At the age of twenty three, Che decided he wanted to experience the world before he committed to medical school. With only a 1939 500cc motorcycle, nicknamed “El Poderosa,” or “the powerful one,” Che and his amigo, Alberto Granado set off on a 5,000 mile journey throughout South America. Che kept documentation of the trip in his diary. Throughout 1951 and 1952, Che and Alberto traveled through Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela. On this journey, Ernesto experienced the nightlife of South America, picking up women and getting raging drunk, but his adventures also developed his communist political mentality.(I)
Ernesto was outraged when he witnessed the mistreatment of the impoverished in South America. The most impactful example occurred in the Anaconda’s Chuquicamata Copper Mine. This was the world’s largest copper mine and the source of Chile’s wealth(II). The mine was run by large U.S. Corporations and to many it was seen as a symbol of imperialism and oppression(III). Workers were treated inhumanely with insufficient wages and deadly working conditions. In his time at the mine Che was especially struck by a poor communist couple. In his diary he called them “a live representation of the proletariat of any part of the world.”
Ernesto was also struck by the extreme poverty of farmers in the Andes near Macchu Picchu where people struggled to survive working small plots of land for wealthy landowners. (IV)
Ernesto was also struck by the extreme poverty of farmers in the Andes near Macchu Picchu where people struggled to survive working small plots of land for wealthy landowners. (IV)
"A motorcycle journey the length of South America awakened him to the injustice of US domination in the hemisphere, and to the suffering colonialism brought to its original inhabitants." - George Galloway |
The journey ended at the San Pablo Leper Colony in Peru. Here he used his skills a doctor to help the lepers. Ernesto was shocked by the living conditions and treatment of the lepers. He commented on how the Lepers lacked sufficient clothing food or medication.
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