Che Wants to See You: The Untold Story of Che Guevara - Hardcover

Bustos, Ciro

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1781680965 ISBN 13: 9781781680964

Publisher: Verso, 2013

Synopsis

For the first time, Ciro Bustos, Che’s right-hand man in the struggle for Argentina, tells his story. As a young man inspired by the example of Cuba, Bustos was determined to bring revolution to the home country he shared with his hero. After a failed attempt to liberate Argentina, it was not until 1966 that he was contacted by the Cubans once again and told, “Che wants to see you.”

Under false papers, Bustos crossed the border into Bolivia, where Che was in hiding with his guerrilla forces; and here, for the first time, Che shared his plans for a continental revolution. In this fascinating memoir, Ciro Bustos tells us a story only he is able to recount: what really happened in Bolivia in 1967 and why he did not betray Che.

About this title

About the Author

Ciro Bustos was born in Mendoza in 1932. After his release from prison in Bolivia he first moved to Chile, but had to flee to Argentina following the 1973 coup. He fled Argentina three years later after another coup, and now lives in Malmo, Sweden. El Che Quiere Verte was published in Argentina in 2007.

Anne Wright has translated many books into English, including The Motorcycle Diaries; I, Rigoberta Menchu and The Assasination of Lumumba.

Reviews

Starred Review. After 40 years of keeping his tale largely private, Bustos, a crucial member of Che's operation to launch an Argentine revolution, delivers a seamless memoir that relates his role and Che's plans for South America before the latter's 1967 execution by the CIA in Bolivia. Bustos left Buenos Aires for Cuba soon after Castro's revolution—he'd heard a radio broadcast from Cuba in which Che had placed the Cuban struggle in the context of achieving Latin American self-determination. In Havana's suspicious atmosphere his loyalty and identity were questioned, which continued across a decade of reconnaissance for Che throughout South America and Europe. He narrates with nuance his devotion to Che as well as doubts about their enterprise's feasibility. In one absurdist drama, Bustos answers a mysterious invitation to China, refuses to repudiate Castro, and is promptly sent home. Castro eventually abandons the Argentine project: "Havana had taken off its earphones and pulled down its antennae." In prison, Bustos denies all guerilla activity and is eventually granted asylum in Sweden. Bustos's powers of observation and critical commentary make this required reading for both historians of revolution and future world-changers. (June)

This enriching work about Che, the still revered and despised icon of revolution, is primarily concerned with the last gasp of his career: his ill-fated guerrilla campaign in Bolivia in 1967. Bustos was an Argentine artist and Marxist who had participated in Che’s earlier, failed effort to instigate a revolution in Argentina. In 1966, he was contacted by Cuban intelligence and agreed to enter Bolivia clandestinely to assist Guevera’s efforts to create a foco in Bolivia, which would spread violent revolution to neighboring nations. Bustos was ill equipped to handle the physical demands of the campaign, and he was captured by Bolivian rangers. His account offers some useful insights into the difficulties the efforts entailed and the mistakes made. Long despised for his “betrayal” of Che for his revelations under interrogation, Bustos tries here to exonerate himself, although he isn’t particularly convincing. --Jay Freeman

Edition details

• Publisher: Verso
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1781680965
• ISBN 13: 9781781680964
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320