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Che Guevara Archive
Che's Farewell Letter from Che to Fidel Castro
"Year of Agriculture"
Havana, April 1, 1965
At this moment I remember many things — when I met you in Maria
Antonia's house, when you proposed I come along, all the tensions
involved in the preparations. One day they came by and asked who should
be notified in case of death, and the real possibility of it struck
us all. Later we knew it was true, that in a revolution one wins or
dies (if it is a real one). Many comrades fell along the way to victory.
Today everything has a less dramatic tone, because we are more mature,
but the event repeats itself. I feel that I have fulfilled the part
of my duty that tied me to the Cuban revolution in its territory,
and I say farewell to you, to the comrades, to your people, who now
are mine.
I formally resign my positions in the leadership of the party, my
post as minister, my rank of commander, and my Cuban citizenship.
Nothing legal binds me to Cuba. The only ties are of another nature-those
that cannot be broken as can appointments to posts.
Reviewing my past life, I believe I have worked with sufficient integrity
and dedication to consolidate the revolutionary triumph. My only serious
failing was not having had more confidence in you from the first moments
in the Sierra Maestra, and not having understood quickly enough your
qualities as a leader and a revolutionary.
I have lived magnificent days, and at your side I felt the pride of
belonging to our people in the brilliant yet sad days of the Caribbean
crisis." Seldom has a statesman been more brilliant as you were
in those days. I am also proud of having followed you without hesitation,
of having identified with your way of thinking and of seeing and appraising
dangers and principles.
Other nations of the world summon my modest efforts of assistance.
I can do that which is denied you due to your responsibility at head
of Cuba, and the time has come for us to part.
You should know that I do so with a mixture of joy and sorrow. I leave
here the purest of my hopes as a builder and the dearest of those
I hold dear. And I leave a people who received me as a son. That wounds
a part of my spirit. I carry to new battlefronts the faith that you
taught me, the revolutionary spirit of my people, the feeling of fulfilling
the most sacred of duties: to fight against imperialism wherever one
may be. This is a source of strength, and more than heals the deepest
of wounds.
I state once more that I free Cuba from all responsibility, except
that which stems from its example. If my final hour finds me under
other skies, my last thought will be of this people and especially
of you. I am grateful for your teaching and your example, to which
I shall try to be faithful up to the final consequences of my acts.
I have always been identified with the foreign policy of our revolution,
and I continue to be. Wherever I am, I will feel the responsibility
of being a Cuban revolutionary, and I shall behave as such. I am not
sorry that I leave nothing material to my wife and children; I am
happy it is that way. I ask nothing for them, as the state will provide
them with enough to live on and receive an education.
I would have many things to say to you and to our people, but I feel
they are unnecessary. Words cannot express what I would like them
to, and there is no point in scribbling pages.
Ever onward to victory!
Homeland or Death!
I embrace you with all my revolutionary fervour.
Che
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