Essential Question #2

Ernesto wanted to become someone who could affect change in not only his own country, but in all of Latin America. He wanted the world around him to be more equal and for the gap in wealth between the rich and the poor to be eliminated. Che's journey helped him realize this goal by exposing him to other countries within South America and the various indigenous cultures. Once he realized that the same problems of oppression and exploitation existed within multiple countries, he made it his own goal to initiate change and bring the hope of a better life for the native people.
Che's sympathy for the natives first became noticeable in Chile, when he saw the dying asthma patient who could not survive due to her family's lack of money and whose poor health was a burden on her whole community. Despite Che's prior experience in medical school, he knew that no amount of medical training could alleviate conditions such as these that progress as a consequence of a poor financial state. Seeing the mines in Chile also impacted Che in a similar way. White settlers were not only destroying the landscape in their decision to utilize the mines, but they were also taking valuable land away from the natives, thus driving them further into poverty and a difficult state of living.