Che Guevara

Ernesto Guevara de la Serna was born in Rosario, Argentina, in 1928 and qualified as a doctor in Buenos Aires in 1953. Travels across Latin America and the 1954 CIA-backed coup in Guatemala convinced him of the need for armed struggle against US influence. In Mexico he joined Fidel Castro's movement, sailed on the Granma in 1956 and became a leading commander, winning the battle of Santa Clara. In 1959 he commanded La Cabaña prison, then headed the national bank and the industry ministry. He left Cuba in 1965 to fight in the Congo and then Bolivia, where he was captured and executed on 9 October 1967.

Guevara became one of the most recognizable figures of the twentieth century, and Time named him among its 100 most influential people. Supporters see him as a symbol of anti-imperialism, idealism and self-sacrifice, and many on the left regard him as a martyr. Critics accuse him of authoritarianism and of endorsing violence against opponents. As commander of La Cabaña in 1959, he reviewed appeals from revolutionary tribunals in which several hundred people were executed, with estimates of deaths under his jurisdiction ranging from 55 to 105. He also set up the Guanahacabibes camp to discipline state employees. His later guerrilla campaigns in the Congo and Bolivia failed, and debate continues over how to weigh his idealism against his use of political violence.