Che Guevara's Son Camilo Guevara Dies in Venezuela, Cause of Death Revealed
Officials in Cuba have announced that Camilo Guevara, son of late Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, has passed away.
His cause of death was a heart attack caused by blood clots in his lungs. He was 60 years old. According to BBC, Cuban officials reported that Camilo suffered a fatal heart attack while visiting the capital of Venezuela, Caracas.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel announced Tuesday the death of Camilo Guevara to the public and paid tribute to him as a promoter of Che Guevara's ideals.
Che Guevara Son: Who is Camilo Guevara?
Camilo Guevara is one of four children that Che Guevara had with his second wife, Aleida March..Camilo dedicated his life to preserving his father's legacy, leading the Centre of Che Guevara Studies in Cuba's capital, Havana.
For much of his adult life, he built a career in documenting his father's life. He had strongly opposed using his father's image for marketing purposes. This was in reference to Alberto Korda's famous photograph, which had been marketed for rebellious youth in the 2000s.
Camilo also studied law, but much of his time was dedicated to looking after his father's legacy, including memorabilia and documents. He also remained loyal to the Castro regime, even if Fidel Castro's other relatives became vocal critics of him after the Cuban revolution.
Camilo Guevara was only a five-year-old boy when his father was shot and killed in Bolivia. Che Guevara was trying to set up revolutionary forces in the country and help spread Marxist teachings.
The Life of Che Guevara
While celebrated in Cuba and other Marxist countries, Che Guevara was an Argentinian. He grew up as a sickly boy with acute asthma but soon left Argentina in 1952 on an eight-month journey of discovery and awakening.
It was when he became an Anti-American, Pro-Communist revolutionary. He witnessed the overthrow of reformist president Jacobo Arbenz by a CIA-backed coup while in Bolivia, and this transfixed his hatred of the United States.
Because of this, he joined the ranks of the communist party and became an admirer of the Soviet Union. By 1955, Che met the man who would soon change his life, an exiled Cuban revolutionary named Fidel Castro.
The two ignited each other's ideals as they trained in Mexico to combat the U.S.-backed Cuban government. Together, the two overthrew Fulgencio Batista and took over Cuba.
Che Guevara became a Cuban citizen soon after. He became one of the top names in the new Cuban revolutionary government, alongside the Castro brothers. According to PBS, one of his first duties was overseeing the executions at the infamous La Cabaña prisons. Approximately 500 men were killed under his watch between 1959 and 1963.
Che was soon named the head of Cuba's central bank. However, while popular, he proved to be an ineffective economist, bringing the Cuban economy to its lowest point since the revolution.
He also became disillusioned with the Soviet Union, attacking Moscow in an international forum and questioning the country's commitment to international socialism.
When Fidel Castro announced that Cuba will support revolutionaries worldwide, Che was often sent and spotted in various countries like Vietnam and his homeland Argentina.
However, Soviet influence was increasing in Cuba, and the now-critic of the Soviet Union was fast becoming a liability. This was when he was sent to Bolivia to help prop up a Bolivian rebel group.
Che was cut off from Cuba and the Soviet Union while being hunted down by elite U.S. operatives and the Bolivian military. His downfall came on October 8, 1967, when Bolivian rangers captured him. Che Guevara was executed the next day.
READ MORE: Cuba: Latin Grammy Winner and Dissident Artist Sentenced to Prison
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Written by: Rick Martin
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