Visiting Che Guevara in Central Park

By Daryl Montgomery and Jack Kemp

I read in AT that a statue of bloodthirsty revolutionary Che Guevara has appeared Che in Central Park in Central Park, so I went to 5th Ave. & 60th street to see it for myself.

The statue is supposed to be on display until, significantly enough, May 1, 2009. It is definitely not a permanent location. This Doris Freedman Plaza is a concrete cobblestone area located just outside the southeast entrance walkway to the park. A mounted poster states the exhibit of three statues, Julius Ceasar, the "Anthropomorphic cabinet woman" (from a Dali painting) and Che Guevera were all inspired by Barcelona street performers. It also says the art display was made possible by the Public Art Fund, the City of New York, the NEA, and the New York Council for the Arts.

The base of the Che statue has some interesting things written on 3 sides. One side has a website address www.elchevive.org ("the Che lives" in Spanish) which is no longer accessible via the internet. Another side says "viva la re-revolution," i.e., long live the re (or new) revolution, in Spanish. The third side says "Seamos Realistes Exijamos Lo impossible." This translates as "We are realistic. We demand the impossible."

The Julius Caesar statue on display at Central Park's entrance has no title name or any comments on its' base, such as "Veni, Vidi, Vici." The statue of the lady also has no base capable of including writing.

Jack Kemp is not the politican of the same name.