The group took on the name July 26th Movement in honour of the failed attack on the Moncada garrison. Since Guevara had completed his medical degree in 1953, shortly before embarking on his second trip, he agreed to be the medic on the Cuban expedition. As was characteristic of him, Ernesto Guevara, now nicknamed 'Che' by his Cuban comrades, threw himself wholeheartedly into the military and political training that the group organised in preparation for the expedition. In the became the group's military trainer in Mexico, Che 'quickly...surpassed all the rest for his vast education and his dedication to study and observation... At the end of the course...he had the highest grade'; Bayo notes how Fidel Castro agreed with his assessment of Che. At the time of his first encounters with Che, Fidel Castro (1994:68-59) understood that Che's 'political education was...considerably advanced' and that he 'was already a Marxist in his thinking' (98). Che (2001:113), in fact, wrote to his mother at the end of the summer of 1956 telling her 'Saint karl has acquired a new recruit'. It was Guevara who selected the readings in politics for the Cuban group.