Oh yeah I want this!
You can also get the Fidel action figure:
If I had both of them I’d stage re-enactments of the Cuban revolution on my living room floor. I wonder if you can get Batista, JFK, Khrushchev and the Granma as well?
Don’t forget it’s my birthday on Oct 10. With shipping times factored in, you need to order TODAY. It’s time for an outpouring of Cam love.
UPDATE:
Actually this Che figure is even better! He looks badass.
That is so awesome, from what I hear, Che had a great sense of humour… he wouldv’e loved that.
I gave you big props on my PC Cam… consider it your official birthday present!
I’m definately gettin one.
Boys never REALLY grow up do they???
This is the same guy who was really good at executing people right? I had liked you up until this point – surely there are less controversial dolls to play with? Then again, why not go the whole hog and get a Stalin doll?
Or did I miss some well hidden irony?
Sorry for all the questions, or am I?
Theo – I think you’ll find that whole story about Che being an bloody executioner is all CIA lies. I’ve been looking for evidence for that for years and haven’t found any. Everyone who knew Che describes him as the ultimate humanitarian. He was a DOCTOR!! I suspect the evil reputation he has is 100% CIA propaganda. Same with Castro’s reputation as a brutal dictator. I just finished reading Ignacio Ramonet’s recent biography on Castro and the guy who emerges from that book is nothing like the Castro image we get from the US propaganda.
Re: US lies. One, I won’t find it because I’m not too fussed either way. Two, I doubt the US government would be good enough to do this, based on their past inept work – they can’t even cover up a blow job and dispose of a stained dress (not CIA, sure, but they don’t have a great performance record now do they). Three, it’s not a big stretch to believe a revolution was bloody and leaders got their hands personally dirty – if anything the other way around is a bigger stretch.
My point is a simple one. Let’s say for the sake of argument he was “framed”. This is irrelevant with respect to what he represents now. Last time I checked “DOCTORS!” weren’t “badass”, holding a handgun… Where’s his stethoscope?
If you think Che’s been hard done by, perhaps you shouldn’t be promoting his “badass” image? You don’t want to play into the hands of the US propaganda machine, surely?
Theo, Theo, Theo,
Saying a 12″ statue of Che looks badass and claiming he was “really good at executing people” are very different things.
Che was a fervent revolutionary who fought for the freedom of people in poverty in Latin America. These were violent revolutions, fought against military dictatorships, and Che carried his own until his assassination.
However, the Cuban Revolution had very strict principles with regards to torture and execution. Castro often has said that theirs was a moral victory and if they were as bad as Batista, the people would not have supported the 26 July Movement.
It’s true though that criminals tried and found guilty by the Revolutionary Government for crimes committed during the Batista regime and during the war were executed. Also a few revolutionary soldiers who committed crimes (mostly for betrayal) during the 4 year war were tried by the revolutionary provisional government and executed. These things Castro has admitted. He’s also admitted that the post-1959 trials of criminals wasn’t handled well. It was done with too much post-Revolution fervor and in public. He’s said that was a mistake and that he regrets it. But they were, as far as I’m aware, fair trials.
But these things are a far cry from the image of Che and Castro as brutal murderers that’s been developed by the CIA and former Cuban elites since 1959.
If you’re seriously interested in such matters, I have two books to recommend to you:
1. “Legacy Of Ashes”, a history of the CIA written by Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times journalist, Tim Weiner. He goes into great details about the CIA’s attempts to discredit Castro and Che and their attempts to assassinate them both (successfully in Che’s case).
2. “My Life, Fidel Castro”, written by the distinguished editor of Le Monde Diplomatique, Ignacio Ramonet.
The CIA is very good at propaganda. That, plus spending huge sums of money, is pretty much the ONLY thing they’ve been consistently good at over the last 60 years.