Abstract
There is fading mural of Che Guevara on the busy Rua Jacinto de Cândido in Dili, Timor-Leste (see Figure 1). Down a few streets on Associação HASATIL building are the faces of the old guard, Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky with a picture and quote on women's emancipation from the local hero, Rosa Bonaparte Soares (see Figure 2). A number of such street art compositions of Che and other revolutionaries across the island have been documented by Parkinson (2010, 2016) and Arthur (2019). Arthur explains how images of Xanana Gusmão (independence leader and still Prime Minster today) as a guerrilla hero are reproduced at a grassroots level in street art across the country, depicting him in ways akin to Che (Arthur, 2019: 153-155). According to Ramos-Gonçalves, such imagery is used to elevate the status of the East Timorese national heroes (2012: 1-15.). Arthur argues that Che provides an ongoing symbol in Timor-Leste because he relates to the struggles of the young and inspires them today (2019: 156). So even here, in a place that Che never directly mentioned in his speeches or writings (other than tangentially in his statements supportive of the rebellions against Portuguese empire), in one of the world's newly independent states and one of its least developed, Che's legacy continues to be felt. Indeed, in the presence of his image we can see faded reflections - the spectre - of a far more radical possibility for Timorese emancipation.