Revolution in the Congo
After such criticism of industrialized communist nations, Che was essentially put on the hot-seat. He was a revolutionary at heart, and on his return to Cuba after his travels in Africa, Fidel recommend he return to Africa, specifically the Congo, to take part in marxist revolution there as a sort of training for Cuban troops in preparation for future revolutions in Latin America. He wrote in a letter to Fidel that he had finished his revolutionary duties in Cuba and that he was saying good-bye to him and the Cuban people. When he first met with Congolese rebels, it was clear to him that they were poorly led. Che recalled that few could even properly wield weapons. Meanwhile, his troops suffered from malaria and other diseases. During this time, Che's mother also passed away. Continuing with the issues, the Congolese rebels appeared nothing but lazy to Che, and he had little impact on them because of his language barrier. When fighting finally began, battles were utter catastrophes. Relations between Che and the rebels struggled, and revolutionary fervor was lower than ever. The rebellion essentially turned into a massive civil war amongst itself. Che continued to encourage rebels to fight harder, but these typically ended in failure. Fidel sent troops to support Che, but those troops had been under the impression that Che's reports on the struggle were only pessimistic. When they entered the Congo, they realized just how bad the situation was. After less than a year in the Congo, the situation became so poor that groups were turning against Che. While he had toyed with the idea of staying behind as an example, he chose to leave the Congo in November of the same year. Pictured to the right is Che during his time in the Congo.
image: (Anderson 607)
info: (Anderson 605-636)
image: (Anderson 607)
info: (Anderson 605-636)