After the revolution, Che was gradually started to get involved in consolidation of a new government and its policy. He moved into the house outside Havana with a new woman in his life Aleida March. He started also being involved in attending seminars and day-to-day politics.
On 1st May 1959 Che spoke during the celebration of International Labor Day in Santiago de Cuba. He stressed that, for the first time, the organized people had demonstrated together with their armed forces and that they were to carry on their resolved struggle any time that the enemy attempted to undermine the unity of the revolutionary forces.
On 2nd June 1959 he married Aleida March. They had four children: Aleida (Nov. 24, 1960), Camilo (May 20, 1962), Celia (June 14, 1963) and Ernesto (Feb.24, 1965), and very soon after that with the aim of fostering Cuba's establishment of trade, cultural and diplomatic links with different countries, Che started out for the United Arab Republic. Later he visited India, Indonesia, Ceylon, Yugoslavia, Burma, Japan, Pakistan, Sudan and Morocco. During the tour, he met with political and government leaders, and gave several interviews. The tour lasted until September.
On 1st October 1959 during a lecture at the José Antonio Echeverría Academy of the National Revolutionary Police, Che asks the institution members to remember that they are part of the people, from whom they can never part.
On 7th October 1959 during a meeting with the top management of the National Agrarian Reform Institute, presided over by Fidel Castro, Che took part as head of the institute's Industrialization Department, a position he discharged together with his responsibilities in the Armed Forces
On 10th October 1959 Che spoke at a meeting in Santa Clara to commemorate the date that marked the beginning of the Cuban struggle for independence in the 19th century. He stressed the importance of unity at that time to ensure the defense and development of the Cuban Revolution.
"We should not allow that the germ of division grow in any way among the revolutionaries; we must be united to undertake the great work the Revolution demands from the country, for, as Fidel rightly said, `On January 1st we only earned the right to begin'."
On 26th October 1959 a rally was summoned in front of the former Presidential Palace in Havana to condemn the brutal air-raid on the capital counter-revolutionary individuals perpetrated using planes coming from the United States. Several Revolution leaders spoke, among them Ernesto Che Guevara, who expressed his readiness to stand in the vanguard if the enemy dared attack Cuba directly. He noted that the martyrs should be remembered every day and that we should learn from the lessons of their lives and their death.
"These martyrs belong to the people, the undying creator."
On 28th December the Central University of Las Villas grants Che the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa of the School of Pedagogy.
On 28th December 1959 in Santa Clara, Che delivered a speech during the celebration of the first anniversary of the great battle waged by the revolutionary combatants during the final stage of the national liberation struggle.
"In coming here to commemorate this first year, we can say in full sincerity and without self-complacency that it is easy to govern, it is easy to govern when the system that is used is that of consulting the will of the people and when the only standard for our actions is the welfare of the people."
On 28th January 1960 the great respect Che felt for the Cuban independence fighters, particularly Josè Martí, was reflected in a speech he delivered on the commemoration of the birth of the National Hero. He criticized the audience for, he said, he had heard cries of "Long live Che Guevara!" and no one, however, had thought of saying "Long live Martí!" That was not right, he said.
He actively took part in the talks and negotiations that were held, which concluded with the signing in Havana of the first agreement between Cuba and the Soviet Union. Likewise, he refers to Cuba's economic situation and the dependence that, in this sense, the United States imposed before the triumph of the Revolution and to how, after the victory of January 1, 1959, the US government had reacted to the measures the revolutionary government had implemented.
On 4th March 1960 like other leaders of the Revolution, Che immediately goes to the place where the French boat La Coubre blew up while anchored in a dock in the Bay of Havana. He stays there, in a very dangerous place, working in the operation to rescue the injured and in putting out the fire of the sabotaged craft. The terrorist attack was connived from abroad by CIA agents. The ship was bringing weapons Cuba had purchased to face continued US-led aggression against the Revolution.
On 12th April 1960 in a letter sent to Argentinean Ernesto Sábato, Che analyzes Argentina's internal political situation. He also refers to how his participation in the revolutionary struggle of the Cuban people had contributed to his own growth and development.
"The war transformed us. There is no experience more profound for a revolutionary than the act of war; not the bare action of killing, nor of carrying a rifle or of starting a struggle of this or that kind -- it is the sum total of the act of war, the knowledge that an armed man has value as a fighting unit and is equal to any other armed man, and can already have no fear of other armed men..."
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A
detailed chronology of Che's life you can find
in this book "A Brave Man" on Cuba
Directo website |
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