25 year Commemorative of death of Ché Guevara

[NumisMatty]

1 peso Commemorative of the death of the great Guerrillero Heroico Ernesto Che Guevara.
Nice coppery finish to this one. 

If anyone can tell me a little about the Coat of Arms of Cuba depicted on the reverse I would be most intrigued.

[Madspec]

I wonder if the key in the coat of arms is the one described here?

 In 1989 on the occasion of his 70 birthday he received the “Key of the City of Rome”.

madspec

[NumisMatty]

Surely that cannot be in reference to Ché? - I think those are the Coat of Arms of Cuba?..

[ElleKitty]

I love Google, and Wikipedia.

The shield is divided in a three parts:

In the chief, a key charging a blue sea between two rocks, symbolizing Cuba’s geographical position as the key to the Gulf of Mexico, with a bright rising sun in the background, which represents the rising new republic.

In the division located to the viewer's left (dexter) are three dark blue stripes (bend sinister) on a light blue background, representing the three departments which divide the island: Oriental, Central y Occidental (the Eastern, Central and Western).

In the division toward the viewer's right (sinister), a heraldic landscape consisting of mountains, green vegetation and a royal palm, the national tree of Cuba, representing the rich soil of Cuba.

[NumisMatty]

Thanks for the quote  I know I should have looked it up but you get too busy sometimes..very educational

[scottishmoney]

The fascinating aspect of Che Guevara being lionized as a revolutionary hero in Cuba, he was an Argentinian, not a Cuban.  It was also very apparent in Cuba in the early 1960's that his head was getting a bit big, and two big heads(the other being Castro) cannot last long in a dictatorship, so one had to go, and Ernesto was the one.  He was sent to Latin America by Castro to foment revolution in Bolivia, where he was killed by CIA operatives, but all the better.  Now he was out of Castro's hair, becomes a martyr for revolution and was killed by operatives of los Yanquis.

So Ernesto being the martyr for the cause has his mug on this coin and the 3 Pesos banknote, but all you see of Fidel is his small mug on the reverse of the 1 Peso bill showing his entry into Habana in January 1959.

[NumisMatty]

Why is it so fascinating that Che has been treated as a hero by the Cuban people in the joint struggle against U.S. world hegemony?

[scottishmoney]

Why is it so fascinating that Che has been treated as a hero by the Cuban people in the joint struggle against U.S. world hegemony?

He was a socialist, but more likely had little real political thought behind his motives.  Such a statement that he was fighting against a US world hegemony is a bit of a stretch, he was fighting against capitalists, be they of any flavour.

[NumisMatty]

The Capitalist world is led by the U.S. and in fact that is the only power (corruption, greed) there is when it comes down to it.
Sangre y Libertad! 

[scottishmoney]

Capitalists oligarchs rule Russia, and China for that matter.  I would argue that they are more capitalists than the USA now.  Just look at their economies compared to the mortgage meltdown in the USA.  BTW, I am neither socialist or capitalist, obviously both have their failures.