UNESCO honoring Che Guevara Draws Fire from Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

Last week, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced that the writings of Ernesto Che Guevara, one of the leaders of the Communist Revolution in Cuba, would be included in the Memory of the World Register -- and a congresswoman from Florida is not happy about it. Less than 300 collections of documents and manuscripts are listed under the Memory of the World Register.

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., who was born in Cuba but whose family fled to the United States as the communists established their tyrannical regime, ripped into the decision on Monday.

UNESCO continued its longstanding tradition of making a mockery of its own institution when it opted to venerate and memorialize the life of a bloodthirsty, murderous sadist, Che Guevara, by including his works as an entry in its Memory of the World Register, Ros-Lehtinen said. This decision is more than an insult to the families of those Cubans who were lined up and summarily executed by Che and his merciless cronies but it also serves as a direct contradiction to the UNESCO ideals of encouraging peace and universal respect for human rights.

This latest reprehensible action is a microcosm of the existing problems within UNESCO today, Ros-Lehtinen added. There isnt any semblance of common sense left in that body. From its decision to accept a nonexistent state of Palestine into its membership, to glorifying Ches ruthless crimes against humanity, UNESCO deserves no funding from U.S. taxpayers. The Obama administration is wrong to continue to seek to restore funding to UNESCO. The administration must immediately end its push to send $225 million in American taxpayer money to UNESCO that would enable that organization to keep undermining our friend and ally, the democratic Jewish state of Israel, and would insult the memories of those who suffered under Che and continue to suffer under the Castro brothers.