“Che, Fidel, and Mexico”: The Fateful Meeting of Global Icons, and Mexico’s Influence.

Abstract

Abstract for Will Garrett Mundhenke

Wgmund3157@northgeorgia.edu; (770) 845-5140

“Che, Fidel, and Mexico”: The Fateful Meeting of Global Icons, and Mexico’s Influence.

The world of 1955, two superpowers fighting tooth and nail, going round for round in a boxing match of nuclear arms and political ideals; the U.S.S.R. snatching land where it could, and the U.S.A. fighting back inch for inch. Mexico had a vast stratification of political ideals, social protests, and revolutionary plans. In 1955, Che and Fidel met by fate, and the world was changed forever. This paper dissects this fateful meeting, and critically examines Mexico, the Latin American equivalent of Berlin at the time, and its impact on the two revolutionaries. This author argues that Mexico played a vital role in the play that would emerge as the Cuban Revolution, the rise of Fidel Castro, and Che Guevara’s influence that spurred him into assaulting the guerilla fighter’s self proclaimed “injustices against humanity.” From the employment of professional Mexican wrestlers to manage their diet and Soviet students studying in Mexican academies, to the masses of Marxist texts that Che absorbed before the Cuban Revolution, Mexico offered the perfect combination of ideologies to foster Che and Fidel’s fire for revolution.