Cuba marks 40th anniversary of the death of Che Guevara
October 8, 2007
Ernesto "Che" Guevara
ŠAFP/File - Captain Antonio Nunez JimenezSANTA CLARA, Cuba (AFP) - Cuba on Monday marked the 40th anniversary of the death of revolutionary icon Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, this Marxist country's most revered figure after its ailing leader Fidel Castro.
The town of Santa Clara some 300 kilometers (186 miles) east of Havana became the official venue for Cuba's homage to Guevara, in a ceremony led by Fidel's brother, acting president Raul Castro.
The event, attended by members of the Guevara family and senior Cuban officials, was held in Santa Clara's Revolution Square at the foot of a giant bronze statue of Guevara, a symbol of the beloved guerrilla fighter's continued exalted stature here.
While Fidel Castro, 81, was not present, he was a palpable presence at the ceremony, which opened with the reading of an homage penned by Castro and published in state-sponsored newspapers here.
In the article, Castro who has been temporarily replaced as head of state by his brother Raul Castro after undergoing stomach surgery in July 2006, hails his late comrade-in-arms Guevara as "a flower torn up prematurely by the stem."
"I bow my head to pay tribute -- with respect and gratitude -- to the exceptional warrior who fell 40 years ago, on October 8th," read the Cuban leader's article, which was read before a crowd in this town.
Loudspeakers also blared a recording dating back to October 3, 1965 of Fidel Castro reading a farewell letter written by Guevara, as the Argentine-born revolutionary prepared to depart for to fight in the guerrilla war in the Congo.
Che Guevara's disputed legacy. Duration: 01:54
ŠAFPTV/Cuban State ArchivesIt was in Santa Clara that Guevara, an Argentine-born doctor-turned-guerrilla leader, fought a key battle during the Cuban revolution in 1958, and where his remains are buried.
Guevara met the Castro brothers in Mexico in 1955, and quickly joined their uprising against then Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. By the time the revolution triumphed in January 1959 Guevara was a key player.
Gueveara's Argentine widow Aleida March, 71, attended the event, along with his four children Aleida, Camilo, Celia and Ernesto. Guevara had a daughter with his first wife, a Peruvian revolutionary, both of whom are dead.
Meanwhile in Bolivia, President Evo Morales, a fervent admirer of both Guevara and Fidel Castro, was to lead a ceremony in the southeastern town of Vallegrande, where Guevara's bones were found in a mass grave in 1997.
ŠAFPAnd Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was to hold a ceremony at Pico del Aguila, in western Venezuela, which Guevara visited 55 years ago.
Tributes were to be held throughout Latin America, including a special session of Brazil's senate in Guevara's honor on October 23; ceremonies in Guatemala and Mexico, where he resided for a brief time, and in Nicaragua.
A special memorial also was being prepared in Argentina to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Guevara's birth in June 2008.
Born in the Argentine city of Rosario, Guevara traveled across Latin America in 1952 and 1953 and was shocked to see the economic disparity in the region. His life changed dramatically when he met Castro in Mexico.
Guevara was convinced that violence was necessary to overturn the unjust social order in Latin America. After leading a group of Cuban revolutionaries fighting with Marxist guerrillas in the Congo, Guevara traveled to Bolivia, arriving in late 1966.
ŠAFP/FileParaguay's secret services knew of Guevara's visit, according to a document uncovered by Paraguayan researcher Martin Almada.
"Che Guevara left Corumba (a Brazilian town on the border with Bolivia) under the false name of Oscar Ferreira," read the document shown to AFP, the first time, he said that such information has surfaced.
Guevara led a small clutch of rebels in Bolivia for 11 months trying to spread revolution, but found little support.
The Bolivian army and two Cuban-American US Central Intelligence Agency agents captured an ill Guevara in the village of La Higuera, and executed him on October 9, 1967. He was 39.
With his death the myth of "Che," the personification of rebellion, was born.