to-south solidarity relations have flourished and are cherished to this date, setting an example of humanitarian care and support. Che emphasized the importance of such international solidary relations in the process of developing a proletarian internationalism with the intention of ‘redeeming humanity and towards the liberation struggle of a country’ (p. 15).
Dr Aleida Guevara's work on International Solidarity remains extensive – carrying the responsibilities, values, and message of her father in this regard through her own work and practice as a paediatrician, doctor, and advocate for human rights. She participated in international solidarity missions since her student internship days working in Nicaragua, Angola and Ecuador that further shaped her ideas (as noted in the quotations above) and praxis as a Cuban Socialist Doctor and solidarity worker. She spoke to us about these experiences. In Argentina, she had worked with the foundation ‘A Better World is Possible’, which gave her the opportunity to learn about her father's country of origin. Further, she continues to maintain close collaborations with the Landless Movement (MST) of Brazil for many years. Undoubtedly, she noted, the most outstanding aspect of these trips was to carry a message of solidarity from the people of Cuba and to also learn from the places she had visited. She also shared with me her experience in India and her father's first visit after the Revolution. In response to our Brazilian friends, she shared her stories on her trips to many local communities in Brazil and the intellectual and practical wisdom she derived from these interactions. We also discussed the practicalities of everyday politics and responses of common marginalized people – noting that rhetoric/promises to make change; or representational/identity in party-politics though important in garnering support – the reality of responses on the ground required providing the actual material benefit and necessary social and economic infrastructural conditions for development. Masses responded to the material provisions necessary to support their livelihoods.
We collectively reviewed the complexities of formal politics and questions of leadership in today's world within the broader context of imperialism and capitalism. Discussions on the end of Bolsonaro's disastrous government, the environmental situation in the Amazon, the return of Lula as left-wing President and the difficulties he faces, including a Congress dominated by conservative parties, given the rise of the far right. Of particular relevance, she spoke of the grave situation in Gaza and the seven months of horror of an unprecedented massacre – The ‘Polongado’ (prolonged) Conflict.
As Che noted in his message in the Tricontinental in 1967 ‘the fundamental field of imperialist exploitation comprises the three underdeveloped continents: America, Asia and Africa – each country has its own characteristic, but each continent as a whole, also presents a certain unity’ and warned how colonialism ‘continues in the form of neocolonialism with similar effects as far as the economic situation is concerned’ (1967/97 p. 7). Aleida's tricontinental solidarity work that she shared with us and lessons learned across different historical and geographical contexts (as related in the quotations above) in the spirit of her father's intellectual insights towards struggles for freedom provide a theoretical foundation for us to consider today.
Conclusion
Porque eso fue el Che: un pensador que nunca temió decir sus verdades, las cuales, por supuesto, avaló siempre con el más apegado conocimiento de la teoría marxista originaria, abundó la también profesora de la Maestría en Desarrollo Social. [Translated: Because that was Che: a thinker who was never afraid to tell his truths, which, of course, he always endorsed with the most intimate knowledge of the original Marxist theory]. De su obra intelectual quedan muchas aristas aún por explotar. Ernesto Guevara fue un pensador profundo, un hombre que nos legó sus convicciones acerca de lo que debe ser el socialismo como vía hacia el comunismo, a partir de las circunstancias y los condicionamientos de la sociedad subdesarrollada cubana. Eso constituye un valioso legado que debemos conocer más [Translated: There are many aspects of his intellectual work yet to be exploited. Ernesto Guevara was a profound thinker, a man who left us his convictions about what socialism should be as a path to communism, based on the circumstances and conditions of the underdeveloped Cuban society. That constitutes a valuable legacy that we should know more about]. (Professor Delia Luisa López, 2017)
In an interview in 2017 with Professor Delia Luisa López, President of the Che Chair of the University of Havana, she emphasized how Ernesto Guevara was a profound thinker and prolific writer and that there remain many aspects of his intellectual work that have yet been explored and debated. Further, she noted that there were many personal stories from his childhood and youth and as an ‘ordinary human being’ that would appeal to a newer generation.
The nearly 3-hour intense dialogue and conversation with Dr Aleida Guevara ending with the special meeting we were granted with her mother Aleida March in the home of the legendary Che Guevara, left us all with inexplicable feelings of renewed hope, inspiration, and immense gratitude for the time, stories, and wisdom they had so generously shared with us. A common thread that always emerged throughout our discussion was the critical importance and value of solidarity. Within the intellectual vision and framework of transformative and revolutionary education, the struggles in Cuba to eliminate histories of oppression and maintain liberation for the masses, the commitment to build equitable communal care and value through socialist institutional structures, and the irrefutable force of Cuban international solidarity – all in the midst of a cruel imperialist blockade that has sought to destroy its structural basis, alongside the internal contradictions that are bound to arise – lie the theoretical foundations and directives for praxis established and practiced by Che Guevara, with personal lessons carried and enriched by his daughter.
Footnotes
Acknowledgement
The authors thank Dr. Aleida Guevara for granting us permission to publish our exchange.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Ethical consideration
This SSHRC project was approved by York University Research Ethics Board. (2022-294). Permission to write this article was granted by Dr. Aleida Guevara.
Funding
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (grant number 435-2015-1023).
Notes
Picture 1: From left to right: Dr. Aleida Guevara, Aleida March, Luisa Iñiguez Rojas and Ranu Basu.
Picture 2: From left to right: Luisa Iñiguez Rojas, Dr. Aleida Guevara and Ranu Basu.