He received his primary education at home, mostly by his mother, Celia de la Serna. He early became a voracious reader of Marx, Engels and Freud which all were available in his father's library, it is probable that he had read some of their works before he went to secondary school (1941), the Colegio Nacional Dean Funes, Cordoba, where he excelled only in literature and sports. At home he was impressed by the Spanish Civil War refugees and by the long series of squalid political crises in Argentina which culminated in the 'Left Fascist' dictatorship of Juan Peron, to whom the Guevara de la Sernas were opposed. These events and influences inculcated in the young Guevara a contempt for the pantomime of parliamentary democracy, and a hatred of military politicians and the army, the capitalist oligarchy, and above all the US dollar/ imperialism. Yet although his parents, notably his mother, were anti-Peronist activists, he took no part in revolutionary student movements and showed little interest in politics at Buenos Aires University (1947) where he studied medicine, first with a view to understanding his own disease, later becoming more interested in leprosy.
When Eva was fifteen years old, a tango singer named, Agustin Magaldi came to Junin to perform, a few days later, Eva left with him for Buenos Aires and the opportunity to realize her dream of becoming an actress. Life was very difficult for the fifteen year old girl in a big city, and Eva had to take on lovers who would support her. Eva finally got her first job as a model for magazines. She was very thin but beautiful and Eva achieved some success posing for ads. Eva got her first break as an actress in a bit part in the play, La Senora de Perez', in 1935. It was a very small part though and troubled by ill-health and few roles, it seemed that Eva's dream of becoming an actress would never be realized. Eva finally used one of her male connections to land a part in one of the radio soap operas that had become popular at the time.