KOZHIKODE: Communist figurehead Che Guevara might be one of the most recognized faces in the world, but party cadre here working to promote the upcoming 20th CPM National Party Congress have managed to get even his face wrong. Workers have put up a number of flex boards supporting the party congress with faces of various leaders, including Guevara.

But many of these flex boards actually show Hollywood actor Benicio Del Toro who played the guerilla in a two-part biopic titled ‘Che’ in 2009. The majority of these billboards are placed outside the city in places like Mayanad and Muriyanal with some of them put up by youth organisations like the DYFI.

Many such boards are visible along the National Highway leading to Wayanad. A Pradeep Kumar MLA, who is also the chairman of the publicity committee of the party congress, said that the matter should be taken lightly. “I have not personally seen these boards but it must have been a mistake made by our local cadre who must have taken the picture from some website. You cannot expect that every picture of Guevara being drawn or painted come out exactly like him. Instead of berating these people for making a simple mistake, we should appreciate their enthusiasm,” he said.

However, leading political observer NM Pearson had harsher things to say about the faux pas. “These sort of mistakes are common when you outsource the work to someone else who has no connection with the Communist Party. In all probability, these boards were designed and put up by an outside party who were tasked by party members to do so,” he said.

He added that the younger generations of Communists were out of touch with the party’s ideology. “They have no idea about the significance of Che Guevara and other leaders in Communist history,” he said.