Word: che
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Basic Flaw. Che's death illustrates how unsuccessful the attempt has been. In the eight years since Castro came to power, Cuba has spent $400 million on its "wars of liberation," trained 5,000 young Latin American guerrillas and launched more than 15 different at tempts at revolution in twelve Latin American countries. All of them have failed, though small groups still operate in Guatemala, Colombia, Venezuela and Bolivia. Even in these countries, guerrilla bands have been reduced to a fraction of their original strength, and are at best fighting only defensive actions...
...flaw in Che's philosophy of revolution is revealed in his book Guerrilla Warfare, which sets down a step-by-step plan for organizing peasants for a Cuban-style revolution. What Che ignored was the fact that Castro did not really create a peasant revolution in Cuba. Though the peasants supported and sustained his forces during the early fighting in the Sierra Maestra, the real turning point came when Cuba's urban middle class, which actually made up the bulk of Castro's army, suddenly began deserting Dictator Fulgencio Batista and sent the jittery strongman fleeing into...
...practice, Che himself compounded the fallacy of his theories by breaking even his most basic rules. In Bolivia, he not only underestimated the army's capability: he also misjudged the mood of the campesinos, who wanted nothing to do with his revolution. To recruit guerrillas, Che had to hire men off the streets with promises of jobs, then terrorize them into fighting for him. "The inhabitants of the region are as impenetrable as rocks," he scribbled in his notebook. "You talk to them, and in the depths of their eyes it can be seen that they...
Another reason for Che's failure is that Latin American armies are them selves capable of more than just fighting. From Costa Rica to Argentina, the region's armed forces are building roads, schools and hospitals in the long-neglected interior, stringing up lights and communication lines and bringing the peasant into the 20th century. To train the armed forces in both civic action and anti-guerrilla warfare, the U.S. has set up a counterinsurgency school in the Panama Canal Zone that has al ready turned out more than 1,000 graduates. The U.S. also sends advisers into...
...Che's death will hardly mean the end of Communist activity in Latin America. There are still deep-rooted conditions of poverty, neglect and hopelessness that subversives can feed on and exploit. But his departure from the scene takes away much of the mystery and romanticism that has been associated with that subversion...