Ernesto Guevara was born on June 14, 1928 in Rosario, province of Santa Fe, Argentina.

In 1945 he moved with his family to Buenos Aires where he studied medicine in the University of Buenos Aires, and where he began to get interested in politics, though he did not belong to any political party. In 1951 he went on a motorcycle trip around Latin America visiting Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela.with his friend Alberto Granados.

Upon his return, he finished his studies and graduated from medical school in 1953. Even though he got a a job offer he decided to meet again with Granados, who had remained in Venezuela, stopping in Bolivia first. In La Paz he met Ricardo Rojo, an argentine attorney with whom he hitchhiked all the way to Peru and Ecuador; where they learned about the Guatemalan revolution. During his trips he got the "Che" nickname (interjection very much used in Argentina to catch someone's attention) due to the fact that, as so many Argentineans, he used  "che" a lot..

In mid 1955 he met Fidel Castro, who was exiled in Mexico, and began his revolutionary career. El Che moved to Cuba as expeditionary doctor, where he would become an icon of the world left wing and the Cuban revolution. During the two years that followed he actively participated, along with Fidel Castro, in the planning of the landing and taking over of Cuba.

During the clashes between the revolutionaries and the troops of Batista, the The New York Times newspaper sent Herbert Matthews as correspondent  to Cuba, whom, by means of his reports and an interview to Fidel Castro earned the publics respect for this small group that faced a superior army in soldiers and resources. The articles gave the Cuban people enthusiasm and collaborated increasingly with the insurgents.

In 1958 the war continued and the revolutionaries were stronger and steadier. Guevara put himself in the front lines and, with Camilo Cienfuegos, crossed the island from top to bottom unifying the various revolutionary groups, while Fidel was advancing on Santiago de Cuba. The coalition allowed Che to take over the strategic city of Santa Clara, on December 31, 1958.

Finally, on January 1, 1959, Batista went on exile and on January 8 the revolutionary forces entered victorious in La Habana.

Afterwards, El Che traveled to the United Arab Republic and met with Nasser, who named him "Great Liberator of the Oppressed". He then met with Nehru in India and with Tito in Belgrade. Upon his return to Cuba he was designated as president of the Central Bank. In 1960, Guevara took part in the discussions with the Soviets on the commercial agreements between Russia and Cuba resulting in the signing of the Cuban-Soviet friendship agreement; and continued his economic missions in Europe and in China. 

On January 3, 1961, the United States announced the breaking of relations with the Cuban government and in February, Guevara took office as Minister of Industries, centralizing hundreds of nationalized companies. On April 17, the Bay of the Pigs (Girón Beach) invasion took place, where forces endorsed by the United States were defeat and consequently Fidel proclaimed the Cuban Revolution as Socialist.

His role in the process of the Cuban Revolution grew in importance and in 1962 he integrated, with Fidel Castro, Osvaldo Dorticós, Blas Roca and Emilio Aragonés, the National Board of Integrated Revolutionary Organizations. In October of that year, the  so called "missile crisis" started when the American government denounced the presence of Soviet armament in the island. The crisis ended when the Soviets withdrew from Cuba,  leaving uncertainties of Kruschev's support to Castro's government.

In December of 1964 the Cuban delegation presided over the General Assembly of the United Nations

1965 was marked by constant trips to Africa, especially to the Congo and to Guinea, where Che tried to deepen the Marxist-Leninist tendency while combining the participation of Cuban guerrillas with the revolutionary forces in Angola. 

On February 25, in a speech in Algel, El Che attacked the Soviet Union for being in disagreement with his vision of socialism. He proposed to create a group of nations in the process of liberation that will help and support each other "for free", while the Soviet Union was trying to make profit with these struggles, creating a new form of imperial exploitation.

Upon his return to Cuba he decided to retire from the political scene and went back to his photography hobby. For a period of time, no one knew where el Che was. Finally, Guevara appeared in the Congo heading a Cuban guerrilla group that was cooperating in the struggle against colonialism presided by Moisés Tshombé, who was relying on Belgian and American support. El Che felt deeply disappointed by the Congolese guerrilla warfare and, after seven months into an absurd and distant war, he left the Congo with the rest of Cuban revolutionaries.

At the beginning of 1966 he returned to Cuba where he organized his next move. In August of 1966 he arrived in La Paz, Bolivia, clean-shaved, bald, wearing sunglasses and with an OEA observer's credential; where he intended to take part in the guerrilla warfare, but without the support of the local revolutionaries.

On October 8, 1967 in the Combat of "Quebrada del Yuro" he was wounded and taken prisoner by a Bolivian soldiers' patrol in the village of La Higuera, Bolivia. They tried to interrogate him without obtaining any results and he was shot.

His body was shown to journalists and before burying him in an undisclosed location, his hands were cut off to avoid his identification through fingerprints.

On June 28, 1997 a group of Cuban and Argentine experts found a common grave in Valle Grande, Bolivia, with the remains of  El Che and of 6 guerrillas fighters, near the place where he was executed.

The remains of  El Che rest in the "Complejo Escultórico Memorial Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara" if the city of Santa Clara, Cuba, since October 17, 1997.