Why do people think Che Guevara was a hero?

Question

If you dont know who he is, here is pictures:

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=che+guevara&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2

I read the motorcycle diaries as a teenager, I even had tshirts with his face on it not fully understanding who he was or what he was about. Now that I am 26 I have realized that he was not a hero at all, his face is iconic and looks good on tshirts, but other than that......he seems like a mass murderer of sorts and he supported the form of communism that China uses. So why do people think he was a hero or respect him?

Answer 1

Men kill men during wartime or revolution, he was fighting a corrupt and evil regime and you don't do that by handing out flowers or having "fair trials."  If you want your heroes to be peaceful then don't pick warriors or revolutionaries.

Answer 2

You're 26 and you still don't grasp the significance of Ernesto Guevara or the impact of the Cuban Revolution.  Che represents freedom to millions of people.  The countries of Central and South America have long been exploited and continue to be exploited and Che rose up against the oppressors of the world, fighting in Cuba, the Congo, and Bolivia.  Say what you like about Cuba or Castro, but the people of Cuba are better off today under the Communist Party than they were under Batista.  People have access to food, education, health care and other social programs.  The Mafia, which really ran Cuba, was driven out.  Racism no longer plays the strong role it once did under the capitalists.  I am not even supporting Castro or the Communist Party because they CP has disregarded many serious theoretical issues concerning Marxsim, but these are the facts.  Do you even know how many people Che "killed?"  Most of the people Che supposedly killed were thugs from Batista's regime who were sentenced to death in court by juries of the Cuban people.  Che merely served as one of many judges at these trials.  With that being said, what other country still uses the death penalty?  Oh right, the United States.  Following your logic, every single judge and every single president is a mass murderer.  

You don't even have a grasp of history.  How many people have capitalists massacred over the years?  Millions.  Yet when a socialist does anything deemed violent or immoral (and this is not a defense of those actions) you capitalists just attack socialism and its followers while continuing to murder people all over the world.  You are a hypocrite and I strongly suggest you get the whole story, before you make wild accusations.

Answer 3

I read a bio of Che when I was a teenager because of historical interest so I've always known "what he was about".  I neither revere nor revile him.  I would imagine that victims of the regimes Che Guevara helped to overthrow were grateful for the change he provoked in their lives.  His motivation (when he traveled to many countries ruled by dictatorships to help oust the rulers) was almost like Robin Hood because his concern was for the suffering poor.  This is how his political exploits became romanticized.  Plus, when the US's CIA kills you, your image as Robin Hood increases.

Answer 4

Of course a lot of people wear the shirts with his face on it mainly because they want to look cool...but anyone who knows anything about history and the human condition, understand that Che was and is a hero in many ways...whether people in America like it or not.

Answer 5

Che Guevara was a hero/respected because:

1) He helped pull down the corrupt Cuban government of

    Battista, and we respect anyone who would try to do

    something like that against great odds.  Americans

    especially like 'revolutionaries', as the US was founded

    in a revolution.

2) Though he's associated with Communism in Cuba,

     as Castro's #2 man, he thought he could turn the

     government around into something beneficial for the

     people.  Because he disagreed with Castro,he had to

     leave, and attempted to start revolutions elsewhere.

So, we respect him not so much for what he did in Cuba, but his courage in leaving and trying to start revolutions elsewhere that - unlike what he saw in Cuba - would be very

beneficial to the people.