Che!

Wherever death may surprise us, it will be welcome...

provided that this, our battle cry, reach some receptive ear...

that another hand stretch out to take up weapons...

and that other men come forward to intone our funeral dirge...

with the staccato of machine guns and new cries of battle and victory.

Che!

Che!

Che!

Che!

Che!

Che!

Che!

Che!

Che!

When revolution is indivisible...

he who fights under another flag to liberate a nation...

takes a giant step in the liberation of his own.

So he's dead.

Bravo.

Would to God he died the first day he set foot on Cuban soil.

Bastard. He murdered my brother...

and hundreds of other decent Cubans.

Dead?

No. He is a living presence here...

in every Cuban town.

Let me tell you something.

Che taught me to read and write.

Yes, me, a grown man.

In the sierras, between battles, he taught me to read and write.

And now I am a teacher.

And my school is named for him.

We heard you calling, Cuba.

Pearl of the Antilles.

Firstborn of New America.

Eye of the hurricane.

Island of anguish. Vale of tears.

Island of infamy.

Bastion of butchers.

We heard you calling for deliverance.

We heard your orphaned children, your mute and nameless martyrs.

We heard your keening widows, your grieving daughters.

We heard your prayers and curses.

Windward, we heard your Caribbean cry.

We heard you calling, Cuba...

and we came.

We must be here, Alegria de Pio.

Eutimio.

Yes, comandante?

You promised us a dense forest at this spot.

It can't be far, just another 30-minute march.

That's what you said two hours ago.

- Where is Guevara? - Fell behind. Had another attack.

Mm. Here he comes.

That's all I need...

an asthmatic doctor and a guide who has lost his way.

Stragglers are sure to die, don't you know that?

I'm not a straggler.

- I'm your rear guard. - Ah.

You're not, you're the company doctor.

See what you can do for the men with the blistered feet.

You've got 10 minutes.

Isn't it a little late for chiropody?

The buzzards are already circling.

You should have broken in your boots before you left Mexico.

From now on...

your feet are more vital to you...

than some other parts of your anatomies...

and will certainly get more use.

Into the cane.

Into the cane, all of you!

Ammunition!

Medic!

- Medic! - Ammunition!

Ammunition!

Medic!

I still don't understand how Che survived that ordeal.

He was wounded, bleeding badly, choking with asthma...

yet he never complained.

He seemed to welcome pain.

He felt some need to mortify the flesh, like a...

Like a Hindu holy man.

A week later we found Fidel in the sierra.

Of the 82 men who made the landing...

66 had been killed or captured.

Only 12 of us survived.

Faustino Morales, a lawyer...

and a few others had already sought out Fidel...

and joined his group.

It soon became all too clear that including the newcomers...

the entire rebel army consisted of just 17 men.

You've committed every blunder in the book.

Two hundred rounds, that's all we have left.

Enough...

let's hope, for our first mission.

Tomorrow night...

we attack the army barracks at La Plata.

If we can take the arsenal...

we'll have more arms and ammunition than we can carry.

Ramon's squad must reach the barracks wall...

before we run out of ammunition.

I have only two bursts left.

When I fire the first one...

go.

Let's take our positions.

Keep your hands clean, doctor...

until it's all over.

They're duds.

The Molotov.

Cover me.

- I've run out of ammunition. Me too.

Drop your weapons.

Drop them!

You disobeyed a direct order.

Thank heaven.

Get that ammunition out of there.

As Fidel predicted, we now had all the arms and ammunition we could carry...

but we gave a lot of it back in our own way.

After the rebels' early victories...

Cubans from all walks of life were migrating...

to Fidel's liberated zone in the mountains.

And the dictator's troops no longer dared to enter it.

I first met Che in their new camp near Mount Turquino.

I had brought a load of weapons, food, medicine.

But the primary purpose of my mission was a talk with Fidel.

I was there as an emissary of ex-Premier Ignacio Ruiz.

Now, we have landed 600 men in Escambray.

All of them well armed.

Now, Dr. Ruiz has sent word to me from Miami...

that he is prepared to offer more men, more...

Suddenly Nacho smells success.

When I came to him for money to finance my expedition...

he thought I was mad.

But you were mad.

I don't believe in miracles, but you performed one just by surviving.

And now Dr. Ruiz is willing to place his entire force under your command if...

You can tell that thief Nacho...

that he can go and... Here. Drink this.

- No Novocain? - Dr. Rojas didn't bring any.

Open wide.

- This one right here. - I know which one it is.

Mm. - Keep talking. Take his mind off it.

If you will agree to reinstate Dr. Ruiz in the provisional cabinet...

Didn't he steal enough money from the Treasury when they were in power?

Suddenly every pig in Miami...

Sit back. Open wide. - Wants another go at the trough...

Dr. Rojas, you've picked a poor moment to make a deal.

I suggest you leave now...

and continue this talk later in the day when my patient's feeling better.

All right.

What do you mean, make a deal? I'm surprised Fidel didn't spit in his face.

You don't spit at the offer of 600 men backed by a millionaire.

Fidel should promise Dr. Ruiz anything and renege later.

- He who pays the piper calls the tune. Not this time.

If their rebel army enters Havana under a unified command...

with Fidel as the acknowledged leader...

we can ship all the bourgeois politicians right back into exile.

Will you both shut up!

So we can get on with it.

You're even less a dentist than a doctor.

Did it really hurt that much?

Here. Rinse your mouth.

Which reminds me...

Dr. del Valle arrives tomorrow.

He'll take over your duties.

I have no further use for a quack except as a...

As a leader.

Tomorrow you take command of the second column.

With the rank of comandante...

same as mine.

- Here's your hot water. - Thank you.

I don't know how you Argentineans can drink this...

This horrible tea, when you can have Cuban coffee.

Pure Cubana.

Spoken like a true nationalist.

In Buenos Aires we pave our streets with your coffee, it's that strong.

How do you feel about giving up being a doctor?

Oh, I've given up lots of things since I, uh...

made my decision.

A comfortable middle-class existence in Argentina...

my friends and parents...

my wife and children in Mexico.

Now giving up being a doctor isn't too difficult for me.

After all, I wasn't very good at it.

I'll probably make a worse leader.

Fidel doesn't think so.

Apparently.

But, well, what do you think?

How can I answer that?

Maybe Fidel knows me better than I know myself.

Now, listen carefully.

Guerrilla warfare is a people's war, a mass struggle.

To try and carry out this type of war without the support of the population...

is to court inevitable disaster.

We must convince the poor peasant that this is his war...

a war for land as well as liberty.

The peasant is like a wild flower in the forest...

and the revolutionary like a bee.