Perseus Academic: Congo Diary by Ernesto Che Guevara

Featuring a foreword by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Che Guevara in Africa), this book fills in the missing chapter in Che Guevara's life as head of the secret Cuban force that went to aid the liberation movement in the Congo against the Belgian colonialists in 1965. The idea was to prepare a group of Cubans for the mission to Bolivia, as well as to assist African national liberation movements.

This diary remained unpublished for decades because of its controversial content, but, like his other diaries, reveals Che's great literary gift, his razor-sharp intellect, his dry wit, and his brutal honesty. Because this diary deals with what Che admits was a failure, he examines every painful detail about what went wrong in order to draw constructive lessons for future expeditions.

This publication of the complete Congo Diary has been thoroughly revised by Che's widow, Aleida March, and published in association with the Che Guevara Studies Center in Havana.

Features:

Forewords by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Che Guevara in Africa) and Che's daughter, Aleida GuevaraTwenty-eight pages of unpublished photosExtensive notes and glossary explaining Swahili termsBackcover blurbs by Nelson Mandela and Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Ernesto Che Guevara was the legendary Latin American guerrilla fighter who joined the Cuban revolutionary movement that toppled the Batista dictatorship. He played a leading role in the early years of the Cuban revolution and made an extraordinary and original contribution to Marxist theory. He died at the hands of CIA assassins in Bolivia in 1967.

Aleida Guevara is the eldest daughter of Ernesto Che Guevara and Aleida March. She works as a pediatrician in Havana and has been a prominent speaker at the World Social Forums.