Oct. 9 will mark 56 years since the death of Cuban guerrilla Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Apparently, it does not matter that he helped the Castros create an authoritarian regime that now supports the oppression of hundreds of millions of people around the world, because clueless college students at Syracuse University in New York still elevate Che as a representative of liberation and “free” thinking.
But this ignorant reverence is much more pervasive than a mural on display at a particular university — Che remains a popular and venerated figure despite his rightfully infamous reputation. College students all over the Americas (often from wealthy families) use his image to LARP as communist revolutionaries. They have worn their Che T-shirts proudly, fancying themselves the saviors of the poor and oppressed, despite the fact that most of these T-shirts are made in sweatshops in Central America.
Graffiti commemorating Che is plastered all over towns and universities in Latin America, Mexico, Colombia, and Bolivia, where Che was killed by Bolivian special forces with the help of the United States. Prominent left-wing newspapers and outlets like Jacobin, Current Affairs, and Democracy Now! have written and produced fawning fluff pieces about Che’s legacy in the developing world. In 2004, NPR commemorated the 30th anniversary of Che’s death by reporting on his legacy as an “icon.”
We have even experienced this idol-like treatment of Che Guevara firsthand in our own college and university settings. In one Spanish-language class at the University of British Columbia, people read Che’s
