10 Mind-Blowing Facts About Che Guevara

3. He Favoured The Use Of Mass Executions

Che advocated the necessity of mass executions in the name of justice for the people and socialist liberation. Biographer Jon Lee Anderson noted the tone and scientific-precision of Che's memoirs and notes, detailing the fate of traitors, spies, deserters and enemies alike, whether convicted or simply suspected, Che carried out his executions with a cold precision that Anderson was indicative of a remarkable detchment to violence.

biographers and historians have often debated how a man of learning and medicine could descend into the state of violence. Many note the his radicalisation in Guatemala, virtue of the CIA-sponsored coup, however, a pivotal moment in Che's life is described during Castro's first attack on Cuba, where Che is described as dropping his medical supplies in the midst of battle with Batista's forces and picked up a box of ammunition in its stead. This, perhaps, is the moment Che realised his view that the revolution would only be necessitated by violence. He is later noted as expressing his desire to utilise atomic warfare as a means of achieving socialist liberation - as described throughout the Cuban Missile Crisis. Had the missiles been under Cuban control during the crisis, the Castro regime would have been more likely to use them than Soviet Russia.