Obama just posed for a photo in front of this Che Guevara mural

WWCGD — “What Would Che Guevara Say?”

That's the question that was on spectators' minds Monday, when President Barack Obama, during his historic two-day visit to Cuba, paused in Havana's Revolution Square for a photo before the huge mural of Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara.

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The striking image evoked “a collective gasp” from some onlookers, tweeted Peter Orsi, an Associated Press reporter who was on the scene.

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Andrea Rodíguez, the AP’s Cuba correspondent, said the image would have been “unthinkable” a year ago:

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And Univision’s Miami affiliate took a cynical view, wondering whether the photo was a coincidence or Cuban propaganda:

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Guevara, who opposed capitalism, played a key role in the Cuban Revolution from 1956 until 1959, fighting alongside Fidel Castro and holding several posts in Castro’s regime until leaving Cuba in 1965.

Obama's visit is part of his plan, announced more than a year ago, to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba. He is the first sitting president to visit the country in almost 90 years.

In an interview with The Guardian last week, the late Guevara’s eldest son said he was cautiously optimistic about Obama's visit.

"The U.S. is an empire," Camilo Guevara said. "Their nature is not to set the table and invite you for a feast. History shows us that every time they set a table, you have to accept you might be poisoned or stabbed in the back. But let's see."

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