Your example lives. Your ideas endure.

Say what you will about Che Guevera, he was one good looking guy. I’m convinced that’s why his face and not Fidel’s has become the symbol of countercultural revolution around the world. He looked great in a beret—not an easy task for any man—and he developed a sensitive dangerous look that has kept him popular on T-shirts and posters. If good looks and style weren’t enough, Che died a young and violent death. This is the stuff of legends.

Ernesto “Che” Guevera was the eldest of five children in an Argentine family of Basque and Irish decent. I don’t want to get into a nature vs. nurture argument, but when you combine Che’s birth order with his genetic inventory, he really had no alternative but to overthrow a government somewhere.

We want you to be like Che

He met with Fidel and Raul Castro in Mexico City, joined their 26^th of July movement and set sail on the yacht, Granma, with the intention of overthrowing Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. He rose to prominence among the insurgents and was promoted to second in command by Fidel, over his younger brother Raul.

After the revolution, Fidel put Che in charge of the national bank. An interesting position for an ideological communist who didn’t believe in money. His single word signature, Che, is on bank notes displayed in his memorial, along with mementos from his days as a medical student, rugby player, chess master, and motorcycle enthusiast.

Che instituted a national literacy program in Cuba and then wrote a manual on guerilla warfare. Some would say that is a dangerous combination. He exported the Cuban

OK, this isn’t actually graffiti, but you do see Che’s face a lot in Cuba.

style of revolution described in his book to Congo-Kinshasa, where it failed, and later to Bolivia where he was captured and summarily executed. The manual has been rated 3 and ½ stars on Amazon but to my knowledge has never been reviewed on Goodreads.

Guevera is both a revered and reviled historical figure. There are countless biographies, films, documentaries, and songs that portray him as a martyr to world wide class struggle or alternatively an international trouble maker. Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people of the twentieth century. His iconic photograph, Guerrillero Heroico, taken by Alberto Korda on March 5, 1960 was cited by the Maryland Institute College of Art as the most famous photograph in the world. Incidentally, the photographer never made a dime from Che’s photo—as the revolutionary would have wished.