Conservative Brazilian news magazine Veja marked the Obama administration’s opening of diplomatic relations with Cuba with a healthy dose of artistic license.
This week’s cover of Veja features a caricature of President Barack Obama in the style of a famous image of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Ernest0 “Che” Guevara, over the headline “The American Friend.”
Obama’s rightwing critics have often referred to him as a “socialist,” though he hasn’t exactly presided over a massive redistribution of wealth.
It would be an even further stretch to compare him to Guevara, who joined Fidel Castro’s revolutionary group in Mexico during the 1950s and later aided revolutionary movements in Africa before being killed in 1967 while trying to start another revolution in Bolivia.
Nevertheless, Guevara has become an iconic symbol of the Cuban Revolution and of the worldwide left more generally. Similar memes have been making the rounds since Obama and the Cuban head of state Raúl Castro announced the changes on Wednesday.
Veja is owned by Grupo Abril, The Huffington Post’s partner for the online publication Brasil Post.
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