SOURCE: "Introduction: Che's Enduring Contributions to Revolutionary Thought," in Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution: Writings and Speeches of Ernesto Che Guevara, edited by David Deutschmann, Pathfinder/Pacific and Asia, 1987, pp. 19-32.

A leader of the Cuban Revolution and the current prime minister of Cuba, Castro considered Guevara an outstanding revolutionary leader and intellectual mentor. In the following essay, originally delivered as a speech at a memorial rally for Guevara in Havana's Plaza of the Revolution on October 18, 1967, Castro eulogizes Guevara's literary, military, and political achievements, noting "Che possessed the double characteristic of the man of ideas—of profound ideas—and the man of action."

Revolutionary compañeras and compañeros:

I first met Che one day in July or August 1955. And in one night—as he recalls in his accounts—he became one of the future Granma expeditionaries, although at that time the expedition possessed neither ship...