Aleida Guevara had seen her father more than she believed she had.

When she was a child, the eldest daughter of the iconic 20th century revolutionary Che Guevara had thought that she had last seen her father when she was four-and-half years old. Che had left Cuba for Congo in 1965, when Aleida was four-and-a-half.

"Not that I saw him often before. I saw him only briefly, in flashes. Papi (her father Che) was working full time, 16 hours a day. Cuba was a new country and 'papi' was in charge of many things. At times he took me along with him to visit industrial units," Aleida, a practicing paediatrician, told Onmanorama on Wednesday.

Aleida is in Kerala to take part in the solidarity meetings being organised across the state to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.

Dreadful jungle beast

Aleida remembers that her 'papi' used very "strong" words to describe even simple things inside the house. "He had the loud tongue of the revolutionary," she said. One day her little brother Camilo's teacher complained to her mother that the boy was using words that did not sound good in a classroom.

"My mother knew he had got it from 'papi'. So when 'papi' came home, my mother told him about Camilo's behaviour. 'Papi' then held Camilo close and told him about a dangerous beast in the jungles. He told Camilo that whenever he used an ugly word in school, the beast would bite off a part of his father's leg. From then on Camilo was reformed," Aleida said.

Stranger from nowhere

Then, all of a sudden, Che left for Congo in 1965 to support the Simba rebellion in east Congo. After about a year, a stranger came to the household. "He said he was a very close friend of my father and gave his name as Ramon. He was not like my father in appearance, and the way he talked also was different. But somehow we felt close to this man," Aleida said.

Incidentally, Ramon Benitez was Che's adopted name, his nom de plume, during his Congo days.

Ramon used to visit Che's family occasionally. "He did not shower us with effusive love like fathers do. He behaved with us like the friends of fathers do, very nice but always keeping a distance," Aleida said. Perhaps, he did not want his kids, in their excitement, to spill the bean to their friends and teachers in school.

It was only later that Aleida and her two little brothers Camilo and Ernesto and sister Celio realised that this man Ramon, who looked nothing like their father, was actually their father.

"Papi was the kind of man who would fight till the last for a cause. So when he left for Cuba he had sworn never to return. But after his Congo stint, Fidel persuaded him to return to Cuba to prepare for his Bolivian mission. Papi agreed on the condition that his identity will be kept a secret," Aleida said. Thus, Che became Ramon.

Aleida still remembers the fall she had when her father's 'close buddy' Ramon was around. "I had tripped while walking and hit my head. Suddenly Ramon rushed towards me, swept me up and attended to me. I thought he was badly shaken by my fall. I felt very happy but it also felt strange. I wondered why this man was so concerned like he was my father. I then thought that he too like my father was a doctor," she said.

Fidel-Che rift

Aleida is also dismissive of the suggestion that Che and Fidel had serious differences of opinion. "Of course, they had their fights. Here is one that Fidel himself had told me," she said. "While they were in Mexico jail, Fidel had told everyone not to disclose their political leanings to Mexican authorities. But my father started speaking about socialism and Lenin with the guards," Aleida said.

This had an immediate effect. All of Fidel's men except Che was released from the Mexican prison. "An angry Fidel asked my father why he was open about his politics. My father quite matter-of-factly told him that he could not keep his ideals a secret. Fidel smiled when he told me this," Aleida said. Fidel then refused to leave the prison until Che was also released.

In 1967, when Aleida was seven, Che was shot dead in the Bolivian jungles. It was her mother, Aleida March, who had broken the news to her. Che had already kept a parting letter ready for his kids. "When you see this letter you will know that I am no longer with you," it said. The letter also had a "big kiss" from 'papi'.

(Aleida Guevara's Spanish was interpreted for us by Sathevan Balan, the coach of the Kerala football team that won the Santhosh Trophy in 2018. Sathevan had lived in Cuba for over 10 years.)