Che: Revolutionary, movie star, killing machine

Che Guevara, who did so much (or was it so little?) to destroy capitalism, is now a quintessential capitalist brand. His likeness adorns mugs, hoodies, key chains, bandannas, couture bags, jeans, herbal tea and, of course, those omnipresent T-shirts with the photograph by Alberto Korda of the socialist heartthrob in his beret during the early years of the revolution as he happened to walk into the photographer's viewfinder -- and into the image that, 38 years after his death, is still the logo of revolutionary (or is it capitalist?) chic.

The metamorphosis of Che into a capitalist brand is not new, but the brand has been enjoying a revival of late -- an especially remarkable revival, because comes years after the political and ideological collapse of all that Guevara represented. This windfall is owed substantially to last year's Oscar-winning film "The Motorcycle Diaries," which showed the young Che on a voyage of self-discovery as he encounters social and economic exploitation: laying the groundwork for a New Wave reinvention of the man whom Sartre once called the most complete human being of our era.

It is customary for followers of a cult not to know the real-life story of their hero, the historical truth. It is not surprising that Guevara's contemporary followers, his new post-communist admirers, also delude themselves by clinging to a myth -- a myth firing up people whose causes for the most part represent the exact opposite of what Guevara was.