Guerrillero Heroico: Michael Korda's famous 1960 photograph of Ernesto "Che" Guevara

by Jack Brummet, Travel Editor

Guerrillero Heroico: this image of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, by Cuban photographer Michael Korda was taken in Havana in 1960 at a memorial service for the victims of the Le Coubre explosion. By the end of the 1960s, Guevara's notoriety and revolutionary actions and execution (by CIA-hired assassins), solidified the leader and his image as an icon.

Korda once said that at the moment he shot the picture at the funeral, he was drawn to Guevara's facial expression, which showed "absolute implacability" as well as anger and pain.

Images of Che Guevara are ubiquitous in Cuba (and over much of the world). There are also, of course, many images of Fidel Castro, who survived Che by over 50 years. But it is Che you see *everywhere*, in many forms and mediums.

The image was the focus of a documentary "Chevolution," by Trisha Ziff, as well as a 2009 book "Che's Afterlife: The Legacy of an Image" by Michael Casey."

It is a stunning photograph and fascinating to see (in such a heavily controlled and monitored society) the degree of exploitation of this image, in memorials, photos, books, and posters. Here are some of the trash and trinkets we saw.

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Granma's target practice dummies

by Jack Brummet, Travel Ed.

One of the target practice dummies Fidel, Che, Raoul, and the 79 other revolutionaries used on board the yacht Granma as they sailed from Mexico to invade Cuba. I still don't know they avoided ricochets?

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Photo: Guerillas Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in the early days, up in the Sierra Maestra Mountains

Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in the early days of their guerrilla campaign, holed up in the Sierra Maestra Mountains.

#85075079 / gettyimages.com

Much later - Che tourist postcards on sale in Havana:

#98877483 / gettyimages.com

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Fidel Castro meets kids dressed up as Fidel Castro

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Fidel Castro lays a wreath at the Lincoln Memorial (with footnote on Guerrillero Heroico)

By Jack Brummet, Latin America Ed.

In April 1959, Alfredo Korda [1]  shot this photograph of Fidel Castro, the new leader of Cuba, laying a wreath at the Lincoln Memorial.

This image is copyrighted. The copyright holder allows anyone to use it, provided it is not used to denigrate the Cuban revolution

Castro admired Abraham Lincoln and kept a bust of him in his office.  He once wrote about Lincoln's devotion “to the just idea that all citizens are born free and equal."

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[1] Korda also shot one of the most famous images of all time—Guerrillero Heroico—the shot of Ernesto Che Guevara at a memorial.  According to the Wikipedia page about this photo, "To take the photo, Korda used a Leica M2 with a 90 mm lens, loaded with Kodak Plus-X pan film. In speaking about the method, Korda humbly remarked that  'this photograph is not the product of knowledge or technique. It was really coincidence, pure luck.' "

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Painting: Double portrait of Dr. Che Guevara/Happy 50th Birthday to the Cuban Revolution

click to enlarge

Since it was 50 years ago today that the Cuban Revolution succeeded in replacing one dictator with another, here is a painting of one of Fidel's right hand men, the Argentine Marxist Dr. Ernesto "Che" Guevara. The Cuban Revolution led to the overthrow of the dictatorial government of Cuban President General Fulgencio Batista on January 1, 1959. The Cuban Revolution also refers to the ongoing implementation of Marxist social and economic programs by the new government since the overthrow of the Batista dictatorship. Some of it worked and some of it didn't. Dr. Guevara was assassinated in Bolivia in the 60's when he was captured with the help of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
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