Why did the "Guerrillero Heroico" picture of "Che" Guevara become so famous?

This is from google AI search:

The "Guerrillero Heroico" photograph of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, captured by Alberto Korda on March 5, 1960, achieved global fame through a blend of compelling visual composition and tragic timing. Taken from a low angle during a memorial service in Havana, Korda's vertical crop isolated Guevara against a plain background, focusing entirely on his intense, distant gaze and unkempt hair beneath a commander's star. This striking portrait perfectly crystallized the romantic archetype of a revolutionary. However, the image remained largely obscure until 1967, when Che was executed in Bolivia. Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli immediately printed and distributed thousands of massive posters across Europe, capitalizing on the peak media attention and transforming the photo into a visual monument to a fallen icon.
The photograph quickly morphed into a universal graphic emblem when Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick stylized it into a stark, two-tone black and red stencil. This high-contrast graphic became the primary visual anchor for the 1968 global student uprisings, anti-Vietnam War protests, and radical civil rights movements. Because Cuba did not adhere to international copyright treaties at the time, the image effectively entered the public domain, allowing anyone to print it freely. This lack of legal restriction permitted the graphic to be endlessly reproduced on t-shirts, flags, and consumer products, permanently embedding it into global pop culture as the ultimate, commercialized symbol of anti-establishment defiance.
References:

https://www.cortissonderegger.ch/guerrillero-heroico

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-global-history/article/abs/resurrecting-che-radicalism-the-transnational-imagination-and-the-politics-of-heroes/A9769A10F38E5F5ED1B8F996687D638C

The "Guerrillero Heroico" photograph of Ernesto "Che" Guevara became famous due to its powerful composition, widespread counterculture adoption, and radical simplification into a universal graphic icon.
Alberto Korda captured the image on March 5, 1960, during a memorial service in Havana, Cuba. Che's expression captures a mix of anger, sorrow, and defiance while looking into the distance. This gave the image a timeless, mythical quality rather than a candid, time-bound snapshot. * Korda shot from a low angle, framing Che against the sky. This framing elevated his stature, giving him a heroic, monumental appearance. In 1967, following Che's death, Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick stylized the photograph into a high-contrast, two-tone graphic silhouette (usually black on red). By removing the gray mid-tones, Fitzpatrick made the image incredibly easy to replicate via screen printing, stencils, and posters. * Fitzpatrick deliberately released the copyright, allowing students, activists, and artists worldwide to print and distribute it freely. Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli acquired the original photograph from Korda shortly before Che's death. Immediately following Che's execution in Bolivia in October 1967, Feltrinelli printed and distributed massive posters of the image across Europe, fueling its rapid spread. * Western youth adopted the image not necessarily out of strict adherence to Marxist ideology, but as a generalized, romanticized symbol of rebellion, anti-establishment fervor, and revolution. Over the decades, the image mutated from a radical political symbol into a global pop culture brand. Its endless reproduction on t-shirts, album covers, and consumer goods cemented its status as a permanent, universally recognized visual shortcut for coolness, defiance, and youth culture.