University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Faculty Publications History, Department of 10-1995 An Historical Critique of the Emergence and Evolution of Ernesto Che Guevara's Foco Theory Matt .D Childs University of South Carolina - Columbia,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/hist_facpub Part of the History Commons Publication Info Published in Journal of Latin American Studies, ed. Gareth A. Jones, Rory Miller, Fiona Macaulay, Volume 27, Issue 3, 1995, pages 593-624. Childs, M. D. (1995). An historical critique of the emergence and evolution of Ernesto Che Guevara's foco theory. Journal of Latin American Studies, 27(3), 593-624. © Journal of Latin American Studies, 1995, Cambridge University Press http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=LAS This Article is brought to you by the History, Department of at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. An Historical Critique of the Emergence and Evolution of Ernesto Che Guevara's Foco Theory* MATT D. CHILDS Abstract.This article provides an analysis of Ernesto Che Guevara's theory of guerrillawarfare, the foco. The numerous changes to the originalfoco thesis, as presented in Guerrilla Warfare (1960), are examined in detail covering two dozen articles,speeches, essays, interviews and books authoredby Guevara,Castro and Debray while stressing their relation to national and internationalpolitics. The author argues that there was an apparentdiscourse between Cuban politics and the numerous changes in Guevara's writings. Juxtaposing changes to the foco theory from I960 to 1967, to Cuban historical events, reflects the political expedience of the i96os and the primary interests of the fidelistas,specifically Guevara.