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When is El Che Not El Che?

09:43 H | Topics: Bolivia - Celebrities - Controversia - Cuba - History - Politics

According to one Cuban exile, when the body buried in Cuba isn't that of the Argentinian who was one of the key players in the Cuban Revolution that put Fidel Castro in power.

Gustavo Villoldo - a Miami Cuban exile hired 40 years ago through the CIA to hunt down Che - has come forward for the first time with his evidence to claim that Che’s remains may still be in Bolivian soil and not in a Cuban mausoleum, his official grave site - as Fidel Castro claims.

This is a huge claim. Ernesto "Che" Guevara has become more than a historical figure. To some he is the icon of revolution and social change, to others he is a symbol of oppression , and perhaps worst of all El Che has become a commercial figure, trendy enough to grace all sorts of products from t-shirts to dolls.

In 1997, the Cuban government claimed to have found the remains of Guevara in Bolivia where he was killed in 1967 by mercenaries hired by the CIA.

Villoldo claims that he knows where in Bolivia el Che is buried because he buried him, along with two other guerrilla fighters and that he will reveal the location only to Guevara's family, not to the Cuban government.

The only way to really know if the bones inside a tomb in Santa Clara de Cuba belong to el Che is through DNA tests and that would require the cooperation of el Che's family.

So what's more important? Having the actual remains of Ernesto Guevara (perhaps to conduct tests or learn how he really died) or to have the life he lived as a lesson, either in favor of social change through revolution or as a warning against it.

Via / PopMatters

Image Via / Art.com

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