Daimler, the German maker of Mercedes-Benz, is apologizing for using images and references to Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara in a presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show trade exposition last week.

Fox News reports it received an e-mail from Daimler in which it says its use of the Communist's image was a "thoughtless" and "stupid" decision and that it did not intend to offend.

But the apology didn't come before U.S. Sen. Robert Melendez, D-N.J., and others like, Florida state Sen. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Republican, complained. The Cuban-American community considers Guevara, who died in 1967, to have been a very bad man. "He [Guevara] was a cold-blooded killing machine" who "talked about using an atomic bomb to kill all capitalists," Fox quotes Diaz-Balart as saying.

Daimler flashed the image of Guevara as it unveiled an upgrade of its Embrace infotainment system during a presentation at the trade show, which attracts thousands every year. The image flashed behind Daimler chief Dieter Zetsche.

"In his keynote speech at CES, Dr. Zetsche addressed the revolution in automobility enabled by new technologies, in particular those associated with connectivity. To illustrate this point, the company briefly used a photo of revolutionary Che Guevara (it was one of many images and videos in the presentation) … We sincerely apologize to those who took offense," Fox quotes the statement as saying.