El Che es Nuestro!
A very popular T-Shirt among young Argentines reads El Che es Nuestro (Che is ours). Interestingly enough, very few of those wearing the shirts can tell you what Che did or stood for–besides fighting the United States. Of course, Ernesto Guevara’s countenance graces college dorms the world over. Many a resident of the Basil Al-Asad Student Housing center at the University of Damascus has hung out a poster paying homage. American college students also seem to be enamored with him and his stick-it-to-the-man, underdog facing the lions image. If only they realized that Ernesto wasthe embodiment of “The man”. In other words, he was the power and the oppressor, along side Fidel Castro, that savaged the anti-communist peasants in the countrysides of Cuba. A recent article by Humberto Fontava directs some very important criticism at the view of Che the guerilla and points us to another hero whose face ought to represent sticking it to the man in every sense of the word: La Niña Del Escambray.
P.S. I discovered something very interesting. If you search Google images for “Che Guevara”, it yields over 21,000. Searching La Niña Del Escambray yields 0. Searching under her real name, Zoila Aguila, yields 0. Apparently, her image just is not as compelling as Che’s.
P.P.S. I am adding this to my post since it represents almost the exact sentiments I previously expressed here.