They turned a blind eye to anything that did not fit in with their idealised image of Guevara. A prolific diarist, Guevara nevertheless wrote vividly of his role as an executioner. In one passage he described the execution of Eutimio Guerra, a peasant and army guide.
“I fired a .32calibre bullet into the right hemisphere of his brain which came out through his left temple,” was Guevara’s clinical description of the killing. “He moaned for a few moments, then died.”
This was the first of many “traitors” to be subjected to what Guevara called “acts of justice”.
There was seldom any trial. “I carried out a very summary inquiry and then the peasant Aristidio was executed,” he wrote about another killing. “It is not possible to tolerate even the suspicion of treason.”
From The Sunday Times
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