Despite being captured and killed by Bolivians aged only 39, the iconic image of the one time Argentinian medical student is still as well known today as anytime over the past 55 years even if the story of how he and Fidel Castro overthrew the evil Cuban dictator President Fulgencio Batista is hazy to today's teenagers.
They can quote his famous and defiant last words to the Bolivians ('Shoot, coward, you're only going to kill a man') and they can tell you how he risked his life to overthrow a corrupt dictator in Batista for the downtrodden Cubans while tending to wounded enemy soldiers although not telling, or possibly just not knowing, how he cold-heartedly signed orders to execute prisoners without trial.
Mostly what they don't see is the irony of the man's image who died for his Communist beliefs, can now be bought on any number of tacky merchandise which would of horrified Che but shows that his image has continued to resonate.
Che's image is kept alive by today's new Socialists who says they are continuing to spread the message carried by Che and even Nelson Mandela referred to him as 'an inspiration for every human being who loves freedom'.
To today's young the image stands for rebellion and a man who stood up for the little guy against a more powerful foe, fighting and dying, for his beliefs while to the generation of older hippies and socialists he also stood for an ideology although that can get confusing because you have Communist, Socialist, Marxist and Trotskyists even if they all tend to wear a beret, hold their fists in the air occasionally and call everyone brother or sister.
If you don't do any of the above then you are probably a selfish right wing capitalist pig dog who had pictures of Margaret Thatcher on your wall and own a book of Hitler quotes.
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