Unshocking Revelations: "Che" Celebrated In Cuba Forty Years After His Death
In honor of the fortieth anniversary of the assassination of Ernesto “Che” Guevara in a Bolivian schoolhouse by CIA backed soldiers, Cuba decided to hold a celebration in his honor by gathering thousands of citizens and orchestrating a march to revere the man regarded as “revolutionizing Latin America.” Though we’re remarkably distant from Che—because we drink over-priced Tecate tall boys, tout pacifism, and take a few weeks to grow a decent, patchy beard—we couldn’t help but direct our attention to the gut-wrenching reality that forty years ago to this day also marks the conception of a hipsterfied pop-culture icon. (Yes rebels, we’re calling you hipster). So instead of marveling at the man, let’s just marvel at his image. A reporter covering the Cuban festivities summed it up best:
The image, based on a picture taken by Cuban photographer Alberto Korda, has been massively reproduced on T-shirts, mugs, baseball caps, Swatch watches, bikinis and other products of the capitalist consumer society he fought against.
Don’t forget Che’s industrial strength hair-gel, Che lighters for those Cuban stogies, and our personal favorite, Che deodorant for that musky, woodsy kind of scent. If you’ve had a unique encounter with Korda’s famous Che image, let us know.
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Daniel Mauser
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Cindy Casares
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Alex Alvarez
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Marcelo Cunning
The many faces of Che.
Only two Latinos were include in The Time 100: The Most Important People of the 20th Century, one of them is Che.
Posted by latinogamer | October 09, 2007
Che is so 90s. Get over it!
Posted by eatingraoul | October 09, 2007
Why not take a few moments silence to honor Pol Pot and Stalin as well. 3 truly wonderful contributions to the world and fine examples of Communism.
Posted by Jon D | October 09, 2007
I am sure they celebrate comrade Pol Pot in Cuba, Jon D. No doubt about it.
Posted by eatingraoul | October 09, 2007
like all things cuban and socialist, the Pol Pot-lucks are savory concotions of rationed arroz con pollo, cambodian pot stickers and the occcasional canned borscht from 1962.
Posted by el smrtmnky | October 09, 2007
Why so much Che hate, it is hurting my eyes…..
Do we all need a course on the great contributions of Che in the 20th Century?
Posted by latinogamer | October 09, 2007
@latinogamer: Like really cheesy T Shirts and Manu Chao?
No Thanks.
Posted by eatingraoul | October 09, 2007
@raoul
Yes those were the only reasons on why he was on the list of Time 100. I will now proceed to burn all of my Rage t shirts….you have shown me the way….
Posted by latinogamer | October 09, 2007
@Latinogamer: Oh ok, sorry, didn’t know we had to worship everyone on Time’s list of beautiful people.
Posted by eatingraoul | October 09, 2007
@raoul
People Magazine and Time Magazine are two different news publications. Not saying you should worship anyone on that list, but respect their contributions to society.
From wiki
“The list was started with a debate at a symposium at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center on February 1, 1998 with panel participants CBS news anchor Dan Rather, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, former New York governor Mario Cuomo, then-political science professor Condoleezza Rice, neoconservative publisher Irving Kristol and Time managing editor Walter Isaacson.”
Posted by latinogamer | October 09, 2007
Well, Time is known for it’s scholarly research. Real reading is over rated. So, latinogamer, what were his contributions beyond perfecting the firesquad?
Posted by Jon D | October 09, 2007
@ latinogamer: Daddy Yankee was also part of Time 100……
Anyway, I pose another question.
What if Che was an ugly guy. Would he be revered in the same manner?
I think not.
Posted by eatingraoul | October 09, 2007
If Che were ugly, or if he would not have been martyred his existence would have become that of a burned out failure. Oh, Hitler was on that Time Top 100. I don’t think that making that list is necessarily due to contributions to society. If Che is someone that the Hispanic community is proud to associate as a fellow Latino, we really need to look for some better examples. Richard Rodriguez?
Posted by Jon D. | October 09, 2007