Che Guevara

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Lore & Background

Guevara was buried with full military honors on 17 October 1997 after his remains were discovered in Bolivia, exhumed and returned to Cuba. Santa Clara was chosen as the location in remembrance of Guevara's troops taking the city on December 31, 1958, during the Battle of Santa Clara. The result of this final battle of the Cuban Revolution was Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista fleeing into exile. Nearby, in another part of the city, a Fulgencio Batista military supply train derailed by Guevara during the battle also remains in its original location. In October 1997, Guevara's remains, and those of six revolutionaries who died with him in Bolivia, arrived in a motorcade from Havana in small wooden caskets aboard trailers towed by green jeeps. As the remains were unloaded before a crowd of several hundred thousand people, a choir of schoolchildren sang Carlos Puebla's elegy to Guevara, "Hasta Siempre" (Until Forever) and then Fidel Castro declared: "Why did they think that by killing him, he would cease to exist as a fighter? Today he is in every place, wherever there is a just cause to defend. His unerasable mark is now in history and his luminous gaze of a prophet has become a symbol for all the poor of this world." His speech was followed by a coordinated 21-gun salute in both Santa Clara and Havana, while air raid sirens were set off across the length of the island. Work on the complex began in 1982, and it was inaugurated upon completion on December 28, 1988 with Raúl Castro in attendance. The project was conceived by architects Jorge Cao Campos, Blanca Hernández and José Ramón Linares; along with sculptors and José de Lázaro Bencomo and José Delarra (its prime creator). Additionally 500,000 Santa Clara residents contributed more than 400,000 hours of volunteer work in the construction of the sculptural complex, who worked in unison with skilled artisans of the Eliseo Díaz Machado Foundry in Guanabacoa. Many different aspects of Guevara's life are represented throughout the complex. For example, his time in Guatemala and at the United Nations is sculpted, while his farewell letter to Fidel is inscribed in full. The adjacent decorative wall depicts him in the Sierra Maestra consulting with Fidel, beside Camilo Cienfuegos, and in the mountains on horseback. Another section shows Guevara as Minister of Industry performing his usual voluntary work. Lastly literacy tutors, children in schools, and young pioneers are depicted issuing the daily salute that all Cuban children recite each morning "We will be like Che."

The structural complex rests on a rolling hilltop overlooking the city of Santa Clara, and contains a large tiled plaza. At the end of the plaza are two large billboards with quotes by Fidel Castro declaring "Che - it was a star that put you here and made you of this people", and "We want everyone to be like Che." Carved in stone underneath the statue is the well known declaration by Guevara that "One thing I learned in the Guatemala of Arbenz was that if I would be a revolutionary doctor, or just a revolutionary, first there must be a revolution."

A number of elements of the memorial contain a symbolic meaning. For instance, the monument is oriented 190 degrees pointing Che's figure directly towards South America, reflecting his focus and outlook for one united Latin America. Additionally, the 22 foot bronze statue of Che has him carrying his gun rather than aiming, symbolizing that he is "continuing onward". The sling which Guevara wore during the battle, the result of an earlier broken arm, is also etched into the statue but he is not wearing the sling to symbolize "a part of his personality, a man rebelling even against himself." At the base of the memorial is Guevara's motto, "Hasta la Victoria Siempre" (Until the Eternal Victory).

Reader's Guide

A visit to his memorial, just outside the town of Villa Clara, is a fascinating study in both history and passion. Regardless of your political views or your opinion of the man himself, a tour of Che's possessions and the photographic chronicle of his life will offer a rare glimpse into one of the world's longest-standing love affairs between a leader and his people. The site also contains a museum dedicated to Guevara's life and displays artifacts from his childhood, such as his asthma inhaler and books he read in school. At the site, there is an eternal flame lit by Fidel Castro in his memory. From October 1997 to October 2009 over 3 million people visited the memorial site from over 100 countries. In 2008, more than 247,700 Cubans and foreigners visited the sculptural complex. Between 1997 and 2000 ongoing efforts by forensic anthropologists operating in southeast Bolivia yielded the recovery of 23 additional sets of remains belonging to other guerrillas who had perished during the Bolivian Insurgency. All of these were subsequently transferred to Cuba where they too were interred in the Che Guevara Mausoleum. The first of these burials took place on December 29, 1998, the 40th anniversary of Guevara's victory in the Battle of Santa Clara, and consisted of 10 separate sets of remains. A second series of burials was carried out on October 8, 1999 in which the remains of 7 more guerillas recovered in Bolivia were placed in the mausoleum. A final round of 6 interments took place exactly one year later on October 8, 2000 bringing the total number of guerrillas entombed at the site to 30.

Did You Know?

• The mausoleum houses the remains of Che Guevara and 29 fellow combatants killed in 1967 during Guevara's attempt to spur an armed uprising in Bolivia.
• Santa Clara was chosen as the location in remembrance of Guevara's troops taking the city on December 31, 1958, during the Battle of Santa Clara.
• 500,000 Santa Clara residents contributed more than 400,000 hours of volunteer work in the construction of the sculptural complex.
• The monument is oriented 190 degrees pointing Che's figure directly towards South America, reflecting his focus and outlook for one united Latin America.
• From October 1997 to October 2009 over 3 million people visited the memorial site from over 100 countries.