CUBAN PHOTOGRAPHER ALBERTO KORDA SPEAKS ABOUT PICTURE OF CHE GUEVARA, 2000-08-09 (photo)

Cuban photographer Alberto Korda poses near the famous picture he took in 1961 of revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, August 9, 2000. Korda is puzzled over why the image became an icon of the revolution. "There are hundreds of really good photos of him. I don't know why the world chose this as the image of Che," Korda, 72, said of the picture, which shows Guevara wearing a defiant stare and a beret adorned with a star. "When people imagine Che's personality, it seems they find it in that look." The image, the photographer told Reuters in an interview, is not one that should be used to tout products like Smirnoff, the vodka label owned by British food and beverage firm Diageo Group Plc., which ran an ad campaign two years ago featuring the picture. RP/HB