 In Guatemala City , Guevara sought out Hilda Gadea Acosta , a Peruvian economist who was well @-@ connected politically as a member of the left @-@ leaning Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana ( APRA , American Popular Revolutionary Alliance ) . She introduced Guevara to a number of high @-@ level officials in the Arbenz government . Guevara then established contact with a group of Cuban exiles linked to Fidel Castro through the July 26 , 1953 , attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba . During this period , he acquired his famous nickname , due to his frequent use of the Argentine diminutive interjection che , a vocative casual speech filler used to call attention or ascertain comprehension , similarly to both " bro " or the Canadian phrase " eh " . During his time in Guatemala , Guevara was helped by other Central American exiles , one of whom , Helena Leiva de Holst , provided him with food and lodging , discussed her travels to study Marxism in Russia and China , and to whom , Guevara dedicated a poem , " " Invitación al camino " . 
