"Ché" Guevara's Daughter Boycotts Papal Mass

"The CPC (Communist Party of Cuba) asks us militants to go to mass, to go to meet the Pope. That is a directive from the party with which I don’t entirely agree. I won’t go to the mass because it would be hypocritical of me. What will I do standing there for hours? No, no. My dad is there ["Ché" Guevara’s mural is in Havana's Revolution Square] because he is a symbol of this country" [no endorsement of the pope implied or intended]." — Aleida Guevara, in an interview on Russian Television

"Che" Guevara's porcine-like daughter Aleida preferred not to stand for hours in the tropical sun for a day's wages and snacks, which is the incentive offered to party members who attended the public mass. The more of them there, of course, the fewer the spots that would be available for the faithful or "disruptive elements." For Aleida Guevara, it is enough that her father's image will hold a place of honor (if not veneration) at the mass. She will do anything for the party even forgive Fidel's assassination of her father, but don't ask her to transfer her avoirdupois beyond the confines of the family sofa in the purloined mansion that she inhabits. If Guevara's daughter had attended the mass, she would not have had to stand with the plebes, but would have been seated beside Raúl Castro or Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, who sported a $23,000 Hermes handbag for the occasion. But to have attended the outdoor mass would have compromised Aleida's atheistic convictions besides exposing her to a spotlight that she would prefer to avoid if possible (vanity, as Cristina herself proves, is not limited to beautiful women). As for hypocrisy, Aleida's legal campaign to franchise her father's image and reap millions of dollars in royalties from its reproduction shows that she has higher aspirations than being a party hanger-on and honorary ambassador-at-large for the regime. Unlike Fidel, Raúl and their other cronies, "Ché" Guevara did not have enough time to amass a sufficient fortune for his family, which fuels Aleida's secret resentment for those who treat her like a star but won't pay her as such. She has no use for the pope's admonitions against the evils of wealth. For her, fame without wealth is a bitter cup.