NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS reviews ‘A Great Feeling of Love’: Hilda and Che By Hobart Spalding sonal, which are often overlooked in The photos included in the book MY LIFE WITH CHE: THE MAKING OF writings about famous personages. help bring all this to life. A REVOLUTIONARY by Hilda Gadea Gadea, who became Che Guevara’s Life among the exile community, (Foreword by Ricardo Gadea), Palgrave wife, narrates in the first person. mostly in Guatemala but also Mex- Macmillan, 2008, 233 pp., $21.95 (hardcover) A Peruvian activist and economist, ico, constitutes another theme. The she chose exile in Guatemala after reader is struck by the deep level of the coup in her native country led solidarity that the exiles felt and their THE CUBAN REVOLUTION HAS PROBABLY by General Manuel Odria in 1948. willingness not only to protect each been given more attention in the U.S. Guatemala was then the scene of a other but to share when often they mass media than any other revolu- progressive revolution headed first had very little themselves. Clothes, tion to date. This is due to its longev- by Juan José Arevalo (1945) and af- a room, a job—all became currency ity, its proximity to the world center ter 1951 by Jacobo Arbenz. It had within the community. of empire, the United States, and not become home to many exiles fleeing Almost as in a Dostoyevsky novel, least to its many achievements. It also repressive regimes, and Hilda be- the local, national, and international reflects the colorful, dynamic person- came a fixture among that group. In police (including the FBI and CIA) alities who have led the revolution, this context Che walked into her life, are never far away in this memoir, the remarkable spirit and élan of the and the narrative about this fascinat- forcing sudden departures, missed Cuban people, and, one must say it ing relationship begins. It becomes at connections, the jettisoning of in- too, the violent opposition of its de- once a tale of courtship and of two criminating papers and books, and tractors, who waste no opportunity people struggling to make the world semi-clandestine lives. Here one is to attack the whole process. The rev- a better place. struck by the number of times either olution’s 50th anniversary and recent As in any good story, several sub- or both Hilda and Che ended up in changes in Cuba have engendered an plots run through the text. At the the hands of the authorities, only to unusual crop of materials about the personal level the book details how walk free, sometimes because friends island and its leaders. Works like Ig- their friendship and socializing grew or diplomats intervened on their be- nacio Ramonet and Fidel Castro’s col- into something more over time. Hil- half, sometimes through bribery. In laboration, My Life: A Spoken Autobi- da broke off the relationship several fact, at one point, U.S. authorities ography (Scribner, 2008), and Steven times but always succumbed to Che’s deported Che from Miami back to Soderbergh’s recent epic Che are but subsequent advances and apologies. Argentina. If they had only known! two examples. They married in September 1955 and The couple read voraciously to- Hilda Gadea’s My Life With Che, had a daughter, Hildita, in February. gether, and heated discussions en- while actually a reprint of a 1978 re- A lot of space is given to Che’s sued. Their choices included 19th- lease, falls within these parameters. doting fatherhood (although he century Russian novelists as well It offers, however, a slightly different wanted a boy), and several letters to as Marxist standards like Capital or perspective. Most works on the Cu- his daughter from faraway places are What Is to Be Done? Hilda also intro- ban Revolution concentrate on larger included in the text. He continued duced Che to the Chinese Revolu- political issues, breakthrough mo- to visit frequently after the couple tion through Mao’s writings, and had ments, and endless political debates, divorced in 1959. The narrative events not intervened, the couple but this book strikes a more personal, also includes descriptions of parties, might have ended up going there to day-to-day note without ever neglect- food, and music, as well as accounts see it for themselves. Both, although ing the political. It reminds us of the of trips the couple took to ancient with some reservations, expressed ties between the political and the per- Mayan ruins around the country. interest in the Soviet Revolution as 46 MAY/JUNE 2009 reviews a model. The young Argentine liked they met. From them he got to know Sartre, read John Reed, and even di- those in Mexico. Of course, he met gested John Maynard Keynes. The both Fidel and Raúl. They come couple also shared many 19th- and across as fascinating young revolu- 20th-century Spanish classics. What tionaries. Although the pages on Che’s emerges is a portrait of keen minds, relationship with the Castro brothers eager to learn, ready to discuss, and are few, it becomes obvious why Fi- always searching for more. del commanded the respect, devo- The two vigorously debated what tion, and undying loyalty of those they read, not only with each other around him. In the tide of events, but at the larger social gatherings and after some soul searching, Che that formed a regular part of their signed up to go on the fateful expedi- lives. From these discussions there tion to Cuba in fall 1956. Here some emerges a picture of how Che’s think- anecdotal material may be of interest. ing evolved during these years. One Fidel originally tried to get two or central issue in these debates cen- three boats for the invasion. He only tered on the role of the United States secured one: the Granma. Since only as an imperialist power and the need so many of the group could go they to counteract that power. The couple had to decide who would stay. In part often discussed roads to change. the decision rested on an individual’s Che, more than Hilda, remained body weight, since the boat could convinced that elections would never carry only so many pounds. provide the answer and that armed The final chapters tell the story of revolution by a small group, fully Hilda and Hildita waiting for news supported by the people, presented from Cuba. She returned to Peru the only clear path. They thus to one in the meantime but did visit Che’s degree or another rejected the left- parents in Argentina. The couple leaning social democratic parties of corresponded as best they could the time (APRA in Peru, the MNR in given the circumstances. Mother and alongside Che’s father, who also Bolivia, AD in Venezuela) as insuffi- and daughter left for Cuba in Janu- rests there. ciently anti-imperialist. While both ary 1959 to join Che. He told Hilda This book is more than the story of recognized the importance of work- that he had met another woman, a woman who became Che’s compa- ing inside their own countries (Hilda and the couple agreed to divorce ñera or of Che’s evolution during a key more than Che), they thought that which they did later that year. Hilda period. Hilda played a very important aiding a truly revolutionary move- held several jobs in Cuba, includ- role in his formation as a revolution- ment in one Latin American country ing one at Prensa Latina, the Cuban ary, a vocation he once famously said represented the first advance toward state news agency. The 1968 “pro- is “guided by a great feeling of love.” continental liberation. gressive” military coup in Peru of- Clearly the two shared a life together, The U.S.-backed invasion of Gua- fered her an opportunity to return albeit for a short time, a life that bor- temala in 1954 proved a milestone. to her country, which she did, and dered on the ideal for a couple deeply The couple sat in Guatemala City she spent the rest of her life work- engrossed in the movement. While while the Arbenz government crum- ing actively with left forces there. In revolutions are led by people like bled, while refusing to arm the peo- 1972 she was in an automobile ac- Che who stand out, they are founded ple or even take to the hills or jungles cident while visiting Cuba, and dur- in people like Hilda Gadea—tireless in resistance. Che roundly criticized ing her treatment the doctors found workers, faithful compañeros and this as a grave mistake, stoutly de- a cancer that proved fatal two years compañeras, and steadfast supporters fending the necessity for any govern- later. She was buried in the Pan- of truth and justice. ment to rely firmly on the people. theon of the Revolutionary Armed Hilda had introduced Che to Cu- Forces in Havana next to Hildita, Hobart Spalding is a member of the ban exiles in Guatemala soon after who had passed away prematurely, NACLA Editorial Committee. 47.