This is the last line of Guevara’s farewell letter to Fidel Castro, written in Spanish. Castro read the letter aloud in Havana on 3 October 1965, and the official transcript of that speech ↗ ends the letter with “Hasta la victoria siempre. ¡Patria o Muerte!”
“Hasta la victoria siempre” Ernesto Che Guevara, farewell letter to Fidel Castro (handed over 1 April 1965; read aloud by Castro in Havana, 3 October 1965)
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In context
Evoking the world of Che Guevara — Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary, a leader of the Cuban Revolution. Theme: "Hasta la victoria siempre". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.
Minimalist
Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "Hasta la victoria siempre". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.
Provenance
The farewell letter to Fidel Castro
Work
Carta de despedida a Fidel Castro (farewell letter)
Written
Undated, headed “Habana, Año de la Agricultura”. Castro said it was handed to him on 1 April 1965
Made public
Read aloud by Fidel Castro at the Teatro Chaplin, Havana, 3 October 1965. Reprinted in Obra revolucionaria (Era, México, 1967)
Translation
Original in Spanish. Common English renderings include “Until victory, always” and “Ever onward to victory!” There is no single authorized translation
Tendría muchas cosas que decirte a ti y a nuestro pueblo, pero siento que son innecesarias, las palabras no pueden expresar lo que yo quisiera, y no vale la pena emborronar cuartillas.
Hasta la victoria siempre. ¡Patria o Muerte! Te abraza con todo fervor revolucionario, Che.
Closing lines
Closing lines of the letter as Castro read it on 3 October 1965, from the official speech transcript. In English: “I would have many things to say to you and to our people, but I feel they are unnecessary; words cannot express what I would like them to, and there is no point in scribbling pages. Until victory, always. Homeland or death! I embrace you with all my revolutionary fervor, Che.” Some transcriptions punctuate the line differently (see below).
Castro introduced the letter as “una carta aquí de puño y letra, transcripta a máquina, del compañero Ernesto Guevara”. He said it carried no date and had been handed to him on 1 April 1965. His reading ends “Hasta la victoria siempre. ¡Patria o Muerte!” (speech transcript ↗)
The UNAM journal Chiapas (no. 5, 1997) reprints the letter from Guevara’s Obra revolucionaria (Era, 1967), with the note “Leída por Fidel Castro el 3 de octubre de 1965”. It closes with the same line (Chiapas reprint, PDF ↗)
Wikiquote lists Hasta la victoria siempre in its sourced section for the “Farewell letter to Fidel Castro (1965)”, glossed as “Until victory always” (Wikiquote: Che Guevara ↗). Quote Investigator has no article on the phrase (QI search ↗)
Aleida March, Guevara’s widow, writes in her memoir that he regretted putting the comma in the wrong place. Biographer Jon Lee Anderson disagrees (El Observador / BBC Mundo, 2019 ↗)
The line comes from Guevara’s farewell letter. Castro made it public on 3 October 1965, and it was reprinted in Obra revolucionaria (Era, 1967). Under US rules a work first published in 1931 or later is presumed still in copyright, so treat the letter as in copyright. A four-word slogan quoted on its own is a different matter from reproducing the full letter.
Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.
Fact-check
What people get wrong about it
Che Guevara attracts a lot of invented quotes, but this one is genuinely his. The confusion is about how the line is punctuated, how it is dated, and a famous song with a similar title.
✕
Wording“Hasta la victoria, siempre Patria o Muerte” Disputed reading
Aleida March says in her memoir Evocación that Guevara regretted misplacing the comma. On her account he meant “until victory, [it is] always Homeland or Death”, not “until victory, always”. Jon Lee Anderson does not believe there was any error (El Observador / BBC Mundo ↗). Wikisource prints the comma version (Wikisource ↗). Castro’s transcript prints “Hasta la victoria siempre.” as its own line.
✕
Date“Written on 1 April 1965” Overstated
Many English sources date the letter “April 1, 1965” (marxists.org ↗). Castro said the letter was deliberately left undated and that 1 April was the day he received it (speech transcript ↗).
✕
SongCarlos Puebla, “Hasta siempre, comandante” Different phrase
Puebla’s 1965 song is a reply to the farewell letter, and its title borrows part of Guevara’s saying. The lyric is not Guevara’s own line (Wikipedia ↗).
✓The words are Guevara’s own: they close his farewell letter to Fidel Castro, which Castro read aloud in Havana on 3 October 1965 (official transcript ↗).
Context
Why it mattered
By late 1965 Guevara had not been seen in public for months, and rumors in the foreign press said he had been purged or was ill. On 3 October 1965 Castro presented the first Central Committee of the newly renamed Communist Party of Cuba. Guevara was absent from it, and Castro explained why by reading his letter aloud. In the letter Guevara resigned his party post, his ministry, his rank of comandante and his Cuban citizenship, so that he could fight “against imperialism wherever it may be” (transcript ↗).
The letter’s last line became a slogan of the Cuban Revolution and of the left more widely (Wikipedia ↗). It was given wider reach the same year by Carlos Puebla’s song “Hasta siempre, comandante”.
Hasta la victoria siempre. ¡Patria o Muerte!
Which punctuation is right?
Transcriptions of the letter differ. Castro’s official speech transcript and the Obra revolucionaria reprint both set “Hasta la victoria siempre.” apart as its own line, followed by “¡Patria o Muerte!”. Wikisource gives “Hasta la victoria, siempre Patria o Muerte”. According to the BBC Mundo report, the handwritten original breaks the line after “Hasta la victoria”, and Aleida March reads the comma as a slip (El Observador ↗). Either way the words are Guevara’s. Only how they divide is in question.
Explore
Filed under
More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.
1928–1967 · Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary, a leader of the Cuban Revolution
Ernesto Guevara was a physician from Argentina who became one of the leaders of the Cuban Revolution alongside Fidel Castro. After the revolution he held senior posts in Cuba’s government. In 1965 he gave up those posts to fight elsewhere, and he was killed in Bolivia on 9 October 1967. His farewell letter to Castro is the source of the slogan ¡Hasta la victoria siempre!
For writers & researchers
Cite this
Primary source
Guevara, Ernesto Che. “Carta a Fidel” [farewell letter, undated; handed to Castro 1 April 1965]. Read by Fidel Castro at the presentation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, Teatro Chaplin, Havana, 3 October 1965. Reprinted in Ernesto Che Guevara, Obra revolucionaria (México: Era, 1967); and in Chiapas, no. 5 (México: IIEc-UNAM/Ediciones Era, 1997), 159–160.
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Hasta la victoria siempre’?” Last verified 2 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/hasta-la-victoria-siempre/