Alvaro Varas Llosa writes in the San Francisco Chronicle today about, "Che: Revolutionary, Movie Star, Killing Machine."

Che Guevara, who did so much (or was it so little?) to destroy capitalism, is now a quintessential capitalist brand. His likeness adorns mugs, hoodies, key chains, bandannas, couture bags, jeans, herbal tea and, of course, those omnipresent T-shirts...The metamorphosis of Che into a capitalist brand is not new, but the brand has been enjoying a revival of late...owed substantially to last year's Oscar-winning film "The Motorcycle Diaries," which showed the young Che on a voyage of self-discovery as he encounters social and economic exploitation...It is customary for followers of a cult not to know the real-life story of their hero, the historical truth. It is not surprising that Guevara's contemporary followers, his new post-communist admirers, also delude themselves by clinging to a myth...Guevara might have been enamored of his own death, but he was much more enamored of other people's deaths....

During the armed struggle against Cuban leader Fulgencio Batista, and then after the triumphant entry into Havana, Guevara murdered or oversaw the executions of scores of people: proven enemies, suspected enemies and those who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Fidel Castro put him in charge of La Cabaña prison, where he oversaw mass executions....Which brings us to Carlos Santana and the chic Che gear he wore to perform at last year's Academy Awards ceremony. In an open letter published in Miami's El Nuevo Herald last year, the great jazz musician Paquito D'Rivera castigated Santana for his Oscars costume....

Che Guevara's lust for power had other ways of expressing itself besides murder. His megalomania manifested itself in the predatory urge to take over people's lives and property. This obsession with collectivist control led him to collaborate on the security apparatus that was set up to subjugate 6.5 million Cubans. The first forced labor camp, Guanahacabibes, was set up in western Cuba at the end of 1960. Said Guevara: We "only send to Guanahacabibes those doubtful cases where we are not sure people should go to jail ... people who have committed crimes against revolutionary morals, to a lesser or greater degree."

About which Humberto Fontova has a few picquant thoughts, in "Che At The Oscars:"

Tune in to this, Carlos: in the mid 1960's Fidel and your charming t-shirt icon set up concentration camps in Cuba for, among many others, "anti-social elements" and "delinquents." Besides Bohemian (Haight-Ashbury, Greenwich Village types) and homosexuals, these camps were crammed with "roqueros," who qualified in Che and Fidel's eyes as useless "delinquents." A "roquero" was a hapless youth who tried to listen to Yankee-Imperialist rock music in Cuba. Comprende, Carlos? Do you see where I'm going with this, Carlos?

With a hat-tip to The American Thinker, we learn Carlos was confronted by an anti-Che blogger recently in Sausalito, and didn't acquit himself well. We all know Carlos walks the talk on fair labor practices and social justice, but truly dude: just shut up and play your guitar.

TECHNORATI TAGS: ALVARO VARAS LLOSA, CHE GUEVARA, MOTOCYCLE DIARIES, ACADEMY AWARDS, CASTRO, EXECUTIONS, LA CABANA, FORCED LABOR CAMPS, GUANAHACABIBES, CARLOS SANTANA, SAUSALITO

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at February 19, 2006 01:16 PM

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