Patrick Lynch, Lydican Castle

 

Lydican House - Ruins

Landed Estates Database - NUI Galway, CC BY

 

Che Guevara's Parents

CC BY

 

Che Guevara

CC BY

 

Che Guevara portrait, 1968

Jim Fitzpatrick - jimfitzpatrick.com, CC BY NC-ND

Patrick Lynch was born in 1715 in Claregalway, he was the second son of Patrick Lynch of Lydican Castle and Agnes Blake. The Lynches and the Blakes were two of the fourteen tribes of Galway, who dominated the political, commercial, and social life of the city of Galway between the mid-13th and late-19th centuries

An Irish merchant and emigrant

Patrick became a significant landowner in Rio de la Plata, which is now part of Argentina. In 1749, in Buenos Aires, he married Rosa de Galaya de la Camera, a wealthy heiress.

Ernesto (Che) R. Guevara de la Serna

It was through the marriage of Che’s grandmother, Ana Lynch y Ortiz, a descendent of Patrick Lynch, to Roberto Guevara Castro, that their eldest son was Ernesto Guevara Lynch, who was born in 1900.  His son, Ernesto (Che) R. Guevara de la Serna was born in Rosario, Argentina, on June 14, 1928, and was the eldest of five children to Ernesto and his wife, Celia de la Serna y Llosa. Che studied medicine before traveling around South America, observing conditions that spurred his Marxist beliefs. He aided Fidel Castro in overturning the Cuban government and then worked in a political post. Guevara later engaged in guerrilla action in Bolivia, where he was killed. He’s revered by many as a cultural hero.

Che Guevara’s father Ernesto Guevara said in 1969:

“The first thing to note is that in my son’s veins flowed the blood of the Irish rebels”

Ms Aeida Guevara, the daughter of Che, visited Galway city in 2002.

Legendary Che Guevara Poster

Jim Fitzpatrick an Irish artist from Dublin was the painter of the legendary Che Guevara poster. It was published in May 1968 just after Che’s death in Bolivia.  It became the iconic image of the anti-Vietnam war protests worldwide and today is the symbol of F.A.R.C. in Columbia and the Zapitistas of Mexico in their fight for freedom and autonomy.