FACT CHECK: Does This Photo Show Che Guevara Pointing A Handgun At Two Women?

An image shared on Facebook claims to show a photo of the late Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara pointing a handgun at two women.

Verdict: False 

The photo shows a reenactment conducted on the campus of Emory College in 1989. It does not depict Guevara, who died in 1967. 

Fact Check: 

Guevara, a Marxist revolutionary, was a prominent figure in the Cuban Revolution in the 1950s, according to Britannica. A headshot photo of him taken in 1960 has since become a pop culture icon and one of the most reproduced images ever, Smithsonian Magazine reports. 

An image shared on Facebook claims to show a lesser-known photo of Guevara. It shows what appears to be a black and white photo of a man wearing a beret and military fatigues pointing a handgun at two unarmed women. “THIS is the image of Che Guevara that should be seen on t-shirts,” reads the image’s text.

“For the little communists out there,” reads the post’s caption. “Be careful what you wish for.” (RELATED: Does This Photo Show NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio Wearing A Che Guevara Shirt?)

The photo does not show Guevara. The image can be found on the website of the Committee in Solidary with the People of El Salvador along with a caption that explains it shows a reenactment conducted on the campus of Emory College (now Emory University) in 1989. Guevara was killed in 1967, more than 20 years before the photo was taken, according to PBS. 

“The photo was taken of a theatrical demonstration taking place on Emory’s campus to raise awareness of humanitarian crises created by war in El Salvador and Guatemala and of US military involvement in that war,” explained Emory University Archivist John Bence in an email to Check Your Fact. 

Bence included a photo of a 1989 article from the college’s newspaper, The Emory Wheel, that explains the Emory Central America Network had organized the demonstration, titled “Guerilla Theatre,” which included a make-shift encampment and actors. The image of the encampment featured in the article matches the scene visible in the image shared on Facebook.

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