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Quintessential anti-imperialist
On October 9, 55 years had passed since the murder of the Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, but his observations keep gaining traction amid growing US domestic conflict and the ideological debility of imperialism, writes GAVIN O’TOOLE
Che Guevara's guerrilla detachment in Bolivia [verdeolivo.cu]

The Che Guevara Reader: Writings on Politics and Revolution
Edited by David Deutschmann and Maria del Carmen Ariet Garcia
Seven Stories Press, £17.99 

AS ONE of the most celebrated figures in revolutionary history whose death at 39 transformed him into the eternal poster boy of rebellion, Che Guevara has developed a messianic appeal that would almost certainly have bemused the man himself.

An attractive character immortalised by his resolute portrait captured in Alberto Korda’s classic photograph, Guevara’s image has also been hijacked as a cynical marketing device for capitalist brands trying to project disruptive defiance.

Yet visual ephemera do little justice to his complex intellect, which investigated so many themes it can seem hard to pin down the main lessons of his thought, and also to the historical record: Guevara made mistakes, not least those in Bolivia that cost him his life 55 years ago.

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