Excerpt from Guerrilla Warfare by Ernesto "Che" Guevara

The publication of Guerrilla Warfare in 1960 marked a dramatic moment in Latin American history and in U.S.-Latin American relations. In this landmark book the author, Ernesto "Che" Guevara, declared war against the incumbent regimes throughout Latin America and against U.S. imperialism. Che proclaimed for all to hear that through guerrilla warfare the dictatorships of Central America and the Caribbean would be destroyed and that Cuba would be a vanguard force in the war for liberation.

Almost immediately the new Cuban revolutionary government that rose to power in January 1959 began to provide training and small amounts of military assistance to would-be insurrectionists in the Western Hemisphere. Che Guevara took personal control and participated actively in the Cuban efforts to inspire "new Cubas" in Latin America. In response, the United States and most Latin American governments created a vast military counterinsurgency apparatus to destroy the nascent guerrilla organizations and established an "Alliance for Progress" to undermine support for revolutionary movements in the region.

In the Short Answer section of the module answer the following questions:

1. According to this document, why does the guerrilla fighter fight? How do you think the social and political conditions in Latin America contributed to the proliferation of guerrillas?

2. What does a guerrilla army need to survive?