Bolivia Returns Remains of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara to Cuba LADB Staff

Home , Aleida Guevara, Aleida March, La Higuera, Vallegrande

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7-18-1997 Bolivia Returns Remains of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara to Cuba LADB Staff

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Recommended Citation LADB Staff. "Bolivia Returns Remains of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara to Cuba." (1997). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/notisur/12382

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Latin America Digital Beat (LADB) at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in NotiSur by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LADB Article Id: 55141 ISSN: 1060-4189 Bolivia Returns Remains of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara to Cuba by LADB Staff Category/Department: Bolivia Published: 1997-07-18

Just short of 30 years after his death, one of the world's most famous guerrillas was returned to his adopted homeland. On July 13, the remains of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who fought in the Cuban Revolution alongside Cuban President Fidel Castro, were flown back to Cuba, where they were received by Castro and other government officials. The body was uncovered in Bolivia where Guevara had gone on an ill-fated mission to foster a revolution in 1967.

Guevara was born in Argentina in 1928, where he later studied medicine. He joined forces with Castro to overthrow dictator Fulgencio Batista (1952-1958). After the victory of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Guevara served as president of the national bank, then industry minister, but left to start a guerrilla campaign in Bolivia that he hoped would spread across Latin America. He and several companions were captured on Oct. 8, 1967, and killed by the Bolivian army the following day. For almost 30 years, the location of the graves was kept secret. For the past 18 months, forensic experts and archaeologists have been conducting an off-and-on search for Guevara's body near the town of Vallegrande, Bolivia, 770 km southeast of La Paz.

The search was initiated in December 1995, after retired Gen. Mario Vargas Salinas said that Che was buried near the landing strip on the edge of the town (see NotiSur, 12/1/95). The body of the Bolivian guerrilla Jaime Arana was found in December 1995, and that of Cuban Carlos Coello Coello was identified in June 1996. The search for Guevara was called off by the Bolivian government in mid-1996.

However, in late May of this year, efforts to find Guevara's body resumed, with the participation of Cuban, Argentine, and Bolivian experts. In early July, the remains of seven bodies were uncovered, and it quickly became evident that one of the bodies was likely the famous Argentine doctor turned revolutionary. The first major clue to the body's identity was its missing hands. Following Che's death in La Higuera, near Vallegrande, Antonio Arguedas, interior minister during the military government of Gen. Rene Barrientos (1966-1969), ordered Guevara's hands cut off to prove his death. The seven bodies found in Vallegrande were taken to the provincial capital of Santa Cruz de la Sierra for positive identification. Forensic tests commenced and, on July 12, experts confirmed that one of the bodies was that of Guevara.

The other Cuban guerrillas whose remains were identified were Alberto Fernandez Montes de Oca, Rene Martinez Tamayo, and Orlando Pantoja Tamayo. Also identified were Bolivians Anicelo Reinaga and Simon Cuba, and Peruvian Juan Pablo Chang Navarro. Special honors prepared for Guevara The bodies of Che and the three other Cuban guerrillas were flown to San Antonio de los Banos air base about 35 km south of Havana on July 13, and received by Castro, other Cuban officials, and members of Guevara's family. The small, plain coffins were loaded onto military caissons as Cuban troops fired a 21-gun salute.

Guevara's closest surviving family are his Cuban widow, Aleida March, and four children Aleida, Camilo, Celia, and Ernesto. Aleida Guevara, daughter of the revolutionary, read a statement to President Castro, relatives, and former colleagues of Guevara. "Today we receive their remains, but they do not arrive in defeat; they return converted into heroes, eternally young," her statement said.

Guevara's remains will be reburied in a mausoleum in Santa Clara, the provincial capital where he led a December 1958 offensive that helped topple Batista. Cuban officials plan to hold the burial in October, on the 30th anniversary of Guevara's death. A major event is also being planned for October in Vallegrande, Bolivia, to commemorate the anniversary. Vallegrande authorities had fought to keep the remains of Guevara in their town of 5,000, declaring them "national patrimony." Officials later changed their minds, however, "for humanitarian and Christian" reasons.

Many local residents have small altars set up honoring the revolutionary, and some insist that he is a saint. The town has become a tourist attraction for the curious and for admirers of Guevara. Bolivian army veterans, however, indignantly recalled their comrades killed by Guevara's forces and complain about all the media attention given the fallen guerrillas. "I'm angered by so much attention being paid to this tyrant who invaded this country," said former soldier Jorge Salazar. "I'm devastated to see how history has been distorted and the real men forgotten." [Sources: Agence France-Presse, 07/11/97; Spanish news service EFE, 05/20/97, 07/06/97, 07/12/97; Inter Press Service, 05/23/97, 07/07/97, 07/09/97, 07/12/97; United Press International, 07/12/97; Reuter, 05/21/97, 07/06/97, 07/11/97, 07/13/97; The Miami Herald, 07/06/97, 07/13/97; Associated Press, 07/06/97, 07/08/97, 07/12/97, 07/13/97; Los Tiempos (Bolivia), 07/13/97]

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