Athens, October 8. Today marks the 53rd anniversary of the assassination of the Heroic Guerrilla man, Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, the Che of the Cubans, the Che of the revolutionaries from all over the world, an exceptional man.
Che is a symbol for many people in the world, a man of extraordinary virtues, who combined his great intelligence, his great military capacity, with a deep human sensitivity. But Che was also a child, he was a young man, he was a man, capable of feeling the pain, exploitation, humiliation of other men and fighting against that, and offering his life fighting for a better and more just world. He had great values that he combined like few men in history, intelligence, ability, a spirit of sacrifice, love for others and love for the full freedom of man.
In his farewell letter to his children, Che wrote:
“Remember that the revolution is the important thing and that each one of us, alone, is worth nothing. Above all, always be able to feel deeply any injustice committed against anyone in any part of the world. It is the most beautiful quality of a revolutionary.”
In Cuba, during the construction of the new society, after the triumph of the revolution, in which he actively participated in its achievement and development, he worked intensely for the formation of a new man capable of following the revolutionary work. He attached great importance to the strength of youth as the bearer of the revolutionary future and said about it:
“The fundamental clay of our work is youth, in it we place our hope and prepare it to take the flag from our hands.”
Che was a man aware of the importance of the value of the people as the architect of the true revolution and he said: “to reach the people you have to feel like a people, you have to know what you want, what you need and what what the people feel ”and this great truth has guided the Cuban revolution, which would not have been able to withstand almost 60 years of blockade and hostility from the United States without the permanent support of the people, who are the true creators of the revolutionary work.
Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, in his speech of October 18, 1967, said what Che represented for the Cuban people and how Che's example was the guide for the people to follow when he expressed:
“If we want to express how we want our revolutionary combatants, our militants, our men to be, (…) If we want to express how we want our children to be, we must say with all the heart of passionate revolutionaries: We want them to be like Che!”
Che's action and thought, his example and his work are of great importance for the people of Cuba and for all the revolutionaries of the world. This was reaffirmed by Fidel once more years later, in 1997, in his historic speech when the remains of Che and his companions were deposited in his mausoleum in Santa Clara, when he said
“We did not come to say farewell to Che and his heroic companions. We come to receive them ... I see Che and his men as a reinforcement, as a detachment of invincible combatants, which this time includes not only Cubans but also Latin Americans who come to fight alongside us and write new pages of history and glory. ... as a moral giant that grows every day, whose image, whose strength, whose influence has multiplied throughout the earth ... Che was a true communist and today he is an example and paradigm of a revolutionary and a communist ... Che was teacher and forger of men like him. Consistent with his actions, he never stopped doing what he preached, nor demanding more of himself than he demanded of others ... His great dreams always made him dependent on the willingness to generously give his life. Nothing for him was impossible, and the impossible was capable of making it possible ... Now he's not in La Higuera, but 'he's everywhere, wherever there is a just cause to defend. Those interested in eliminating and disappearing him were not able to understand that his indelible mark was already in history and his luminous prophet's gaze would become a symbol for all the poor of this world. Che is fighting and winning more battles than ever..”.
The Cuban revolution will always bear the example of Che as one of the essential guides in the work for socialist construction. It is a living presence in every action of the revolution, in every gesture of solidarity from the friends of Cuba around the world.
In Cuba we will continue to face the difficulties that our struggle for sovereignty and dignity implies. With effort, dedication, sacrifice, love for freedom, with the will to overcome difficulties and move forward, we will continue to build a better world, as Che dreamed of with the people and for the people. From here we tell you Che, we will continue with you: Until victory always!
Embacuba Grecia