The Meaning of Che

Guevara's image has appeared on T-shirts and other garments for years, but his status as a cultural icon has taken on new significance since the 2004 film "The Motorcycle Diaries," which followed the Argentinian's journey around South America before the revolution.

Increasingly, when young Latinos wear his image, older Cuban-Americans are offended - to the point of shouting matches that threaten to erupt into fistfights.

One recent afternoon, 73-year-old Carlos Barberia was waiting for a bus on Bergenline Avenue in Union City when he spotted a Guevara T-shirt on a sidewalk rack. He bought the shirt - and promptly set it on fire with a burning newspaper.

"Che Guevara killed my father," he told a police officer, explaining his outburst. "He had my father shot by a firing squad in Cuba."

The officer turned out to be Cuban, too. "He told me, 'I have not seen anything' and he walked away," Barberia says.

But the shopkeeper who sold the T-shirt says he thinks Cubans like Barberia are "crazy." Jorge Posadas, who is Mexican, says he's had many confrontations with Cubans who ask him to stop selling Guevara merchandise at his Flamingo's Boutique.

"They tell me he was an assassin and I tell them that was his problem and I don't care," he says. "I tell them this is a store, not a political party or a government, and that I sell whatever people want to buy."

For emphasis, he adds that if his clients were interested in Osama bin Laden shirts, he would sell them, too.

Another Union City merchant was more sensitive. Sang Lee, manager of the Young Star boutique, removed all Guevara merchandise after Cubans complained.

"My boss was under the misunderstanding that the Cubans would like those shirts," Lee explains. "We depend on the community and if they are offended by something we sell, we're not going to sell it."

Young Star's response was appreciated. "They showed us respect," said Sergio Alonso, a Cuban-American. "So next time we buy a shirt, where do you think we're going to go?"

Che was a revolutionary and a mass murderer, yet there are still people who think he's a fashion statement and someone worthy of lauding.

Would you replace Che's image with that of Hitler? Stalin? Pol Pot? Castro? Osama?

How is it that Che grew to be a fashion icon? Was it the beret and long hair? I simply don't get it. To me, he'll always be a mass murderer and that fact continues to be obscured and most people who buy the t-shirts and items emblazoned with his image don't know or don't care about what he did.