November 19, 2012 11:37AM 

# Could Che Guevara Inspire Peaceful Revolutionaries in Burma? 

By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) 

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In a [profile](http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/11/19/165210262/at-burmese-dissidents-cafe-a-taste-of-politics-and-salad) of Myat Thu, a Burmese dissident forced to flee the country after “the 1988 nationwide protests that were [brutally crushed](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7012158.stm) by the Burmese military,” who now runs a cafe across the border in Thailand, NPR blandly notes that he has portraits on his walls of Aung San Suu Kyi — and Che Guevara.

Does Myat Thu know that Che was a brutal [murderer](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thor-halvorssen/an-open-letter-to-urban-o_b_1895353.html) who helped establish a [Stalinist](http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2004/09/the_cult_of_che.html), military-backed [dictatorship](http://www.amazon.com/Guevara-Liberty-Independent-Studies-Political/dp/1598130056) in Cuba that has lasted longer than the junta in Burma? Maybe he doesn’t. But surely Jason Beaubien of NPR does.

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics) 

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