Hilda Gadea
Gadea in 1955
Born
Hilda Gadea Acosta

(1925-03-21)21 March 1925
Lima, Peru
Died11 February 1974(1974-02-11) (aged 48)
Havana, Cuba
Alma materNational University of San Marcos
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1955; div. 1959)​
Children1

Hilda Gadea Acosta (21 March 1925 – 11 February 1974)[1][2] was a Peruvian economist, Communist leader, and author. She was the first wife of Che Guevara.

Gadea Acosta was Secretary of the Economy of the Executive National Committee for Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana (APRA, American Popular Revolutionary Alliance).[2] Her activities in Peru led to her exile in 1948. She first met Guevara in Guatemala in December 1953.[2][3] Gadea and Guevara moved to Mexico due to pressure from their politics. She introduced Guevara to several Cuban rebels.

Gadea married Guevara in Mexico in September 1955, after learning she was pregnant. The marriage ended in a divorce in May 1959. They had a daughter named Hilda Beatriz "Hildita" Guevara Gadea in February 1956 who died of cancer in 1995.[4]

Following the Cuban Revolution, in which Guevara fought, Gadea came to Cuba, to be confronted with the announcement by Guevara that he had fallen in love with another woman, Aleida March, and requested a divorce. Gadea remained loyal to Guevara's political movement; she died in Havana in 1974.[4] She wrote the memoir My Life With Che.[2] Gabriel San Roman, a writer for Z Magazine, began writing a play about Gadea.[5]

References

  1. ^ Gadea, Hilda (30 September 2008). My Life With Che. Pen & Sword Books Limited. ISBN 978-1-78383-722-9.
  2. ^ a b c d "My Life With Che Archived 2009-09-22 at the Wayback Machine." Macmillan; retrieved 23 February 2009.
  3. ^ "Rebel Wife", The Washington Post; retrieved 23 February 2009.
  4. ^ a b Snow, Anita. My Life With Che Archived 5 December 2012 at archive.today by Hilda Gadea" (Associated Press), WJXX-TV. 16 August 2008; retrieved 23 February 2009.
  5. ^ San Román, Gabriel. "On the Roadshow with Che Archived 2009-10-01 at the Wayback Machine." Z Magazine. February 2009; retrieved 23 February 2009.
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