This day in History – October 9

Oct 09, 2022 News

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Compiled by Zena Henry

Ernesto “Che” Guevara is captured and executed for attempting to incite a revolution in Bolivia

Kaieteur News – On October 9, 1967, socialist revolutionary and guerilla leader Che Guevara, age 39, was killed by the Bolivian army. The U.S.-military-backed Bolivian forces captured Guevara on October 8 while battling his band of guerillas in Bolivia and executed him the following day.

His hands were cut off as proof of death and his body was buried in an unmarked grave. In 1997, Guevara’s remains were found and sent back to Cuba, where they were reburied in a ceremony attended by President Fidel Castro and thousands of Cubans.

Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna was born to a well-off family in Argentina in 1928. While studying medicine at the University of Buenos Aires, he took time off to travel around South America on a motorcycle; during this time, he witnessed the poverty and oppression of the lower classes. He received a medical degree in 1953 and continued his travels around Latin America, becoming involved with left-wing organisations. In the mid-1950s, Guevara met up with Fidel Castro and his group of exiled revolutionaries in Mexico. Guevara played a key role in Castro’s seizure of power from Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and later served as Castro’s right-hand man and minister of industry. Guevara strongly opposed U.S. domination in Latin America and advocated peasant-based revolutions to combat social injustice in Third World countries.

Guevara resigned—some say he was dismissed—from his Cuban government post in April 1965, possibly over differences with Castro about the nation’s economic and foreign policies. Guevara then disappeared from Cuba, travelled to Africa and eventually resurfaced in Bolivia, where he was killed. Following his death, Guevara achieved hero status among people around the world as a symbol of anti-imperialism and revolution. A 1960 photo taken by Alberto Korda of Guevara in a beret became iconic and has since appeared on countless posters and T-shirts. However, not everyone considers Guevara a hero: He is accused, among other things, of ordering the deaths of hundreds of people in Cuban prisons during the revolution. (Source: History)

Pope John Paul II greets the Dalai Lama during a private audience in Vatican City

Pope John Paul II received Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, at a private audience at the Vatican. The Vatican press office confirmed the meeting had taken place without giving details.

A Vatican source called it “a spiritual meeting of prayer and exchanges of ideas on religious themes. Pope John Paul II, unruffled when a young man tossed a firecracker in his direction at the end of a mass, met with the Dalai Lama, and urged the world to look to the spirituality of the East in its search for genuine liberation. The Pope had also used guarded language to criticize the Indian caste system, praising Mohandas K. Gandhi as a man who helped break down social barriers and divisions. John Paul’s meeting with the Dalai Lama at the papal nunciature, or embassy, lasted 20 minutes and appeared to be part of the Pope’s effort to bring together the world’s spiritual leaders for a period of retreat and reflection. Several times the Pope spoke of the need for people of all religious traditions to seek common ground in the struggle against war, poverty and a loss of spiritual values. (Source: Chicago Tribune and New York Times)

Pakistani Taliban attempt to assassinate outspoken schoolgirl, Malala Yousafzai

On the afternoon of October 9, 2012, Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head in her school van. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack. According to the information, Malala Yousafzai was shot by three unidentified gunmen from the TTP, in the bus taking children home from school after a mid-term exam. The incident occurred in the city of Mingora situated in the Swat valley, Northwest Pakistan, as the bus was coming from Khushal Public School.

According to testimonies, the unidentified assailants got on the bus and asked the other children to point to Malala. Yousafzai was shot in the head and a second shot injured her in the neck area. Two other girls were also wounded in the attack survived.

Yousafzai was targeted for advocating the right of girls to education, and for exposing the daily violence and intimidation after the Taliban took control of the Swat valley. She had been writing a blog for the BBC in Urdu under the pen name “Gul Makai” since the age of 11. As the Taliban were driven out of the Swat valley in 2009, her identity was made public. She received the National Peace Award from former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on December 19, 2011 and was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize the same year by the Dutch organisation “Kids Rights”. Yousafzai was also a speaker for the Child Assembly in Swat, an initiative supported by UNICEF in 2011. She appeared on national and international television to express her views on the rights of children and girls.

On the day of the attack, spokesperson for the Pakistani Taliban, Ehsanullah Ehsan, confirmed to international media that they attacked her because “she[was] anti-Taliban and secular”, adding that she “would not be spared. She was pro-West, she [was] speaking against Taliban and she [was] calling President Obama her idol.  She [was] young but she [was] promoting Western culture in Pashtun areas,” he said. He reiterated the threats to kill her if she survives the attack. Yousufzai was carried to Saidu Sharif Medical Complex in Mingora immediately after the incident and was later moved to Peshawar in an army helicopter. Yousufzai was later flown abroad for further treatment. (omct.org)

 

 

 

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