El Che, on display in Argentina

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Looks like another banner year for the myth of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, the Argentina-born revolutionary whose beret-topped visage stares from countless T-shirts, coffee mugs and bikinis. Che look-backs proliferated last year, marking the 40th anniversary of his execution in rural Bolivia, where his leftist crusade culminated in a bloody debacle.

June 14 marks what would’ve been Guevara’s 80th birthday -- yet another chance to assess this enigmatic figure who rose from a middle-class, rugby-playing upbringing in provincial Argentina to global archetype of the uncompromising rebel.

A four-hour, two-part biopic by Steven Soderbergh debuted at Cannes this month starring Benicio del Toro, the Puerto Rico-born star with an eerily Che-like look.

This week, Argentines got to see a 12-foot bronze likeness of their late compatriot, constructed from tens of thousands of donated keys melted down and molded into form. The monumental statue, paraded through the streets of Buenos Aires on a flatbed truck, is to be placed next month in the Argentine city of Rosario, Guevara’s birthplace.

The sculptor, Andres Zerneri, said the work incorporated the ideas of many Che admirers. Here’s a link to the project website, including a video clip about the statue’s construction.

‘This is important for everyone,’ a bystander at the Che parade in the capital told Pagina 12 newspaper. Why? ‘Because we all have a Che T-shirt.’’

-- Patrick J. McDonnell and Andres D’Alessandro in Buenos Aires.