Thread by @HillelNeuer

Shame on @UNESCO for honoring the murderer Che Guevara. He led firing squads.

In 2013, UNESCO enshrined “The Life and Works of Ernesto Che Guevara”—even though President Obama’s ambassador urged UNESCO to “not be used as a tool to glorify and legitimize violence.”

https://twitter.com/UNESCO_es/status/1404468024355262472

And @UNESCO_es's tweet did not show the full picture. They omitted this part of Guevara's UN remarks from that day: “Yes, we have executed people; we are executing people and shall continue to execute people as long as it is necessary.“

I urge @SecBlinken to complain to @UNESCO as Obama's rep did in 2013: "The US Mission to UNESCO requests an immediate review of the inscription of the writings of Ernesto Che Guevara in the Memory of the World Register. Che Guevara is a controversial figure who advocated violence

"and made no apologies for executing people in the pursuit of revolution. UNESCO should not memorialize the writing nor glorify the memory of a person who advocated, "Hate as a factor in the struggle, intransigent hatred for the enemy that takes one
beyond the natural limitations

"of a human being and converts one into an effective,
violent, selective, cold killing machine. Our soldiers must be like that; a people without hate cannot triumph over a brutal enemy," and, "If any person has a good word for the previous government that is good enough for me..

"to have him shot.' 

You will certainly agree these comments do not build peace in the minds of men and are not in keeping with UNESCO and United Nations values.
The Memory of the World program has a critical role to play in safeguarding the world's documentary heritage and must

"not be used as a tool to glorify or legitimize violence. We call on UNESCO to immediately review the basis for this inscription to determine if it is in keeping with the rules of the program and values of the organization."

washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/…

Paul Berman: "Che was a totalitarian. He achieved nothing but disaster. Many of the early leaders of the Cuban Revolution favored a democratic-socialist direction for the new Cuba. But Che was a mainstay of the hardline pro-Soviet faction, and his faction won..."

"Che presided over the Cuban Revolution’s first firing squads. He founded Cuba’s 'labor camp' system — the system that was eventually employed to incarcerate gays, dissidents and AIDS victims."

slate.com/culture/2004/0…

Che Guevara at UN: "Nosotros tenemos que decir aquí lo que es una verdad conocida, que hemos expresado siempre ante el mundo: fusilamientos; si, hemos fusilado; fusilamos y seguiremos fusilando mientras sea necesario.”
1300th Plenary Mtg/11 Dec 64, 3:30 pm
unwatch.org/wp-content/upl…

“We must say here something that is a well-known truth and that we have always asserted before the whole world: Executions? Yes, we have executed people; we are executing people and shall continue to execute people as long as it is necessary.“

UN source:
unwatch.org/wp-content/upl…