The Sacred Flame

[cow defender]

The Sacred Flame
Prolouge

One day I reached the summit of a mountain with a rifle in my hand and I felt something I had never felt before—I felt so strong! I had a beautiful feeling of freedom and I said to myself: “We can do it!”
--Hector Jouve, Argentine Guerilla 1963
Cuba
In 1959 the Batista regime in Cuba was toppled by a ragtag group of olive dressed, bearded guerillas. The charismatic Fidelistas had control of the revolution from the beginning and by 1961 Castro acknowledged that the revolution was of Marxist-Leninist ideology. Cuba informed the world that although they promised not to export revolutions, the island could not be at fault for providing an example of the peoples’ triumph over imperialism, oppression and capitalism.
Guatemala
By 1961 the political climate of Latin America was ripe for revolution. In Guatemala, home of the failed peaceful revolution of the Arbenz government, congressional elections had taken place amid widespread accusations of fraud. Che Guevara, the Argentine national famous for his part in the revolution of Cuba and his place in the revolutionary government sent his friend and protégé, Julio Roberto Caceres (El Patojo) to Guatemala determined to start a Marxist guerilla struggle there. At the same time two men Yon Sosa and Turcios Lima formed a revolutionary guerilla group called “Alejandro de Leon Nov 13 Guerrilla Movement.” By 1962 the Leonistas assassinated Ydigoras Fuentes’ secret police chief and launched the first hit and run attacks against military posts. Patojo’s own group, backed by Guatemala’s Communist Party (PGT) was launched independently at around the same time. In March 1962 Patojo’s group came under heavy attack by Fuentes forces decimating over half of the rebels. Cuba soon received word that Patojo had died, and Che wrote a eulogy to his ‘fallen’ comrade published in Verde Olivo. Patojo meanwhile with twenty men met with Turcios Lima to coordinate new attacks against the oppressive regime, convinced that the only way to win was revolutionary unity.
Cuba
Meanwhile in Cuba, responding from the January 1962 expulsion of Cuba from the OAS (American led Organization of American States) proclaiming the “inevitability” of revolution in Latin America. Juan Carreterro (Ariel) began working with Che to create a transcontintental revolutionary theatre in Latin America. By Spring, the two along with Manuel Piñeiro Losada (Barba Rosa) leader of the “Liberation Department” was overseeing a campaign to recruit and organize guerilla trainees from hundreds of students invited to Cuba on revolutionary scholarships.
Peru
In march 1962 the Peruvian military launched a coup that annulled election results, suspended congress and placed the whole Peruvian political system in doubt. Ricarda Gadea and other Peruvian comrades left Revolucionario Universidad Havana for guerilla training in the Sierra Maestra by veterans of the Cuban movement.
Nicaragua
Since the summer of 1959 Nicaraguans rebels had been coming and going from Cuba. Carlos Fonseca returned to Central America to seek a political alliance between his university-based group, other exiles, and antisomocistas within Nicaragua. Meanwhile one of his closest disciples Tomas Borge traveled to Havana seeking help for the recently formed Nicraguan Revolutionary Youth group (JRN). Meeting with Che Guevara in Cuba the law student convinced the veteran guerilla to fund the group, giving them 25,000 dollars to organize themselves. Romero Rodolfo was named the military chief and in 1961 he went into the Cuban counterintelligence school for training in espionage and tradecraft. By 1962 the organization was developing. Fonseca oversaw the the anti-Somoza urban underground effort, pulling off bank robberies and carrying out propaganda and sabotage, while Tomas Borge and 65 guerillas under Noel Guerrero’s leadership into Nicaragua’s northern jungle from Honduras. This is the group that would eventually call itself the Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (FSLN) also known as the Sandinistas.
Argentina
A nation close to Che Guevara’s heart was his homeland of Argentina. His plan was for the journalist Jorge Ricardo Masetti to lead his advance patrol and when conditions were right, he would lead the force himself. Alberto Granada a longtime friend of Che Guevara began recruiting potential Argentines for the guerilla adventure. The Argentine officals were highly suspicious of Granado recruiting “technicians and other skilled people” to work in Cuba. Che and the other Argentines worked hard for unity among the anti government forces. John William Cooke, the leader of the group of peronista exiles in Cuba, seconded Guevara’s call for union. The Argentine group led by Masetti, including Ciro Bustos (Che’s bodyguard) made their slow trip to Argentina (from Eastern Europe, to Africa, and finally South America to the altiplano to wage a international, continental guerilla campaign against the South American pro American governments.)


okay so not much has changed yet in this TL, the only difference is the survival of el Patojo.
this timeline is a what if, if you haven't guessed, on the revolutionary struggle of marxists through the world during the 60s. through small changes history will hopefully be rewritten in a scenario where the marxists will be much more powerful. we'll see what happens
flame away

[Straha]

flame away eh? *roasts soem smores with his flamethorwer"

good stuff dude try to put a WWIII in here.

[cow defender]

that's what i'm hoping for. che did say that had he chose he would have pushed the button on the bay of pigs thing.

[Sean Swaby]

keep it going, I like this one.

[cow defender]

America
Faced with the threat posed by such people as Ernesto Che Guevara, the United States decides to use preventative medicine to combat the red plague. This was the era of counterinsurgency and there tactics were counterinsurgency training; the coordination of action by regional police, military and intelligence agencies; a stepped up role for the CIA, economic and social development programs through the Alliance for Progress; and military “civic-action” projects in backward areas to win the guerilla targeted civilian’s hearts and minds. In November JFK gave new CIA Director John McCone fifty million dollars a year for a covert action program against Cuba, “Operation Mongoose.” The program aimed to destabilize the Cuban regime through espionage, sabotage, military attacks and selective assassinations. In time it would become the CIA’s largest covert operation in the world.
Felix Rodriguez
Nephew of Batista’s Minister of Public Works and himself a former agent of the dictator’s repressive regime, Rodriguez and his family fled Cuba when Castro liberated Cuba. Resentful of his family’s misfortune, Felix quits Military School in Penn. And joined Dominican dictator, Trujillo’s Anti-Communist Legion. He soon went back to military school in the US after the Legion’s demise. In 1960 Rodriguez was picked up by the CIA recruitment drive for anti-communists in the Cuban exile community. After graduating he flew to Guatemala to receive guerilla training. Felix led an underground resistance movement on the island and was given training in espionage and tradecraft. He assisted the anti-communists in the Bay of Pigs disaster and somehow made it off the island alive. By October Rodriguez was on his way back to Cuba. His mission: to rebuild the CIA’s infiltration routes for future paramilitary actions.
OAS
In December of 61 the OAS resolution condemning Cuba’s Soviet-bloc alignment was virtually unanimous (only Mexico and Cuba refused to sign.) That same month Colombia, Panama, Nicaragua, and El Salvador severed relations with the island. In Havana, Fidel made a speech that sealed Cuba’s break with the West, “I am a Marxist-Leninist and will be until I die.” In January of 62 the OAS voted to suspend Cuba’s membership and ban arms sales to the island and agreed on measures for joint defense against Cuban actions. In February Argentina severed diplomatic relations with Cuba.
Cuba
In March agricultural production sharply decreased and coupled with consumer shortages in shops mandatory government rationing for foodstuffs and other basic goods was imposed.
Tania
Haydee Tamara Bunke was the daughter of Jewish Communists who had fled Hitler’s Germany for Argentina, where she was born. She spent her childhood there but returned to Communist GDR. In May 1961 Tamara flew to Cuba where she was given a role in Che’s program of revolution for Latin America and soon would become the most famous communist undercover operative, known as the assassin of an American president and the killer of the CIA’s top agent in Latin America.
Cuba
The Soviet Union through the recently promoted Ambassador Alexandr Alexiev approached Fidel Castro with a solution to save the Cuban revolution. “to save the Cuban revolution, we have reached a decision to place rockets in Cuba. What do you think? How will Fidel react? Will he accept or not?”
Soviet-Cuba Defense Pact 1962
“It is necessary and has been decided to take the necessary steps for the joint defense of the legitimate rights of the people of Cuba and the Soviet Union, taking into account the urgent need to adopt measures to guarantee mutual security, in view of the possibility of an eminent attack against the Republic of Cuba and the Soviet Union.”
After much revision of the treaty draft the final copy was finally signed. The pact called for a military package including 24 med range and sixteen intermediate range ballistic missile launchers, each equipped with 2 missiles and a nuclear warhead; 24 advanced SAM-2 missile batteries; 42 MiGinterceptors; and42IL-28 bombers; 15 Komar class missile boats and coastal defense cruise missiles. The arsenal would be accompanied by 4 elite Soviet combat regiments (42000 troops.) The agreement was renewable every 5 years and the missiles were under the command of the Soviet military.
America
The United States kept a close eye on its island neighbor to the South. By September 6 1962 the Soviet military build up had already been detected. U2recon planes had discovered the new SAM-2 missile sites and coastal defense cruise missile installations. Despite Krushchev’s reassurance that no offensive weaponry had been deployed in Cuba, the White House remained suspicious. On September 5 Kennedy asked Congress to call up 200,000 military reservists. The US announced plans to hold a military exercise in the Caribbean in mid-October. Each day the tension levels grew higher as new details of Soviet build up came in and US, Soviet, and Cuban denials and accusations flew back on forth. On September 9 the US Intelligence brought Kennedy disturbing comments made by Che: “the Soviet military aid deal to Cuba is a historic event that heralds a reversal in East-West power relations. The United States cannot do anything but yield.”

okay,that'll be itfor thefirst installment. its damn hard to do thiswitha fuckedu p spacebar.sorry for anyandall errors. givemetwo daysfor:

Chapter One: Born of Blood and Fire