On Oct. 9, people around the world and students on this campus will recognize the anniversary of Che Guevara’s death. People honor him on a regular basis by wearing a cool looking shirt with his face on it. If you do not know who he is, you have certainly seen this T-shirt (probably on this campus). In today’s world, Che is idolized. Yet, Che Guevara was an international terrorist and mass murderer much along the lines of Lenin, Stalin and Mao. He maintained an inhuman campaign to impose communism on Latin American countries. He trained and motivated Fidel Castro’s firing squads who were responsible for the execution of thousands of men, women and children.
We do not glorify and idolize murderers like Stalin because we know about their evil deeds. Che’s life is more ambiguous — he is praised as a hero and his cult of violence is largely ignored. This is a man who is quoted as saying, “I’d like to confess, at that moment, I discovered that I really like killing.” Does he still seem like such a great hero who should be praised, who should be an icon for students, who should have his face printed on shirts all over America? Maybe we should use the anniversary of Che’s death to learn the truth about this vicious murderer.
