Che Guevara

So immense were ceremonies in Cuba marking the death of Ernesto Che Guevara that your Oct. 9 story has difficulty finding ways to disparage the fallen revolutionary, finally laid to rest in his adopted homeland. The huge observances are not, however, about poignant “symbolism.” Rather, they indicate the depth of popular support for the government in a country that withstands Washington’s most severe sanctions against any nation, and defied predictions, starting in 1989, that with the fall of the Berlin Wall, and then the Soviet regime, every Christmas would be “Castro’s last.”

Under such pressures, facing no other state in the world, if your claim were true that “communism seems as anachronistic as Guevara himself,” there would be no U.S. embargo, an entirely different government would now prevail, and the week of paying homage to Guevara would not be noted officially, if at all.

Your story states one sign that “Guevara’s memory needs some reinforcing” is indicated by the reply of a 3-year-old to his mother’s question of whom he “most wanted to be like when he grows up.” His answer: “Fidel.” What solace to those who villify Cuba’s government!

JON HILLSON

Los Angeles