Guerrillero Heroico

About the Image

Alberto Korda was an official photographer of the Cuban Revolution, as well as personal photgrapher to, and a great friend of, Fidel Castro. This relationship gave Korda the freedom to take all the photgraphs of Castro and others, that he wished to. As a result, on the 5th of March 1960, he became the creator of the world’s most famous, most reproduced, and most iconic photograph in history.

On the 4th of March 1960, the CIA detonated a bomb on the French freighter La Coubre, in Havana harbor. At least 100 people were killed, and hundreds more seriously injured in the blast. An enraged Fidel Castro ordered a parade along the Havana Malecón to honor those who died. As part of the parade, Castro gave a eulogy, on the platform of which he was joined by Che Guevara and other dignitaries. Korda saw Guevara looking pensive and managed to get 2 shots before his subject disappeared behind a crowd of people. At the time, Korda considered the images as just snapshots, not realising until later exactly what he’d managed to capture.

Despite Korda’s affection for the image, it sat in his files, all but unused, for several years until Guevara’s death in 1967. The image was then printed and draped from the top of the Ministry of the Interior building in Havana. From that moment the image, and its status, took on a life of their own. The image was shot in black and white, and any color version that has appeared since has been colorised. Korda only used black and white film, and was considered a master of the genre, especially when it came to portraits. Today, the Ministry of the Interior building has a steel outline depicting the image.

Guerrillero Heroico is now the most recongised photgraph in history, and has been produced on just about every material available. Korda, for his part, never asked a penny for the use of the photo. He believed it was important that people knew who Che Guevara was, and why the Cuban Revolution was an imprtant event in world history. The only objection he ever made was when vodka brand Smirnoff used it in promotional material. Korda refused to allow the image to be associated with alcohol, and sued Smirmoff before an out of court settlement was reached.

The equally iconic “red” version of the image was produced by José Gómez Fresquet, renowned Cuban poster maker and graphic artist, on the news of Che Guevara’s death. Fresquet printed the image on red paper for a rally the next day to honor Guevara.

Not everybody knows that the image’s official title is “Guerrillero Heroico”, nor that Alberto Korda was the photographer, but just about everybody has seen the image at some point in their lives, and it is always the first to appear when Che Guevara’s name is mentioned.

It is important that the name Alberto Korda is also known as the creator of Guerrillero Heroica, rather than the oft-assumed perception that the image is somehow public domain. Anybody is free to use the image, thanks to Korda’s generosity, and belief that the image and its subject are bigger than any price, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore Korda.