From there he went to Guatemala, earning his living by writing archaeological articles about Inca and Maya ruins. He reached Guatemala during the socialist Arbenz presidency; although he was by now a Marxist he refused to join the Communist Party, though this meant losing the chance of government medical appointment, and he was penniless. Che Guevara lived with Hilda Gadea, a Marxist of Indian stock who forwarded his political education, looked after him, and introduced him to Nico Lopez, one of Fidel Castro's lieutenants.
While in Guatemala in 1954 he witnessed the socialist government of President Jacobo Arbenz overthrown by an American backed military coup. Disgusted by what he saw, Guevara decided to join the Cuban revolutionary, Fidel Castro, in Mexico. In Guatemala he saw the CIA at work as the principal agents of counterrevolution and was confirmed in his view that Revolution could be made only be armed insurrection. When Arbenz was overthrown, Guevara went to Mexico City in September 1954 where he worked in the General Hospital. Hilda Gadea and Nico Lopez joined him, and he met Raul and Fidel Castro, then political emigres, and realized that in Fidel he had found the leader he was seeking.
In 1958 forty-five organizations signed an open letter supporting the July 26 Movement. National bodies representing lawyers, architects, dentists, accountants and social workers were amongst those who signed. Castro, who had originally relied on the support of the poor, was now gaining the backing of the influential middle classes.
General Fulgencio Batista responded to this by sending more troops to the Sierra Maestra. He now had 10,000 men hunting for Castro and his 300-strong army. Although outnumbered, Castro's guerrillas were able to inflict defeat after defeat on the government's troops.
In the summer of 1958 over a thousand of Batista's soldiers were killed or wounded and many more were captured. Unlike Batista's soldiers, Castro's troops had developed a reputation for behaving well towards prisoners. This encouraged Batista's troops to surrender to Castro when things went badly in battle. Complete military units began to join the guerrillas.
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the revolutionary team
with his followers