* * *

This story used to be here on CNNbut is no longer available.

Che Guevara's family to fight use of famed photo

Monday, August 29, 2005 Posted: 1335 GMT (2135 HKT)

Aleida Guevara in front of the icon image of her father in a 1997 photo.

The image of the Argentine-born guerrilla gazing sternly into the distance, long-hair tucked into a beret with a single star, has been an enduring 20th century pop icon.

The picture -- taken by a Cuban photographer in 1960 and printed on posters by an Italian publisher after Guevara's execution in Bolivia seven years later -- fired the imagination of rioting Parisian students in May 1968 and became a symbol of idealistic revolt for a generation.

But as well as being one of the world's most reproduced, the image has become one of its most merchandised. And Guevara's family is launching an effort to stop it. They plan to file lawsuits abroad against companies that they believe are exploiting the image and say lawyers in a number of countries have offered assistance.

"We have a plan to deal with the misuse," Guevara's Cuban widow Aleida March said in an interview.

"We can't attack everyone with lances like Don Quixote, but we can try to maintain the ethics" of Guevara's legacy, said March, who will lead the effort from the Che Guevara Studies Center which is opening in Havana later this year.

"The center intends to contain the uncontrolled use of Che's image. It will be costly and difficult because each country has different laws, but a limit has to be drawn," the legendary guerrilla's daughter, Aleida Guevara, told Reuters.

Swatch has used Guevara on a wristwatch. Advertising firms have used his image to sell vodka. Supermodel Gisele Bundchen even took to the runway in Brazilian underwear stamped with Che's face.

Guevara collectibles -- from Zippo lighters to belt buckles and key chains -- can be bought online at thechestore.com.

But a successful copyright lawsuit against Smirnoff vodka in Britain in 2000 set the precedent for legal action, establishing ownership of the photographic image.

Lawyers say it will be an uphill struggle to deter non-photographic use of such a widely reproduced image, other than in countries like Italy where laws protect image rights.

The famous picture was shot by Alberto Diaz, a fashion photographer better known as Korda, at a funeral for victims of the explosion of a French freighter transporting weapons to Cuba one year after Fidel Castro's revolution triumphed with the help of Guevara.

Korda's group photograph was not printed by his newspaper the next day. Seven years later, when Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli showed up looking for a cover picture for an edition of Che's "Bolivian Diary," Korda gave him two prints for free.

Guevara was captured six months later in the Bolivian jungle, where his bid to start an armed peasant revolution ended in fiasco. On news on his death, Feltrinelli cropped the photo and published large posters that quickly sold 1 million copies.

The guerrilla fighter was transformed into martyr, pop celebrity and radical chic poster boy.

Korda said he never received a penny from Feltrinelli.

But a year before his death in 2001, the photographer won a lawsuit against London agency Lowe Lintas for unauthorized use of the picture in a Smirnoff vodka advertising campaign. The Smirnoff brand is now owned by Britain's Diageo.

Korda later donated the $70,000 award to children's health care in communist Cuba.

Razi Mireskandari, the London lawyer who filed the copyright case, said Korda worried that the image of Che, who did not drink, was being trivialized by its use in promoting a alcoholic beverage that bore no relation to Cuba or his political message.

"We felt there were so many people you could take action against that we had to start somewhere," Mireskandari said. "The plan of action was to target one of these, which was Smirnoff, and then, when we got the judgment, we were going to go against everyone else," he said in a telephone interview.

After the photographer's death, his heirs never contacted the lawyer for further action and are disputing among themselves copyright ownership of the famous picture.

Korda's daughter Diana Diaz has continued to fight political misuse of the picture.

In 2003 she won a lawsuit against a Paris-based press rights group for using the Che photograph in a poster campaign aimed at dissuading French tourists from vacationing in Cuba after the jailing of 29 dissident journalists.

Reporters Without Borders had superimposed Che's face on a picture of a baton-wielding riot policeman. The caption said: "Welcome to Cuba, the world's largest jail for journalists."

Che fever was stoked last year by "The Motorcycle Diaries," a film about his eye-opening trip through poverty-stricken countries of South America as a medical graduate.

Even Cuba sells Che's image. Postcards and posters of Guevara playing golf at the Country Club shortly after the overthrow of dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959 are popular with tourists.

So are Cuban banknotes issued when Guevara was Central Bank governor, simply signed "Che."

---

* * *

This story is still available in CNN archives - but I thought it better to post here to prevent it from disappearing.

Photographer wins copyright on famous Che Guevara image

LONDON (AP) -- Social justice, si. Vodka advertisements, no.

The Cuban photographer who snapped a famous picture of Che Guevara has won copyright protection for the image from a British court as part of a financial settlement with companies that had used it in an ad for Smirnoff vodka, his lawyers said Friday.


Taken in 1960, the photo of Guevara -- with long curly hair, a tilted beret and a dark, intense gaze -- became a revolutionary icon. One of the world's most widely reproduced images, it appeared on countless T-shirts and posters.

Throughout the years, photographer Alberto Diaz Gutierrez, who goes by the professional name Alberto Korda, never made any money from the use of his famous picture. His motives in bringing the lawsuit were not financial, he said.

"As a supporter of the ideals for which Che Guevara died, I am not averse to its reproduction by those who wish to propagate his memory and the cause of social justice throughout the world," he said. "But I am categorically against the exploitation of Che's image for the promotion of products such as alcohol, or for any purpose that denigrates the reputation of Che."

The 72-year-old Diaz Gutierrez spoke to reporters at a London exhibition of Cuban photography. He and supporters stood in front of a print of the famous picture to toast their legal victory -- with Cuban rum.

The lawsuit was filed in August by the London-based Cuba Solidarity Campaign on Diaz Gutierrez's behalf against the photo agency Rex Features Ltd. and the advertising agency Lowe Lintas Ltd.

The amount of the settlement, approved by the High Court on Thursday, was not disclosed. Lawyer Simon Goldberg said the ruling's real significance lay in the fact that the court had asserted Diaz Gutierrez's copyright.

"The declaration of copyright which the court affirmed will send a clear message to those who reproduce photographic images which they wrongly consider to be in the public domain without the copyright owner's consent," he said.

Rex Features and Lowe Lintas had no comment other than a joint statement, signed by all the parties, saying the claim had been "sensibly and amicably resolved."

When the suit was filed, Lowe Lintas, then known as Lowe Howard-Spink, said it had acquired use of the Guevara image through Rex Features in good faith, and denied infringement of any copyright.

Diaz Gutierrez, who lives in Havana, had complained that the ad, for a spicy vodka, trivialized the historic importance of his photograph. The image was superimposed on a hammer and sickle motif, with a chili pepper used to depict the sickle.

The photo of a steely-eyed Che, whose real name was Ernesto Guevara, was taken March 5, 1960, at a memorial service for more than 100 crew members of a Belgian arms cargo ship killed in an attack Cuba blamed on counterrevolutionary forces aided by the United States.

The Argentine-born Guevara was a key figure in Cuba's 1959 revolution, alongside Fidel Castro. When he was killed by the Bolivian army in October 1967, he was hailed a martyr of the revolution.

Diaz Gutierrez said he would donate the settlement and any other proceeds from the photograph to children's medical care in Cuba.

---

* * *

This story is still available on the BBC site - but again better be safe than sorry:
Saturday, 26 May, 2001, 00:28 GMT 01:28 UK

Che Guevara photographer dies

Alberto Korda, the photographer who took the picture of Che Guevara that became an icon of left-wing revolutionaries and students worldwide, has died aged 72.

Korda, whose real name was Alberto Diaz Gutierrez, suffered a heart attack while in Paris for an exhibition of his works.

He worked for the Cuban newspaper Revolucion after Fidel Castro's forces took power in 1959 - although it did not publish the famous picture.

Korda later worked as Castro's personal photographer.

"It's a great loss for Cuban culture. He was one of the top chroniclers of the revolution," said fellow Cuban photographer Liborio Noval.

Two shots

Korda took the photo for which he will be best remembered at a memorial service in March 1960.

Che Guevara stepped onto the podium and scanned the crowd. Korda snapped two quick shots, including the legendary one of the revolutionary with his beret, gazing like a prophet into the distance.

Revolucion rejected the photo, instead running pictures of Castro and the French writers Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir.

But Korda recognised its greatness and kept the photo tacked to his wall for seven years, until an Italian journalist saw it.

Korda allowed the Italian to take it, and when Che Guevara was killed a few months later, it was published as a poster in Italy.

It immediately became one of the most recognisable images of leftist revolution, and has been reproduced on countless T-shirts, banners and posters since.

No profits

Although Korda kept the negative and the camera with which he took the photo, he never received royalties for the picture that the Maryland Institute of Art called "the most famous photograph in the world and a symbol of the 20th century".

He was happy to see it used as a revolutionary banner - but when a vodka company used it in an advertisement last year, Korda drew the line.

He filed suit in London.

"As a supporter of the ideals for which Che Guevara died, I am not averse to its reproduction by those who wish to propagate his memory and the cause of social justice throughout the world," Korda said in the autumn of 2000.

"But I am categorically against the exploitation of Che's image for the promotion of products such as alcohol, or for any purpose that denigrates the reputation of Che."

Korda won an out-of-court settlement of about $50,000, which he donated to the Cuban medical system.

"If Che were still alive, he would have done the same," Korda told the Reuters news agency.

Korda's other memorable photos include shots of the victorious rebels arriving in Havana and Quixote of the Lamp Post, which shows a Cuban man sitting on a lamp post in a sea of people listening to a Castro speech.

He photographed Castro playing golf and fishing with Guevara, in the company of writer Ernest Hemingway, and staring at a tiger in a New York zoo.

Che= world class pussy.

Kommissar Betty wrote:Che= world class pussy.

True Kommissar Betty, and keeping with the spirit of the Che line of clothing, might I suggest a "John Wayne Gacy" line of clothing. Hey - he was a rebel too! Surely he was a pioneer of NAMBLA: the ACLU's best good friend. Mr. Gacy was a great humanitarian, putting on clown shows for sick kids in hospitals! And he bucked societal norms and was therefore rebellious! And just like Che, I think he had homosexually raped the victims he murdered! Viva La NAMBLA!

I think he had homosexually raped the victims he murdered!

Che probably did it only to the dead ones.

I assumed that was obvious. I think he was a dendrophiliac too. Besides, anyone who wears a beret, you know he's as queer as a ten dollar bill.

Comrade Nathan,
That would be "queer as a three dollar bill". Ironic indeed that Marxists and Fascists who hate each other so much are so close idealogically. Che was many things, certainly a murderer many times over, but a deep thinker? Nope

Spaceba

Anonymous wrote:Comrade Nathan,
That would be "queer as a three dollar bill". Ironic indeed that Marxists and Fascists who hate each other so much are so close idealogically. Che was many things, certainly a murderer many times over, but a deep thinker? Nope

Spaceba

Comrade Vostokovich:
My "queer as a ten dollar bill" reference is a line from the movie "Bad Santa". The guy who played "Zamir" from "Office Space" said it to Billy Bob Thornton dressed up like Santa Claus, along with the great line: "c'mon elf f*cker! Look at you now Sandy Claus!" Alright, I don't know why, but as disturbing as some of the scenes in that movie were, it just cracks me up everytime. If you like weird humor - I highly recommend it! Plus it was John Ritter's last movie and I always thought he was hilarious - definitely so playing the part he did in "Bad Santa".

And yeah, I just want to know why there aren't shirts of Rudolph Hess or Heinrich Himmler. And hey - maybe the gay community could embrace Ernst Rohm - the brownshirt leader of the SA who Hitler supposedly killed because he found out he was gay and screwing the new recruits! Then you have Ebay banning all items with nazi symbols, but not soviet or communist ones. Why? Does anyone know why this is tolerable? I think most people know that the communists killled far more people then the nazis. We really need to mass email Ebay and hammer them into banning the commie symbols as well just as Red Square made his point with Cafe Press.

None of my family members ever lived under communism, but I visited East Germany when it was still communist and it was the saddest thing I ever saw. Then I met a Cuban guy once who hated Castro and Kennedy equally. He hated President Kennedy because he wimped out of the Bay of Pigs invasion at the last minute and got this guys uncle and father killed by Castros murderers. I'm sure that Cuban guy takes huge offense everytime he sees a Che shirt. I guarantee it. He told me his story when I handed him a half dollar coin with Kennedy on it and he threw it down and cursed it! I asked why the extreme reaction to Kennedy's image and that's what he told me. He said Kennedy "got my Dad and Uncle killed - and he was a coward and dishonorable" He also said a few other things I won't bother repeating.

Then the left always calls us "nazis" but it doesn't fit - does it. The American conservatives supported FDR in his fight against tyranny and intolerance, now liberal bastards mock our fight against the "freedom" fighters in the Middle East, and call it an "illegal" and "unjust" war. The liberals call us "nazis" but we aren't the ones voluntarily wearing t-shirts emblazoned with images of brutal totalitarian murderers are we? So this is complete crap any way you look at it. They get away not only with calling us "nazis" but then they wear Che shirts and promote actual communism every chance they get and no one calls them on it. I'm sick of this crap!

Last August, I had my own Anti-Che shirt made at one make your own t-shirt places. It has a circle/slash over Guevara's ugly puss with the sentence, "Mass Murderers Make Lousy Heroes!"

You people are disgusting, haven't you ever heard of respecting the deceased? It's fine if you don't like Che Guevara but why are you just sitting on your asses writing in this archive just for the sole purpose of mocking his memory?

Did it ever occur to any of you that maybe people wear the Che t-shirts not because they're pro-communism, but the actual possibility that they believed in what Che was attempting to fight for and his good intentions? That maybe, behind all of the brutality and gore that is so imbedded upon your minds [by the media], that you just see this man as a complete and total barbarian/rebel without a cause and are misconstruing some of the beliefs of others who are "pro-Che". Pro-Che, not necessarily meaning/not in ALL cases = pro-communism.

Che was attempting to fight for and his good intentions?

Good intentions my ass! All he wanted was to be on the top of the power and he would eliminate anyone who got in his way. That includes every one of us if he was still around. He doesn't deserve any more respect as a dead man as does Hitler.

Che was an zealot with unwavering devotion to the cause, che was selflesslly devoted to the revolution, and to the people he fought for. Che believed the only effective way to a better world was through armed revolution and to this ideal he never faltered.
There are always innocent bystanders who are made victims, and without doubt mistakes were made by him, and those he commanded. Few people in this world would live their lives EXACTLY as they did, there are certainly things I would have done differently in my life and I believe che was no different.
People choose to forget that CHE was second in command, why then is he such an icon and fidel is almost forgotten?
It is because che stood for something he believed in
he had ideals and convictions and stood by them where most others would have run, quit, stopped or changed their minds.
Some here want to believe that che was a power-monger, but why then, after he had power a succesful revolution in cuba, did he go and fight for two more revolutions, where he endured circumstances and conditions unimaginable by typical internet users today.
Che was also monogamous and faithful to his wife by all accounts I have heard on the matter, he was tempted by, and had access to many beautiful women but he abstained.
Che was a doctor who worked in a leper colony for a couple years. He refused to wear gloves while working there because it distanced him from his patients.

In every conflict there are always two sides of the story, villains become heros and vice-a-versa. America has killed it's fair share of children, women, cripples and foreigners. It is sad that we value american life SO MUCH in comparison with how little we value others lives. How many have we killed in the past five years alone in afghanistan and iraq. I think it is more cowardly to kill someone with a bomb from a plane than by a firing squad.

How can this be from a country who values so much our ideals of Human rights, freedom, justice, equality. We are being hypocritical and mellodramatic in our depictions of others, can you imagine how others must think of us. I am reminded of when I was in grade school learning about world war II and thinking how could the people of germany stood by idly while their leaders and armies where commiting such atrocities?
I wonder if future generations of the WORLD will look back at americans during the past ten years and wonder the same? What will be our excuse? Apathy, Indifference, the Internet, hollywood or something else?

In every conflict there are always two sides of the story

And in every conflict there are those who are on the side of God and those on the side of the Devil. Anyone who mass murders entire populations of people to promote their goal of oppressing others is definitely on the side of the Devil.

of course each side claims to fight for god and against the forces of evil. so who fights for who when both sides of the conflict murder entire populations. I guess this regresses to the argument of wether human beings are essentially good or evil?

of course each side claims to fight for god and against the forces of evil.

There are always those who manipulate the truth and invent lies in order to lead others astray. For example, Mohammed wasn't a real prophet, he invented the whole religion of Islam for his personal gain. At heart he was an atheist just putting on a fake face when he would pray to "Allah". Those who believe Allah and God are the same are sadly mistaken because any god who calls for the destruction of anyone who doesn't convert is not a true god but a creation of the devil. I don't even think your hero Che believed in God, and if he did, then he must have been a closet Satanist or something of the like.

the fact of the matter is that che will be remebered throughout human history. And people against him like you guys will be forgotten in time

ryan wrote:the fact of the matter is that che will be remebered throughout human history. And people against him like you guys will be forgotten in time

Not true! After the revolution all members of the Peoples Cube will go down in history as the saviors of the masses relieving the people from responsibility and the tough job of "thinking".

ryan wrote:the fact of the matter is that che will be remebered throughout human history. And people against him like you guys will be forgotten in time

Well said ryan. Che will be remembered by many for a long time to come. He was Castro's greatest executioner!

One of my favorite Che quotes is: "This is a revolution! And a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate."

Now that's a quote that needs to be on Che t-shirts.

====
Thank you comrade Otis for pulling the quote our of our collective consciousness. In order for it not to be lost again I'm... er... we're going to post it at the top of this thread.

- Red Square

ryan wrote:the fact of the matter is that che will be remebered throughout human history. And people against him like you guys will be forgotten in time

Congratulations Comrade ryan!
You have passed the test! You are to be our newest Pple's Comedian (the laughter you hear is ours' -but we are laughing with you comrade, not at you)!
You see - this was a secret talent test and search designed to find the most righteous proletariat with sickle-sharp wit, humor, historical knowledge and perspective, and greatest respect for our greatest Pple's heroes. You have rocketed past all other potential candidates with your insanely funny comments regarding the "Pple's hip-executioner" and his vile counter-revolutionary detractors (who are in reality - fellow comrades posing as reactionaries).
Look for a special communication from comrade cLooney our main representative in Commiewood and Chief Main Organ of Film Actors' Guild to be sent to you soon. In this he will guide you through the process of obtaining your FilmActors'Guild membership. However -comrade ryan - heed this warning! - You are never to reveal any facts nor realistically portray our Pple's heroes involved in the struggle of our glorius revolution - on or off stage! These are carefully guarded secrets which have not been revealed for over a century to the *amerikkkan bourgeois* (who have no idea of our real motives and activites at all levels of society). Even the slightest revelation of our activities will get you "RED LISTED", purged from the party, and bannished to a RED STATE -not of your choice. Judging from your display here -we are confident -that you can appear to be clue-less while still entertaining and funny. Congratulations Comrade ryan - the newest Pple'sC progressive comedian!
DeputyChief Peoples' Entertainment Organ

u guys are all retarded
don't u kno that all the people che killed had trials and were found guilty of torture against the cuban people and it was the cuban people who called for these executions and Che had that duty because he was commanding the army of the people because without their backing the revolution would have failed
and if you don't believe me and che was just a ruthless killer then why did he order his medics to also treat wounded enemy soldiers?

el paisa wrote: don't u kno that all the people che killed had trials and were found guilty of torture against the cuban people and it was the cuban people who called for these executions

"To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary," is a famous Guevara quote, "These procedures are an archaic bourgeois detail. This is a revolution! And a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate."

I know that rewriting history is very important to the revolution but we, as the vanguard, must never fool ourselves. The stakes are too high.

This is pointless, both sides are so completely steadfast in their indoctrinations.
This is also ridiculous to try and argue for che on an obviously slanted site. But while k.betty believes che is satan incarnate, I ask what kind of satan becomes a doctor and works in a leper colony during his youth (Wait, I already know her answer, he was trying to manufacture some biological doomsday weapon...)
I imagine that many innocents were killed, some of those innocent folk were probably not so innocent, and many of the guilty were actually innocent, it's all perspective folks.

Since che is dead and fidel will soon be joining him, let those who think ill of him act in a way to protect against injustice, corruption, and exploitation of our fellow man.
let those who see him as a moral, selfless visionary do what we can to honor him by fighting against injustice, corruption and exploitation of our fellow man.

I want to be like che! wrote:This is pointless, both sides are so completely steadfast in their indoctrinations.
Since che is dead and fidel will soon be joining him, let those who think ill of him act in a way to protect against injustice, corruption, and exploitation of our fellow man.
let those who see him as a moral, selfless visionary do what we can to honor him by fighting against injustice, corruption and exploitation of our fellow man.

I'm glad to see you haven't bought in to all the lies about both Che and socialism. As Che knew, and I'm certain you agree, those bourgeois fetishes of individual freedom, property rights and living your own life free from other people being able to use the force of government to force what they believe down your throat, are nothing but rationalizations to prop up the ruling class and their unjust, corrupt, and exploitive tool - capitalism. Capitalism is nothing but the rich class lording it over the poor workers whom they exploit and rob of their labor. Working for the capitalist class causes alienation. This is what Che was fighting against. This is what is known as injustice, corruption, and exploitation to a true Marxist. Che was a Marxist. Unfortunately no one has ever been able to create a true socialist society, not even Saint Che - but I want you to know that my friends and me really, really, really understand Socialism and we're ready to take charge. We know what to do. So please keep on 'fighting against injustice, corruption and exploitation' as Che meant those words; your efforts will soon be rewarded.

el paisa wrote:u guys are all retarded
don't u kno that all the people che killed had trials and were found guilty of torture against the cuban people and it was the cuban people who called for these executions and Che had that duty because he was commanding the army of the people because without their backing the revolution would have failed

Butcher of La Cabana Fortress

https://www.therealcuba.com/MurderedbyChe.htm

https://www.cubaarchive.org/downloads/CA08.pdf

A very touchy-feely article in the New York Times about Che's image:

A Revolutionary Icon, and Now, a Bikini

By MARC LACEY
Published: October 9, 2007
[...]
Ms. Guevara travels the world speaking at conferences dealing with Che. At one in Italy, she learned after signing T-shirts for some young people that they were fascists. “They knew nothing about him,” she said with a sigh.

Once, she said, she bumped into John F. Kennedy Jr. in Europe and discussed with him the challenges of being the offspring of a famous man.

She called him “a beautiful person,” and said she was able to separate him from his father, who ordered the Bay of Pigs invasion to try to topple the government that Che had helped put in place in Cuba.

But bring up United States foreign policy, and the resemblance to her father really emerges. The fiery speech flows when she discusses the war in Iraq. She calls the economic embargo of Cuba that has stretched on for 50 years “so brutal, so stupid, so irrational.”

And don't even get her started about the Bush administration.

That's where the NY Times agrees with her whole-heartedly.

But I didn't know they got HBO in Cuba. We hope Ms. Guevara is satisfied to the last drop with the Democrat Party brand of Hate Bush Orgasm™ (HBO)

In fact, it's becoming clear why the sudden crop of news stories about Che Guevara - it's 40 years since his execution and all the media outlets subservient to this Party Organ are mourning this event.

https://www.history.com/tdih.do?action= ... ry&id=2447

1967 : Professional revolutionary "Che" Guevara is executed in Bolivia

history.com wrote:Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, better known to the world as "Che" Guevara, is executed by Bolivian armed forces on this day in 1967. Born in Argentina, Guevara was a professional revolutionary who became involved in the Guatemalan revolution of the 1950s. It was during this time that he discovered Marxism and became a fervent convert to the philosophy. Following the overthrow of the Guatemalan government by a U.S.-sponsored coup in 1954, Guevara traveled to Mexico where he joined up with Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

In 1956, Castro, Guevara, and a small band of supporters landed in Cuba intent on overthrowing its government. When the initial attack did not succeed, Che joined Castro and the survivors in the wilds of Cuba, carrying on a guerilla war. In 1959, the Cuban government fell and Castro seized power. Guevara was put in charge of finance and economic planning for the revolutionary government. In 1960 he published Guerilla Warfare, in which he argued that armed struggle was necessary to free the masses from capitalistic exploitation.

By 1965, he faded from public life in Cuba for reasons still not entirely clear. He then reappeared in 1966 in Bolivia where he hoped to bring about a revolution. In October 1967, he was captured and executed by Bolivian troops. This outcome satisfied the U.S. government, under the leadership of President Lyndon B. Johnson, which viewed him as a dangerous agitator and had assisted the Bolivian government in its efforts to end Guevara's challenge.

Despite Che's death more than 30 years ago, his face is still familiar to millions around the world, adorning T-shirts, key chains, and posters. He is also a constant presence in Cuba, with his image painted on walls and buildings around the nation. Many compelling films have been made about the life of Che, including the 2004 Oscar-winning film The Motorcycle Diaries.

you are all fools. wrote:You people are disgusting, haven't you ever heard of respecting the deceased? It's fine if you don't like Che Guevara but why are you just sitting on your asses writing in this archive just for the sole purpose of mocking his memory?

Probably for the same reason you're sitting on your ass criticising us. Boredom. Don't mean to sound high and mighty myself, but pick your battles better, the chances of you changing minds by damning us over the internet are slim, regardless of whether or not you're talking sense.

Whoever this was... wrote:Did it ever occur to any of you that maybe people wear the Che t-shirts not because they're pro-communism, but the actual possibility that they believed in what Che was attempting to fight for and his good intentions? That maybe, behind all of the brutality and gore that is so imbedded upon your minds [by the media], that you just see this man as a complete and total barbarian/rebel without a cause and are misconstruing some of the beliefs of others who are "pro-Che". Pro-Che, not necessarily meaning/not in ALL cases = pro-communism.

When a site has at the top of every page something like 'Behind the irony curtain' I'll take what is said with a pinch of salt. Whatever Che believed in I don't much care about right now, he killed a lot of people to get it, and he would by no means be alone in that. What is ridiculous is how an anti-capitalist has become the money-spinner for so many companies worldwide. People romanticise him so much that I personally think that having a site that reminds people that he was human and died with a lot of blood on his hands isn't a bad thing, regardless of its irony or intent.

On a side note people toss around the words 'revolution' and 'justice', along with Che, like fucking confetti. Words that once had some sort of meaning have been buggered into submission to be tarted up and attached to a product or song or whatever to appeal to the champagne socialist in all of us. I find little inspiration in them any more. Rant over.

More Che Guevara sightings (h/t Sea-Bass)

Sea-Bass wrote:This Liberal Judge in Ohio wants to stop lethal injection in his home state. Judge James Burge states "The state's lethal injection procedure doesn't provide the quick and painless death required by Ohio law," but I guess Che did provide people with "quick and painless deaths." Maybe the Judge should use the same execution technique as his hero who is hanging on his office wall. Please, can someone tell me who the man to the right of Che is???

AP / USA Today

Red Square wrote:More Che Guevara sightings (h/t Sea-Bass)

It is encouraging that there are 18 comments and no one has yet to agree with this ass, and most point out the irony.

That photo is a stunning illustration of what we were discussing on another thread; i.e., not putting an imperial Romanov eagle next to the Soviet sickle and hammer. Seeing Che and Obama together didn't even make me blink, whereas it would play hell with both sides of my brain to see Che next to a picture of Bush or Ronaldus Magnus.

Then I thought I would have a bit of sport with erstwhile troll "I want to be like che!" Imagine . . .

I want to be like [STRIKE]che[/STRIKE] [color=#C0392B]Bush[/color]! wrote:Che Bush was an zealot with unwavering devotion to the cause, che Bush was selflesslly devoted to the revolution war on terror, and to the people he fought for. Che Bush believed the only effective way to a better world was through armed revolution going after terrorists and those who pose a threat to freedom, and to this ideal he never faltered.
There are always innocent bystanders who are made victims, and without doubt mistakes were made by him, and those he commanded. Few people in this world would live their lives EXACTLY as they did, there are certainly things I would have done differently in my life and I believe che Bush was no different.
People choose to forget that CHE was second in command, Bush is leader of the free world, why then is he such an icon and fidel is almost forgotten so reviled?
It is because che Bush stood for something he believed in
he had ideals and convictions and stood by them where most others would have run, quit, stopped or changed their minds.
Some here want to believe that che Bush was a power-monger, but why then, after he had power a succesful revolution in cuba, ousting of Saddam Hussein, did he go and continue the fight for freedom and against terrorists fight for two more revolutions, where he endured circumstances and conditions unimaginable by typical internet users today.
Che Bush was also monogamous and faithful to his wife by all accounts I have heard on the matter, he was tempted by, and had access to many beautiful women but he abstained.

Work with lepers notwithstanding, watch as I now proceed to contradict everything I just said with typical leftwing idiocy. (Please pardon the redundancy.)

Che was a doctor who worked in a leper colony for a couple years. He refused to wear gloves while working there because it distanced him from his patients.

In every conflict there are always two sides of the story, villains become heros and vice-a-versa. America has killed it's fair share of children, women, cripples and foreigners. It is sad that we value american life SO MUCH in comparison with how little we value others lives. How many have we killed in the past five years alone in afghanistan and iraq. I think it is more cowardly to kill someone with a bomb from a plane than by a firing squad.

How can this be from a country who values so much our ideals of Human rights, freedom, justice, equality. We are being hypocritical and mellodramatic in our depictions of others, can you imagine how others must think of us. I am reminded of when I was in grade school learning about world war II and thinking how could the people of germany stood by idly while their leaders and armies where commiting such atrocities?
I wonder if future generations of the WORLD will look back at americans during the past ten years and wonder the same? What will be our excuse? Apathy, Indifference, the Internet, hollywood or something else?

Nice one, Pinkie. But I don't understand why you stopped when you reached the leper colony, which is a perfect analogy for the Democrat Congress. After all, George W. Bush worked with the Democrats in the House and the Senate, and tried to meet their needs, which is very much like living with lepers and not wearing gloves.

All that's left now is for us to create an apocryphal story of George W. Bush taking a motorcycle ride across South America, which shocked him so much that he decided to devote his life to politics and uniting the entire world into one free and prosperous capitalist economy.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/117/story/41109.html

Che Guevara, 4 decades later, gets a hometown statue

ROSARIO, Argentina - While Ernesto "Che" Guevara remains the most famous export of this sleepy city, his legacy here has long been a low-key one.

Except for a handful of businesses named in his honor, few markers alert visitors that the revolutionary leader was born here exactly 80 years ago before becoming one of the most mythic figures of the 20th century.

That changed Saturday when civic leaders inaugurated the first official monument honoring the revolutionary leader in Argentina, ending decades of government silence about the controversial figure.

A 13-foot-high bronze statue unveiled before hundreds of cheering admirers depicts the beret-wearing Guevara standing defiantly while facing toward Santa Clara, Cuba, where another statue of Guevara faces toward Argentina.

Juan Menendez, a self-described Marxist-Leninist activist, said he came to Rosario Saturday to help "rescue" Guevara's legacy from over-commercialism and to remind people of what Guevara fought for. Menendez spoke while holding a giant red banner adorned with the famous image of Guevara created by photographer Alberto Korda.

"We need to remember Guevara as a figure in the fight against injustice," the 18-year-old said. "People have emptied the content of Che and just used his image, and we're trying to revive his message."

Teacher Mirtha del Valle, who was at the front of the crowd, said many Argentines have forgotten about Guevara, even as the rest of the world debates his legacy. She blamed a succession of military and center-right governments who she said had suppressed the history.

"The governments have made sure that people don't know about Che," del Valle said. "In fact, we know less about him than anyone else in Latin America."


https://www.mcclatchydc.com/117/story/41109.html

This was left in the "comment" section of the article by "Milusha1"...

Yes, CHE, the face of that which is so noble to the hearts of the dreamers. Yet, behind that idealistic stare laid a monster that walked on the earth during my lifetime. The hero in my eyes is he who ended his worthless life. I was but a a small child caught up in the insanity of a revolution, wide eyed scared, trying to maintain the innocence of child play, in spite of the hushed whispers of growups as they spoke of impending dangers. They came, Che's men into our town, engaged in a brutal take over of the small cluster of homes at the edge of Sierra del Escambray. Bullets rattled for what seemed endless hours, men screamed in the night and more gunfire. Bullets so close, that I could hear them sing with that metalic sound, wizzing in the wind. "Stay down on the ground." my mother whispered, "please don't raise your head" The fear gripped my soul. I prayed and trembled. A small child. Then I heard the men scream into that November night. "Surrender you bastards, or we will come to the homes and take out the women and children kill them and burn them before yours eyes, surrender you bastards". Oh, Che that was your order. That was you. Your noble ideals would not stop at the cost of mothers and childrens life! We crawlled out of the house by the side door, the sky looked clear lit by a silver winter moon, the blades of grass moist with cooling dew and the smell of fire and fear was all around us. My mother my brother and I dug a shallow tunel under the neighbors fence and asked for shelter, they let us in the back door. I remember telling myself I should never forget this, I felt betrayed by God. As we laid on the floor in our neighbors house, the battle raged on. They came, they actually came to get us, Che and his men. The man who had given us shelter was the town's Doctor, ironically enough, he was on their side. He would provide them with medical care in an underground way and like the group considered himself a Revolutionary. He knew them, when they followed our trail it led to his house, so they banged on his door for him to release us, But Dr. Rodriguez did not do this. He had a small pistol, in his pocket and as he went to speak with he caried it. In his loud booming voice, I heard him tell them they would have to kill him too, before he turned us over. They argued for a while and they left without us. Doctor Rodriguez was a man that valued life, he was a real Doctor, not like the monster hero, "El Che" After that happened, and perhaps because of reinforcements they left. I have kept this experence silent for many years, it is my own story, it was real. I have photos next to my father and brother the day after this horrific event, you can see the fear reflected on my face.
I have become used to the blind adoration towards this man, if he can be called a man. I suppose The only thing I can say about the statues of Che that pleases me, is that may the pigeons of all the world release their feces on him for ever.

Komrade Kaos sent us a link and a pictureof another take on the great revolutionary: Cliche Guevara.

I enjoy wearing my t-shirt, because the teen angst kids run up to compliment it. I ask why they like Che, and they usually respond with some kinda crap about needing to "rebel against the establishment to bring about peace and help the poor and stuff." In my opinion, the only way socialism/communism helps the poor is that it doesn't make them feel so lonely when everyone is poor.

Peace... hmm... That's why I bought and wear the shirt. I'm a military man. Che Guevar was one of the most brilliant tactical commanders in history. Using only a handful of idiots with guns, he took out a large group of idiots with bigger guns.

I like the guy. I don't agree with "why" he did any of the stuff on the battlefield; I just admire "how" he did it.

What do you know? Today Zazzle removed all our "Che Heart" images even though they were not based on Korda's photo. It seems that NONE of Che's images can be used now.


Is he becoming a second Mohammed (PBUH) and world's Marxists are going to riot over the desecration of his holy visage?

Communism your God
You shall have no other parties or gods before me
You shall not make for yourself an idol unless it's Che Guevara
You shall not make wrongful use of the name of Che or his photos
Remember Che and keep him holy
Honor Che, Fidel, Kim, etc...
You shall not murder* unless it's for the Common Good™
You shall not commit adultery unless you're a Democrat. Republicans must self flagellate if caught.
You shall steal for the Common Good™
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor unless he's a Republican
You shall covet, it's cool.
You shall covet everything that belongs to your neighbor, it's not his, it's The State's.

Laika the Space Dog wrote:Communism your God
You shall have no other parties or gods before me
You shall not make for yourself an idol unless it's Che Guevara
You shall not make wrongful use of the name of Che or his photos
Remember Che and keep him holy
Honor Che, Fidel, Kim, etc...
You shall not murder* unless it's for the Common Good™
You shall not commit adultery unless you're a Democrat. Republicans must self flagellate if caught.
You shall steal for the Common Good™
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor unless he's a Republican
You shall covet, it's cool.
You shall covet everything that belongs to your neighbor, it's not his, it's The State's.

Que tontos ustedes. Ni entienden la obra historica de nuestro hermano en armas CHE.
He notado sus tendencias contrarevolucionarias y estoy decepcionada - MUY decepcionada. CHE iba liberar todo el continente Americana, de Canada hasta Tierra del fuego. Que mueran los enemigos de la revolución Latina.

Sea-Bass wrote:https://www.mcclatchydc.com/117/story/41109.html

Che Guevara, 4 decades later, gets a hometown statue

ROSARIO, Argentina - While Ernesto "Che" Guevara remains the most famous export of this sleepy city, his legacy here has long been a low-key one.

Except for a handful of businesses named in his honor, few markers alert visitors that the revolutionary leader was born here exactly 80 years ago before becoming one of the most mythic figures of the 20th century.

That changed Saturday when civic leaders inaugurated the first official monument honoring the revolutionary leader in Argentina, ending decades of government silence about the controversial figure.

A 13-foot-high bronze statue unveiled before hundreds of cheering admirers depicts the beret-wearing Guevara standing defiantly while facing toward Santa Clara, Cuba, where another statue of Guevara faces toward Argentina.

Juan Menendez, a self-described Marxist-Leninist activist, said he came to Rosario Saturday to help "rescue" Guevara's legacy from over-commercialism and to remind people of what Guevara fought for. Menendez spoke while holding a giant red banner adorned with the famous image of Guevara created by photographer Alberto Korda.

"We need to remember Guevara as a figure in the fight against injustice," the 18-year-old said. "People have emptied the content of Che and just used his image, and we're trying to revive his message."

Teacher Mirtha del Valle, who was at the front of the crowd, said many Argentines have forgotten about Guevara, even as the rest of the world debates his legacy. She blamed a succession of military and center-right governments who she said had suppressed the history.

"The governments have made sure that people don't know about Che," del Valle said. "In fact, we know less about him than anyone else in Latin America."


https://www.mcclatchydc.com/117/story/41109.html

This was left in the "comment" section of the article by "Milusha1"...

Yes, CHE, the face of that which is so noble to the hearts of the dreamers. Yet, behind that idealistic stare laid a monster that walked on the earth during my lifetime. The hero in my eyes is he who ended his worthless life. I was but a a small child caught up in the insanity of a revolution, wide eyed scared, trying to maintain the innocence of child play, in spite of the hushed whispers of growups as they spoke of impending dangers. They came, Che's men into our town, engaged in a brutal take over of the small cluster of homes at the edge of Sierra del Escambray. Bullets rattled for what seemed endless hours, men screamed in the night and more gunfire. Bullets so close, that I could hear them sing with that metalic sound, wizzing in the wind. "Stay down on the ground." my mother whispered, "please don't raise your head" The fear gripped my soul. I prayed and trembled. A small child. Then I heard the men scream into that November night. "Surrender you bastards, or we will come to the homes and take out the women and children kill them and burn them before yours eyes, surrender you bastards". Oh, Che that was your order. That was you. Your noble ideals would not stop at the cost of mothers and childrens life! We crawlled out of the house by the side door, the sky looked clear lit by a silver winter moon, the blades of grass moist with cooling dew and the smell of fire and fear was all around us. My mother my brother and I dug a shallow tunel under the neighbors fence and asked for shelter, they let us in the back door. I remember telling myself I should never forget this, I felt betrayed by God. As we laid on the floor in our neighbors house, the battle raged on. They came, they actually came to get us, Che and his men. The man who had given us shelter was the town's Doctor, ironically enough, he was on their side. He would provide them with medical care in an underground way and like the group considered himself a Revolutionary. He knew them, when they followed our trail it led to his house, so they banged on his door for him to release us, But Dr. Rodriguez did not do this. He had a small pistol, in his pocket and as he went to speak with he caried it. In his loud booming voice, I heard him tell them they would have to kill him too, before he turned us over. They argued for a while and they left without us. Doctor Rodriguez was a man that valued life, he was a real Doctor, not like the monster hero, "El Che" After that happened, and perhaps because of reinforcements they left. I have kept this experence silent for many years, it is my own story, it was real. I have photos next to my father and brother the day after this horrific event, you can see the fear reflected on my face.
I have become used to the blind adoration towards this man, if he can be called a man. I suppose The only thing I can say about the statues of Che that pleases me, is that may the pigeons of all the world release their feces on him for ever.

[highlight=#ff0000]USEFUL IDIOT AWARD™[/highlight]

In a first time ever event, the Useful Idiot Award finished in a five way tie! Comrade Otis, Ryan, Be Like Che, Paisa and Fools all tied for the biggest Useful Idiot. Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov would be proud of you![highlight=#ffffff]

For the most factual, accurate biography of Guevara, y'all need to read Humberto Fontova's book - [/highlight][highlight=#ffffff]Exposing the Real Che Guevara and the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him

FACT: Guevara was not a doctor. There is no record anywhere of Guevara having attended, let alone graduated medical school anywhere. This is Leftist propaganda.

FACT: None of the victims that Guevara had tortured and murdered were given fair trials. At the most, they were given Kangaroo Court trials. But usually they were just tortured first then marched straight in front of a firing squad. Fascist pigs like Guevara didn't like little things like facts and innocence to get in the way.

FACT: Guevara HATED rock & roll music. He had a teenager with a few Beatles records shot. He hated hippies, regarding them as lazy and not filled with Communist fervor and fanaticism. Anyone with long hair was automatically suspect and suffered torture & beatings. Guevara himself had long hair because he had extremely poor hygiene. He was too lazy to get his hair cut, rarely bathed or showered and it is said by many that his body odor was an eye-watering stench.[/highlight]

Here's a few more items of interest about the murdering fascist pig Che Guevara.

FACT: He ordered that an innocent man be shot simply because Guevara admired the man's Rolex watch and wouldn't hand it over when Guevara demanded it. So he had the innocent man murdered and only then stepped over to the cooling corpse and stripped the bloody watch off the corpse's wrist.

FACT: He was not the great, brilliant military commander that the Leftist world press portrayed him to be. He was an incompetent fuckup.

FACT: Fidel Castro and Raul Castro grew tired of Guevara and saw him as a threat to their iron-fisted rule, fearing that he would stage a coup against them and run an even more iron-fisted fascist regime than they already had in place. So they packed him off to Bolivia and cut off all support, deliberately hanging him out to dry. They knew that unlike Fulgencio Batista's corrupt incompetent Cuban Army, the Bolivian Army was well-officered, well-run and professional. They knew Guevara wouldn't stand a chance.

FACT: The world's leftist press proclaimed the downtrodden Bolivian proletariat was on Guevara's side. But in reality, the people of the Bolivian countryside despised Guevara and his gang of thugs. They never paid for anything - stole everything they could - food, drink, clothing, valuables, vehicles. They raped the women and kidnapped the boys, hoping to build up an army (much like Colombia's FARC socialist terrorists do).

FACT: When the Bolivian Army quickly caught up to Guevara's band of idiot thugs, Guevara begged for his life like the craven pussy that he was. Much like elitist Hollywood leftists who get arrested for various sordid crimes, Guevara yelled to his captors, "Don't you know who I am? You can't do this to me! I'm Che Guevara!" As is typical of all bullies, they are soulless sociopaths but once they meet a force greater than they are, they immediately revert back to their natural state, a bootlicking PUSSY. The CIA adviser with the Bolivian Army stripped off the Rolex from Guevara's arm right before Guevara aptly met his end in front of a firing squad.