Canek Sánchez Guevara | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1974-05-22)22 May 1974 Havana, Cuba |
| Died | 21 January 2015(2015-01-21) (aged 40) Mexico City, Mexico |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, musician |
| Movement | Cuban dissident movement |
| Parents |
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| Relatives | Che Guevara (grandfather)Hilda Gadea (grandmother) |
Canek Sánchez Guevara (1974–2015) was aCubanauthor,photographer,musician anddissident. The grandson ofArgentinian revolutionaryChe Guevara, he grew up in the upper crust of post-revolutionaryCuban society, but soon became disillusioned with the government ofFidel Castro. After his mother's death, he went into exile inMexico, where he worked as a writer forProceso, penning criticisms of the Cuban government from aleft-winganarchist perspective. He died in 2015, following complications withcardiac surgery.
Canek Sánchez Guevara was born in the Cuban capital ofHavana on 22 May 1974.[1] He was the son ofMexican left-wing activist Alberto Sánchez Hernández and Hildita Guevara Gadea, the eldest daughter of the Argentinian revolutionaryChe Guevara.[1][2][3][4][5][6] He was named after theKan Ekʼ (Black Serpent), a title for an ancient line ofMaya monarchs.[1]
Sánchez Guevara was raised in amansion in the upscale district ofMiramar,[1][6] where his mother worked at agovernment propaganda centre.[1] He was taken abroad to study inItaly,Spain and Mexico, before returning to Cuba in 1986.[1][5] During his teenage years, he came to admire his late grandfather, although he also struggled with the expectation to live up to Che's legacy, as Cubans told him "how to behave, what to do and what to say".[1][2][4][6] As he grew older, Sánchez Guevara became increasingly disillusioned with the government of Fidel Castro, which he likened to amonarchy, due to itsrepression of dissident activists and artists. He fell into the Havana punk subculture and formed aheavy metal band, which brought him under the watch of theCuban police. One illegal gig he attended was raided by police, who arrested and conducted abody cavity search on him.[1]
By the time he turned 21, Sánchez Guevara's mother was dying ofcancer in a Havanahospital, where the two discussed the state of theCuban revolution. Hildita considered the existing regime to have stagnated, but still dreamed of a future "Communist systemwith a human face". Canek was more pessimistic, declaring that Che would "never would have approved of what has become of this revolution", noting that political repression was much harsher than it was in his grandfather's day.[1] After his mother's death, in 1996, Sánchez Guevara went into self-imposedexile.[1][3][5] He settled in the Mexican city ofOaxaca, where he worked as an artist, musician and author.[1][5]
In his column for the magazineProceso, he criticised the Cuban regime for not only being anti-democratic, but also for beinganti-communist.[2][7] In October 2004, he wrote inProceso that: "The Cuban revolution has given birth to abourgeoisie, to repressive apparatuses meant to defend from the people abureaucracy very distant from that same people. But above all it has been anti-democratic because of the religiousmessianism of its leader." He further denounced "thecriminalisation of difference, the means ofpersecution of homosexuals,hippies, free thinkers,trade unionists and poets" and the installation of "a socialist bourgeoisie". He concluded with a declaration that: "All my criticisms of Fidel Castro start from his distancing fromlibertarian ideas, of histreason committed against the people of Cuba and the frightful system of vigilance established to preserve the State by crushing people."[3] For his criticisms of the Cuban regime, he was insulted and denounced by various pro-Castro activists, including his own auntAleida Guevara. He responded by comparing Castroism toreligious fanaticism.[4]
In 2006, he wrote that "I’m just a selfish person who aspires to be a free man, anegotist who knows that egotism is part of all of us and [...] that my freedom is only valid if yours is too."[2][7][8]
On 21 January 2015, Sánchez Guevara died due to complications withcardiac surgery.[1][2][3][4][7][8][9] In 2016, a number of his books were released posthumously. These included his autobiographyDiario sin motocicleta and the novel33 Revoluciones.[5][10][11][12]
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