Che Guevara traveled to parts of South America with his friend on a motorcycle.

Che Guevara did a 9-month expedition with his friend Alberto Granado in 1952. Despite their 6-year age gap, Che and Alberto had been friends for 10 years. They shared intellectual curiosity, and a hunger for adventure. He rode on the back of Alberto’s La Poderosa II or “The Mighty One” – a Norton 500cc motorcycle.

They left Cordoba, Argentina to explore parts of South America. The duo was able to visit Chile, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, and Miami. Che Guevara and Alberto Granado parted ways on July 26, 1952. Alberto stayed in Caracas, where he worked in Cabo Blanco leprosarium in Maiquetía. Che returned home to Buenos Aires to finish his medical degree.

Fidel Castro and Che Guevara were revolutionary friends.

Che Guevara knew Fidel Castro through Fidel’s brother, Raul Castro. This was in July of 1955. After talking all night, right before daybreak, Che decided to sign up as a member of Fidel’s 26th of July Movement. This movement was an idea of Fidel to overthrow Cuba’s dictator, Fulgencio Batista. He was the 9th president of Cuba at that time. Che Guevara was amazed by Castro’s optimism. They both had a shared commitment to anti-imperialism.

Che Guevara was a top student of Alberto Bayo.

Che Guevara went through military training. Instructor Alberto Bayo considered Che to be a brilliant student. It’s said that Che would always top the tests given to him. Not only that, he also had the highest scores. Albert called Che Guevara the best guerilla out of everyone he trained. Truly, this is one of those amazing Che Guevara facts.

The Movement had Che Guevara as a medic.

He first started out as the group’s doctor. But later on, he became one of Fidel Castro’s most trusted acolytes during the Cuban Revolution. He also acted as the executioner of suspected deserters, traitors, and spies of the group. As he rose to ranks and became second in command, he was also feared for his harshness and savagery. Numbers show he executed over 500 people at La Cabana prison. The sad truth, though, is that none of these people went through any kind of trial.

Che Guevara has a perfume named after him.

Labiofam creates cleaning products and dietary supplements in Havana, Cuba. In September 2014, they came up with Ernesto and Hugo perfumes. This was in honor of the revolutionary leader Che Guevara and the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. However, the Cuban government banned the said perfume, calling it a “grave error.”

The man who betrayed Che Guevara.

Ciro Bustos was an Argentinian artist who joined Che Guevara’s guerilla force. He also became his lieutenant. Ciro had this reputation of being a traitor. True enough, he was! He was the one who betrayed Che, which resulted in his capture and execution.

Ciro trained in weapons and spycraft in Algeria, Cuba, and Czechoslovakia. However, he got caught by the Bolivian army and was interrogated by both Bolivian and American C.I.A. officers. In his interrogation sessions, he drew all sorts of sketches. This included cave hideouts, maps of the camps, and portraits of the guerilla members.

Che Guevara met his first wife in Guatemala.

In December 1953, Ernesto “Che” Guevara and Hilda Gadea met in Guatemala. She was the one who introduced Che to Cuban rebels. They married in Mexico in September 1955, and had a daughter. They named her Hilda Beatriz “Hildita” Guevara Gadea. Sadly, she died of cancer in 1995.

Che and Hilda’s marriage lasted for about 4 years before ending in a divorce. He then married Aleida March de la Torre and bore 4 children from her. They named them Aleida, Camilo, Celia, and Ernesto.

It took 30 years to find Che Guevara's body.

After he died in 1967, Che Guevara’s body was not found until 30 years after. Retired Bolivian General Mario Vargas Salinas confessed he took part in burying Che and his comrades. This was in a pit near the edge of Vallegrande’s dirt airstrip. Because of this, President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada sent out a search party. The goal was to find Che Guevara’s remains along with his comrades.

Che Guevara’s iconic photo launched a thousand shirts.

Alberto Korda took a photo of Che Guevara wearing a beret on March 5, 1960, in Havana, Cuba. It was during a memorial service for victims of the La Coubre explosion. This iconic image is on shirts, bags, key chains, jackets, and other merchandise.

It became a fashion trend and has been popularly worn by younger adults. Influential personalities even sport these shirts in public events. Some of them include Floyd Mayweather Jr., Carlos Santana, Prince Harry, Robert Pattinson, Jay Z, and Johnny Depp. You can get one of these shirts from Amazon here.

The mausoleum where Che Guevara lies is in Cuba.

Che Guevara’s remains and the remains of his comrades are in a mausoleum. In addition, there is a bronze 22-foot statue of Che located in Plaza Che Guevara in Santa Clara, Cuba. His burial got full military honors after the discovery of his remains on October 17, 1997. An estimate shows that from October 1997 to October 2009, over 3 million people from from over 100 countries visited the site.

Che Guevara’s use of the word “Che” earned him the nickname.

Che is an interjection or common name for Che Guevara. In English, it corresponds to expressions such as “dude,” “bro,” or “man.” His Cuban comrades called him Che because of his frequent use of the word, which was a foreign word to them. Definitely a good-to-know item in these Che Guevara facts.

Che Guevara was a banker before he changed course. 

Fidel Castro, a Cuban President from 1976 to 2008, appointed Che Guevara as head of Cuba’s National Bank. During his reign, he kicked out American banks to allow Cuba free control over its own money. Resulting from this move caused Cuba 50 years of disastrous economic policies. On April 11, 2015, President Obama shook hands with Cuba’s Raul Castro. It was during the Summit of the Americas in Panama City. This was a symbolic gesture to restore ties between Cuba and the United States Of America.

Che Guevara’s parents influenced his ideological convictions.

Che Guevara grew up with compassion and empathy for the poor. He grew up with parents who were leftists in their political beliefs. His father, Ernesto Guevara Lynch, often hosted Republican veterans of the Spanish Civil War in their family home. Che Guevara’s mother, Celia de la Serna de Guevara, was a proud Communist.

Fatherhood and Che Guevara’s kids. 

Aleida Guevara March is the eldest daughter of Che and Aleida. She’s a pediatrician at William Soler Children’s Hospital in Havana. “Papi,”as she called him, opposed giving Aleida and her siblings regular privileges. She said they only enjoyed very little of what his father left them. That’s because she was only 6 years old during her dad’s execution. Che Guevara left a short letter to Aleida and her siblings to inform them of his death.

Some people consider Che Guevara a saint.

One of the most interesting Che Guevara facts is that he became a saint for some. Local people in Vallegrande, a small, colonial town in Bolivia, consider Che Guevara a saint. His corpse is at the Señor de Malta Hospital in Vallegrande. It was on a stretcher for the press to see on October 9, 1967. Thus, the townspeople established him as a saint. They even prayed to him for protection.

After his death, Che Guevara’s had his hands amputated.

One of the least known Che Guevara facts is that he died without his hands. His hands were cut off by a military doctor after execution. His hands had formaldehyde and got sent to Buenos Aires for fingerprint recognition. Afterwards, it got sent to Cuba.

Che Guevara helped increase literacy in Cuba.

Fidel Castro’s movement was the one who overthrew Fulgencio Batista. This was on January 1, 1959. With this, the new revolutionary government started a series of economic reforms. One of the many reforms was the educational reform. Before 1959, the literacy rate for Cuba was between 60 to 76%. After the Cuban Literacy Campaign, the national literacy rate increased to 96%.

To fight boredom, Che Guevara read books.

While living in the Sierra Maestra mountains, Che Guevara spent time reading nonfiction books. He did it to distract himself from vices. He was almost hit by an airstrike that one time. The reason for this? He was reading Edward Gibbon’s “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” that time. Growing up, Che’s home contained more than 3,000 books, which led him to become a book lover.

Che Guevara traveled to Congo.

Alongside other guerilla fighters, Che Guevara went to Congo. In these Che Guevara facts, it’s a must to know that he used the alias “Ramon Benitez.” This was an attempt to help and offer his experience and knowledge as a guerilla during their civil war. After his efforts failed, he fled back to Bolivia and led a guerilla group in the region of Santa Cruz.

Using his bicycle, Che Guevara traveled to the north of Argentina in the 1950s.

Before starting an adventure with his friend Alberto Granado, he went on a solo trip. He traveled to some provinces of northern Argentina on a bicycle with a small engine. It’s said that Che relied upon the hospitality of strangers he met in places he went to. He did not visit tourist sites to appreciate and get to know the place. Instead, he preferred visiting hospitals and meeting patients to learn about where he was. The motorized bicycle he used is now displayed at a museum in Alta Gracia, Argentina.