 As the war extended , Guevara led a new column of fighters dispatched westward for the final push towards Havana . Travelling by foot , Guevara embarked on a difficult 7 @-@ week march only travelling at night to avoid ambush , and often not eating for several days . In the closing days of December 1958 , Guevara 's task was to cut the island in half by taking Las Villas province . In a matter of days he executed a series of " brilliant tactical victories " that gave him control of all but the province 's capital city of Santa Clara . Guevara then directed his " suicide squad " in the attack on Santa Clara , that became the final decisive military victory of the revolution . In the six weeks leading up to the Battle of Santa Clara there were times when his men were completely surrounded , outgunned , and overrun . Che 's eventual victory despite being outnumbered 10 : 1 , remains in the view of some observers a " remarkable tour de force in modern warfare " . 
