Che

Dr. Ernesto 'Che' Guevera

La Rambla in Barcelona, Le Champs-Élysées in Paris, Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco, Fifth Avenue in New York, and closer to home, Newbury Street in Boston - a walk down any of these alluring promenades offers a captivating potpourri for people watching. But while strolling down the narrow and lesser known Calle Obispo in Cuba’s Habana Viejo, someone I spotted partially crouched in the shadows brought me to a standstill. I had to turn for a second look.

At best, you might say he was lean. At worst, just a notch above ‘skin and bones’. Although one should not judge a book by its cover, it wasn’t a stretch to believe this guy had limited means and few resources for the comforts of daily living. He was actually among the majority of Cubans on this island vestige of the Communist empire. The minority are those who’ve eked out a better position, having parlayed reforms Fidel Castro implemented following dissolution of the USSR and Cuba’s ensuing Special Period economic crisis. Without big time subsidies from its sugarcane daddy in Moscow, Cuba’s viability was doomed unless a spigot of rejuvenating free enterprise could be turned on. Fidel did just that, but it was clear, however, the guy huddled at the Obispo curb had not yet taken a sip.

This brings me to his attire, specifically the T-shirt strategically torn to expose a pectoral tattoo of Cuba's legendary revolutionary and Fidel’s right-hand comrade-in-arms Ernesto Guevara, better known simply as ‘Che’.  The T's ragged hole flaunted Che’s image suggesting the wardrobe malfunction could not have been random. The tattoo is but another rendition of the most widely reproduced photo of all time, and not just in Cuba. Alberto Korda, Fidel’s personal photographer, captured it on assignment. Che’s mystique resonates with all would be revolutionaries, as well as Cubans of every social stratum. My fascination was a puzzling disconnect between the continued desire to demonstrate such devotion to the Revolution despite what it delivered for this guy fifty years after former dictator Gulgencio Batista was ousted.

Back to Calle Obispo for a moment … Before continuing to meander and see what else my eyes could savor, I gave the guy a few CUCs, each roughly equivalent to a dollar and about twenty-five times more valuable than each peso of subsidy allocated to Cubans for basic commodities. Then I focused to create this Obispo image. It seems to prop up the enigma of Fidel, Che, and the Revolution’s enduring popularity set against a backdrop of rough daily life for most Cubans. But decades after Fidel’s band of guerrillas prevailed, it offers little in the way of answers.

Return to the web site for viewing David's portfolio of Photo Galleries and Essays