A ‘Che’ for Foreigners

A 'Che' for Foreigners / 14ymedio
Posted on February 29, 2016

14ymedio, Havana, 29 February 2016 — "If you see someone with a Che
T-shirt that person is a foreigner; but if they are wearing a United
States flag, you can be sure it is a Cuban," quipped an illegal tourist
guide, while showing his customers the numerous trinkets with the
Argentine guerrilla's face as one more commodity. For less than 20
convertible pesos, a tourist can get the black beret and some other
souvenir with the blue bars and white star to complete his
"revolutionary costume."

However, young people in Cuba seem interested in following other
fashions, far from the ideological kitsch. The brand names of the
capitalist world are here to stay and it doesn't matter if the clothes
are original or poor quality copies, the priority for many is the size
of the logo that attests to their manufacture outside the national borders.

It is not difficult to find images like the one above, where you can see
a foreigner sporting a T-shirt with the famous Korda photo and a short
distance away, a young Cuban sporting one with the Adidas logo. The
symbols of foreign industry will win the battle of popularity over those
with patriotic and political symbolism. The latter is now pure
merchandise to sell to tourists in products that cater to other than
consumer appetites.

Source: A 'Che' for Foreigners / 14ymedio | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/a-che-for-foreigners-14ymedio/