A visit to Camilo Guevara

Camilo Guevara, son of Ernesto Che Guevara, works at the Centro de Estudios Che Guevara. I visited him at his parents' house across the street from the Centro, spoke to him and took a few pictures.

Che Guevara was only 39 years old. On Sunday October 9, 1967 at ten past one in the afternoon, Ernesto Guevara was assassinated in Bolivia. Shortly before that he was shot in a fight with the Bolivian army and had to surrender. However, President Barrientos feared a public trial and had Comandante Che Guevara shot. 

Eight years earlier, El Che and his guerrillas had done the improbable and defeated Batista's army in Cuba. Batista himself fled to the United States at the time. 

Camilo Guevara was just 5 years old when his father died. 

52 years later I meet him at his childhood home, a beautiful old mansion with a leafy courtyard and a flat roof in Miramar, a quiet and leafy suburb of Havana. I imagined the house to be bigger and more luxurious. The rooms were rather modest, minimalistic and functionally furnished. I immediately felt at ease because of the calm that radiated from everything.

I was very awestruck and sadly didn't take a lot of pictures of the house, had I asked Camilo would probably have given me permission. In hindsight, that annoyed me.

Camilo is an avid photographer himself, no wonder. So was his father. And so I was allowed to photograph him during the conversation. In addition to my digital Fuji, I also had an old Minolta with me, which I used to take a few analogue portraits of him. And because Camilo was interested in my X-T3, he asked me to show it to him and then took the portrait of me. 

Camilo Guevara and Friedhelm, called Fidel

Kinda funny, I fly as tourist Photographer for 3 weeks in Cuba and suddenly I'm sitting in front of Camilo. He wasn't really waiting for me.

I have to thank Dr. phil. Friedhelm Böcker, whom I met with his wife before checking in for our flight to Havana. In Cuba they call him Fidel and now I know why.
Friedhelm had known Camillo for a long time and had paid him a friendly visit. The two have talked about possible new projects coming from the Cuba Aid Dortmund can be supported with. An example suggested by Camillo was solar panels for schools, which students can use to experiment and bring up a topic that is also important in Cuba.

I was allowed to photograph the conversation and also recorded parts of the interview in video sequences. For me, Camilo was particularly interesting as a person and he really captivated me. Outwardly quite similar to his father, he came across to me quite differently from Comandante Che. Camilo is a calm, matter-of-fact, easy-going, warm and friendly conversationalist who took an interest in us. 

Towards the end of the conversation he showed us pictures of Che and a Milan exhibition in which he had worked in his study. But I could only focus on it with one eye and constantly had the feeling that I had to pinch myself now. Just to wake up from the dream that I'm here with Camilo Guevara in his office and I'm being told a story by his father.

Thank you Fidel for letting me be a part of your visit to Camilo!

And thanks to our interpreter Herman †, I also remember your happy manner. 

A very sad occasion makes me update the article.
Camilo Guevara died in Caracas on August 29, 2022.

Even though I was only able to spend maybe 2 hours with him, the moment, the place and his words are etched deep in my heart and memory. Camilo seemed to me to be a very modest but also very funny, committed, idealistic and solidary person with a very strong and very pleasantly warm charisma.

In the conversation, he talked about a major concern, namely to explain the advantages of renewable energies to the students in the villages of Cuba in an age-appropriate way and with practical examples. I hope the project can be completed in its spirit.

Camilo left us way too soon! I found the short time together to be extremely enriching and I'm sure many people felt the same way. My thoughts are with you and your family!