Poor Che Guevara

I feel very sorry for Che Guevara. When he decided to go on his suicide mission in Bolivia, could he have imagined what would happen to him after his death? And I don't mean the mutilation of his body. I'm referring to the way his image and his name were commercialized. Che Guevara's name is now commonly used by spoiled rich brats to symbolize their boring rebellion against their parents. 

Che
The star of a revolutionary

And do you remember The Motorcycle Diaries? The movie was such a disgrace that it would make even the staunchest fan of Che Guevara feel happy that his idol is dead and can't see how a bunch of stupid movie-makers turned a revolutionary hero into a pathetic eunuch. 

Now the Che hagiography has taken a step further into insanity. An Argentinean publishing house has released a book about Che for children. (The link is in Spanish.)

The book is very colorful and, of course, all scenes of violence have been excised from this G-rated version of the revolutionary's life.

Just look how cute Che is walking on a tight-rope with his bunch of flowers and all. 

What a way to castrate a threatening image of a revolutionary figure. I wonder which ultra-conservative organization sponsored the release of this book. If the little Argentineans are taught to see their major revolutionary figure as silly and toothless, they will be lest attracted by the romantic notions of revolutionary activity.

I found the reference to this book on this Spanish-language blog.

Gotta Love the Argentineans

I told an Argentinean friend about the the virus that caused my pericarditis in January.

"You are getting old," she responds immediately. "Now you should expect your body to start failing you on a regular basis."

"I'm only 34," I say.

"Well, old age comes sooner to some people than to others," she informs me brightly.

She's not a mean person at all. She's just Argentinean.

Argentinean "Intellectuals" Against Vargas Llosa

What I find confusing is the use of the word "intellectuals" in this piece of news:

 Intellectuals close to President Cristina Kirchner launched a campaign Tuesday to stop Mario Vargas Llosa from opening the Spanish-speaking world's largest cultural fair because of his disparaging remarks about Argentine politics. . . Peru's Vargas Llosa, winner of the 2010 Nobel prize for literature, has been invited to inaugurate in mid-April the International Book Fair in Buenos Aires, which UNESCO expects to be attended by more than one million people. The intellectuals are angered over Vargas Llosa's statements on Argentine politics and personal attacks against Kirchner. In a recent interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, the writer, who is an outspoken proponent of free markets and liberal democracy, described Kirchner as "a total disaster." "Argentina is going through the worst form of Peronism, populism and anarchy. I fear that it is an incurable country," he told the newspaper.

Since when do the "intellectuals" ally themselves with politicians who are in power in order to hound a writer for expressing his views? Vargas Llosa does, in fact, have a tendency to espouse unintelligent political beliefs. In this, he is no different from many other writers who make fools of themselves by becoming mouthpieces of barbaric regimes. (Juan Goytisolo immediately comes to mind.) 

Still, no true intellectual would even think of defending some dime-a-dozen politico at the expense of one of the greatest writers of the XXth century. Historically, nothing could be more insignificant than the antics of the Kirchner couple. Vargas Llosa's contribution to the artistic legacy of humanity will remain long after everybody forgets who the Kirchners were. Argentinean "intellectuals" just made themselves look very stupid here.

Thank you, Margaret Soltan, for reporting this.