Che Guevara at the United Nations

On 11 December 1964, Che Guevara addressed the United Nations General Assembly as Cuba’s representative. His speech placed the revolution’s arguments about sovereignty, intervention and decolonization before an international audience, two years after the Cuban Missile Crisis had brought the island to the center of Cold War confrontation.

This video focuses on the diplomatic setting and the message Guevara delivered. The General Assembly offered a stage for challenging powerful states and speaking to countries emerging from colonial rule. Reading the official meeting record reveals an argument more extensive than the short excerpts that usually circulate online.

The New York address should not be confused with Guevara’s February 1965 speech in Algiers, where his criticism of socialist trading relationships took a different form. The distinction clarifies both events. United Nations records and diplomatic documents help recover the dates, audience and political circumstances behind an image that later became part of Guevara’s revolutionary legend.

Sources and further reading: Che Guevara addresses the United Nations, 11 December 1964

• un.org/content/es/_vidout/video740.shtml

General Assembly, 1299th plenary meeting, 11 December 1964: A/PV.1299

• digitallibrary.un.org/record/692269/files/A_PV-1299-EN.pdf

The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962

• history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/cuban-missile-crisis

Memorandum of Conversation, 17 December 1964: Meeting with Che Guevara

• history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v32/d293

At the Afro-Asian Conference in Algeria, 24 February 1965

• marxists.org/archive/guevara/1965/02/24.htm