2 September 2007
MARXED FOR LIFE
EXCLUSIVE Dozing Joe given Che Guevara tattoo after Spanish bar-room row
By Kurt Bayer
A TOURIST got into a row after branding Che Guevara a terrorist in a Spanish bar - then woke to find the South American revolutionary tattooed on his arm.
Korean war veteran Joe Roberts dozed off in his electric mobility scooter after the boozy argument with a group of young Spaniards.
But while he was sleeping, they wheeled him into a tattoo parlour and paid for his unwanted body art.
Staunch anticommunist Joe, 75, who served with the Royal Signal Corps, faces paying thousands of pounds for laser surgery.
The trouble started after a session on the Costa del Sol resort of Benalmadena.
Joe, of Dundee, said: “The sangria was flowing as I chatted with a crowd of Spaniards. They insisted Che Guevara was a hero but when I described him as a terrorist, an argument started.”
What happened next remains a mystery to Joe. Unaware his arm had been tattooed, he went back to his hotel.
It was not until the next day when he woke up that his wife noticed his skin art.
Joe said: "I couldn’t believe it. My wife wanted to throttle me. I’ve got to live with this dreadful tattoo of someone I despise.