CUBA/VARIOUS: Preparations in full swing ahead of the 40th anniversary of the death of Che Guevara
- 00:00:14
- ITN Source
CUBA/VARIOUS: Preparations in full swing ahead of the 40th anniversary of the death of Che Guevara
Final preparations are under way in Santa Clara, Cuba ahead of the 40th anniversary of the death of Cuban revolutionary icon, Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Preparations were under way in Santa Clara, Cuba on Sunday (October 07) ahead of the 40th anniversary of the capture and subsequent execution of guerrilla leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara in a remote, jungle hamlet in Bolivia. In Santa Clara, the final resting place for Che Guevara and members of his troop, workers added the final touches to the stage where officials will mark the anniversary of his death. In 1997, his remains were found and exhumed and taken to a mausoleum in Cuba. "He was a man that was very loved because he was very proper. We love him with our lives. I was part of his troop," former guerrilla combatant who fought with Che, Tomas Alba Fernandez, said. Tourists milled around Santa Clara donning Che Guevara T-shirts, snapping photographs and buying souvenirs of the revolutionary icon. "Every person in the world who thinks of Cuba, thinks of Che," one German tourist said. "Now is the anniversary of his death and that is why I am buying (this souvenir)." The bearded image of guerrilla leader Guevara has become a pop icon splashed on mugs, T-shirts and even bikinis 40 years after his death. In central Bolivia, where Guevara battled the army before he was captured and killed, tour operators offer a chance to retrace his final steps on the "Che Trail." The remote jungle hamlet of La Higuera, some 80 kilometers south of Vallegrande, was where Guevara was captured by CIA-backed Bolivian soldiers. He was later executed after an interrogation on October 9, 1967. His body was flown to Vallegrande and put on display in a hospital before being buried in an unmarked grave. La Higuera was a bustling town in those days with 80 families living and working there. The town also had a school. But rumours of guerrillas fighting with the army circulated like wildfire and soon, the majority of the townspeople abandoned the area out of fear of reprisals. "Back then, there were 80 families," explained La Higuera resident Irma Rosado Carrizales as she cooked over an open fire. "There was a school with 12 professors and there were 120 students. But with all of the rumours regarding the guerrillas, with everything that had happened, the people started to leave and we were left behind on our own." Images of Che Guevara still adorn the humble, mud-brick homes in the hamlet. The school where Guevara was executed is now a museum that attracts the most ardent followers of the icon. "I believe in the 'Guevarrista' ideology, to call it that," Sergio Fernandez, a Bolivian national who bears an uncanny resemblance to Guevara, said. "I feel and believe in his ideals to unite all of Latin America." After Guevara joined the guerrilla uprising that helped Fidel Castro seize power in Cuba in 1959, the Argentine-born doctor set off for Congo to foment revolution there. But his African campaign failed and Guevara travelled on to Bolivia, arriving in late 1966 hoping to spark a revolution in this landlocked South American country. In Mexico, hundreds of people gathered in Zocalo square to attend a concert in honour of Che. "Che is a symbol, he is a symbol for all people who fight for a better life, he is a symbol for the poor who fight for a dignified life, he is a symbol of solidarity between all people," Jesus Escamilla, coordinator for the Mexican Movement in Solidarity for Cuba, said. Many have called Guevara's expedition in Bolivia a "vain attempt" that neither had the backing of Cuba or the Bolivian peasants he was trying to recruit to the cause. A week before his death, his 50-odd Cuban and Bolivian fighters were surrounded by 1,800 army troops. Guevara complained to his diary: "The peasant population does not help us at all and are turning into informers." His final words spoken to Sergeant Mario Teran - the man who killed him - were reportedly: "Shoot, coward, you're only going to kill a man".
ITN Source | October 8, 2007
