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Havana, Cuba – 2008

There are quite a few second-hand bookshops in Havana, and this is one of them in the Habana Viejo district. I had a quick browse through and most of the books were very very old, good as collectibles. It’s a historic trove for undercover communists.

Other Che sightings:

Eng imitating Che, then cracking up

Che didn’t like the concept of money, saw it as a corrupting influence. But look, he’s on the face of these peso bills:

Tres Pesos

Che was appointed President of the National Bank of Cuba after the overthrow of Batista. How did that happen?

An excerpt from Shadow Warrior (1989), by Felix I. Rodriguez:

We talked about Cuba. He admitted to me that the economy was in a shambles, largely because of the economic boycott by the U.S. “But you helped cause that,” I told Che. “You – a doctor – were made president of the Cuban National Bank. What does a doctor know about economics?”

“Do you know how I became president of the Cuban National Bank?” he asked me.

“No. ”

“I’ll tell you a joke.” He laughed. “We were sitting in a meeting one day, and Fidel came in and he asked for a dedicated economista. I misheard him – I thought he was asking for a dedicated comunista, so I raised my hand.”

Billboard reads: Che, your example and your ideas live on

And there’s so much more where these came from.