In a surprisingly naïve and insulting move, the United States embassy in Argentina sponsored readings of a new book detailing the “enduring iconic power of Che Guevara.” While the embassy’s spokeperson Mara Tekach insists that it was hosting this event in order to promote free speech, I do not believe that the United States should be actively sponsoring events glorifying communist Che Guevara aka the “Butcher of la Cabaña” who executed countless Cubans without trial, persecuted political opponents, and helped lay the foundations for Castro’s totalitarian regime. Not to mention that his resistance to democracy around the world was “inspired” by a militant adherence to Communism, a system that killed hundreds of millions around the world.

The book itself is titled Che’s Afterlife: The Legacy of an Image and is written by Michael Casey. According to Roger F. Noriega, who wrote this review about the book, the author describes the murderer Che’s “heroism,” compares him to Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. The author apparently goes further and in an effort to excuse Che’s crimes compares right-wing Latin American dictators (like Chile’s Augusto Pinochet who killed around 3,000 people) to Adolph Hitler and Pol Pot (which caused the deaths of millions), a ridiculous stretch… as ridiculous a stretch of comparing Che to Stalin (though I may feel like Che deserves worse, he just can’t stack up to good old Uncle Jo). Here again we have one of these idealists who only listens to the words and does not look at the deeds of his “hero” like the countless persons who wear his image on their shirt without knowing that he stood for killing anyone that stood in the way of communism. At least many of the latter are simply ignorant, while the former uses a logic that rationalizes mass murder for simply having different ideas.

It is reprehensible that the United States would sponsor such an event. I believe in free speech, but to host an event like this and to respect an event like this is completely different. We should not be hosting things that stand in stark opposition to our ideals.

Early Communist Indoctrination

I find it fitting to end this post with an excerpt from Noriega’s review:
“Millions of Cuban schoolchildren have been indoctrinated in the dead-end, destructive ideology of Fidel Castro’s totalitarian regime. “We will be like Che,” these tots and teens are forced to cry out in unison, as they appear in public assemblies to demonstrate their unthinking loyalty to a political system that has stolen the God-given rights of 11 million Cubans.

“El Che” would be proud. Michael Casey is fascinated. The rest of us should be appalled.”

-AG