It is one of those figures that hardly leave anyone indifferent. Loved by some and despised by others, Ernesto Che Guevara is the spirit that still exemplifies oppressed in many parts of the world. The myth may be earlier than the date of his death, the 9 October 1967, but thereafter was when the whole world raised to the altars one mavericks souls of history.
Today, His body rests in Santa Clara, in the center of Cuba, in a niche that just stands out among the nearly forty combatants killed alongside him in the last battle fought in Bolivia before falling caught and be killed. And precisely this central position in the room that houses the guerrillas, but that is not ostentatious, or more ornate, even larger than that of the other, symbolizes the attitude of a character renounced material comforts from his youth, when American-trips with its highest expression in the final journey that would lead to Guatemala and, later, a Mexico and Cuba- flaunting their poverty in the letters that crossed with, perhaps, the most important person in your life: Celia de la Serna, mother.
His corpse rests in Santa Clara, in a niche that just stands out among the nearly 40 combatants killed alongside him in the last battle
The remains of Che Guevara, along with half a dozen fighters, were found in a mass grave in 1997. Weeks later, were transferred to the capital Villaclara -dubbed "the city of Che ', ie, the decisive battle that led to the triumph of the Revolution-, where he was received with great honors.
The column under the command of Che had moved westward, being the last month of a 1958 decisive for the new historical stage, whose climax was the taking of Santa Clara. The derailed train museum attests to that victory over government Batista, who had sent a shipment of arms to feed the army, but that Guevara and his men took after derail it using a bulldozer to destroy the tracks, that is also exposed. Soldiers, making up a squad ten times greater than the guerrillas, had no choice but to surrender despite having much more powerful weapons.
Che Guevara is an omnipresent figure in the city
El Che, in command of the column 8 Ciro Redondo, is an omnipresent figure in the city, so revolutionary followers can not escape the charm of "friend of the poor, from the east to the highlands ", as he defined the national poet Nicolás Guillén.
A visit may begin with the aforementioned tomb of Che and armored train museum, that is placed under a huge statue built in 1987 -To 20 years after his death- with his arm in a sling and a mural with guerrilla embossed. Right, on a wall, is the text of the letter he wrote when he left for Cuba. In an adjoining room is one of the most vibrant places associated with Guevara: photographs of children and adolescents, written, Personal helpful, weapons and other objects made of Argentine historical hero.
We recommend up to Capiro hill, from which you can see a good view of the city
Not far away is, on Main Street and in front of a government building, another figure standing with a child in her arms, alluding to the tender facet of a man of extraordinary coherence. His rigor, both guerrilla commander as minister and president of the National Bank of Cuba-preached by example-, was bombproof.
To complete the route, recommended climb the hill from which you can see a good view of the city. La Loma del Capiro, in whose wavy top also celebrated the guerrilla, is a good place to think of strategies that jeopardized the battalion led by Che from that high.
Santa Clara is a city that symbolizes the fall of the Batista regime and whose streets celebrated the victory of the bearded a day of new year 1959, clearing the way triumphantly to Havana. Here, Unlike La Higuera, the people of Bolivia where Che was murdered and whose claim operates more intensity every 9 October, legend roars between the streets and in the imagination when the visitor hovers between the intricacies of the biography of a universal symbol.
