Che Guevara - 40 years after his death

[nekokate]

Thousands visit scene of Che's death 40 years ago
By Jules Stevens in Ville Grande
Published: 05 October 2007

Tens of thousands of disciples of the revolutionary leader Che Guevara made the pilgrimage to Ville Grande in the Bolivian jungle yesterday – the spot where he was executed exactly 40 years ago. And in a sign of the political sympathies of the hordes of students, tourists and revolutionaries setting up camp for the five-day World Che Festival, hundreds of multi-coloured chequered flags, the banner of the Campesinos – the oppressed indigenous people of the Andes – were being hoisted into the air.

Daniela Torrico, organiser of the Che festival, said: "He is like a saint to us because he fought for the Campesino people and he died for his ideals." Claudia Rubindiciles, 26, from Cochabamba, Bolivia, said: "He was a revolutionary and a liberator for the Campesinos. It is important to celebrate his 40th anniversary even though his methods are no longer relevant. At the time violence was the only way."

Natalie Folz, 27, from Toronto, said she had come out of curiosity as Che had always been held in such high esteem in Latin America. "I think he started with good ideals but he went too extremist with his revolutionary ideas," she said.

Louis Vinycomb, from south London, admitted that he had only come for the party. At midnight on Sunday revellers will trek for four hours to light a fire of remembrance at the shrine at the tiny pueblo of La Higuera, which marks the spot where Che was shot at the age of 39 by CIA-trained Bolivian troops.

Music, film and art are planned for the five-day celebration, and, in true South American style, festival-goers will contest the Che cup in a football tournament. Ville Grande and La Higuera are now part of a tourist attraction, the Che Guevara trail, which covers an area of 180 miles in central Bolivia and follows Che's the last days. Like everything else about him, from the famous photograph of the bearded Che in a beret with red star taken by the late Alberto Korda, to his speeches, his last days have been turned into a commodity – part of the global Che brand.

Che himself might be surprised to see so many Bolivians making the journey to the remote eastern mountain town. Forty years ago he had found little support when he came to the country to recruit local miners for his communist revolution that he hoped would set a torch paper to Latin America. Instead he was captured, emaciated and bedraggled, complaining that the Bolivian people were too provincial to understand his ideas.

As celebrations got under way yesterday it was apparent to what degree he had posthumously won over Bolivia. Organisers said that despite having difficulties with transport they expected double the numbers to the last World Che Festival 10 years ago, when several thousand turned up.

And in a further mark of the extent to which the revolutionary outlaw has been transformed into an establishment hero in Bolivia, Che's portrait now hangs in the office of President Evo Morales – the country's first indigenous leader. Mr Morales's election, subsequent promises to re-distribute land and oil and gas profits, and his closeness to Venezuela's Hugo Chaves and Cuba's Fidel Castro, have been labelled part of a new brand of Latin American socialism.

Che's revolutionary zeal was inspired during his travels around South America as a young man, witnessing first hand the impoverished conditions in which people lived. He joined Castro's revolution in Cuba in 1959 and left six years later with the intention of fomenting further revolution but was shot dead in a operation supported by the CIA.


http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article3028705.ece

[luke]

there was an interesting article the other day about cuba and the guy that shot che ...

[faceless]

Should Che Be An Icon?
Forty years after his death, the militant marxist continues to divide left-wingers around the world. Here two prominent thinkers debate El Comandante's legacy.

www.independent.co.uk






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I should have posted this in here earlier, but I didn't think...

[Mandy]

Thanks faceless.

[Salim201]

Great article I wonder if George is still organising that celebration thing for Che's bday, or has that gone?

I'm gonna be covering the march on monday at parliament square on my blog with loads of pics, so if anyone wants pictures and info about speeches in a concise and enjoyable blog (even though I say so myself) please visit!!

artizans.blogspot.com

also like to know if anyones going?

[luke]

[faceless]

Vandals destroy glass monument to Ernesto 'Che' Guevara in Venezuela
By IAN JAMES
Associated Press Writer

A glass monument to revolutionary icon Ernesto "Che" Guevara was shot up and destroyed less than two weeks after it was unveiled by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government. Images of the 8-foot-tall glass plate bearing Guevara's image, now toppled and shattered, were shown Friday on state television, which said the entire country "repudiated" the vandalism. The monument on an Andean mountain highway near the city of Merida was unveiled Oct. 8 by Vice President Jorge Rodriguez and Cuba's ambassador to Venezuela to mark the 40th anniversary of Guevara's death. Chavez venerates Guevara as a model socialist for all Venezuelans. He named a state-funded adult education program "Mission Che Guevara," and murals of the iconic revolutionary have become a common sight in Venezuela.

Police said they had yet to identify those responsible. The Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional published a copy of what it said was a flier found by the monument signed by the previously unknown "Paramo Patriotic Front." "We don't want any monument to Che, he isn't an example for our children," the flier read. It called Guevara a "cold-blooded killer" and said the government should raise a monument in Chavez's hometown of Sabaneta, in the nearby lowland plains, if it wants to commemorate the Argentine-born revolutionary.

The local mayor, Jesus Maria Espinoza, suggested the vandals came from elsewhere. "We can't tolerate people from outside ... damaging something that was unveiled with so much happiness, with so much enthusiasm that day," Espinoza told state television.

The 1.5-inch-thick stele was erected near the top of El Aguila Peak, a popular tourist spot and one of the highest points in Venezuela at 13,143 feet above sea level. Guevara visited this spot in 1952 during his travels through South America, which he recorded in his diary, before joining the Cuban revolutionary struggle led by Fidel Castro.

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Bloody shame.

[Mandy]

Shocking. Exactly what the pro-US minority in Venezuela (or black-ops) would want

Societies round the world are spinning to extremes.

I can imagine The White House happy about this.

[faceless]

Benicio Del Toro attends the Che - El Argentino photocall in Madrid.

You can view the official site (in Spanish) here -

http://www.cheelargentino.com/

[RaulRipp]

Hasta Siempre Comandante
Aprendimos a quererte
desde la histórica altura
donde el sol de tu bravura
le puso cerco a la muerte.
Estribillo:
Aquí se queda la clara,
la entrañable transparencia,
de tu querida presencia
Comandante Che Guevara.
Tu mano gloriosa y fuerte
sobre la historia dispara
cuando todo Santa Clara
se despierta para verte.
Estribillo
Vienes quemando la brisa
con soles de primavera
para plantar la bandera
con la luz de tu sonrisa.
Estribillo
Tu amor revolucionario
te conduce a nueva empresa
donde esperan la firmeza
de tu brazo libertario.
Estribillo
Seguiremos adelante
como junto a ti seguimos
y con Fidel te decimos:
!Hasta siempre, Comandante!
Estribillo


Until Always (English Translation)

We learned to love you
from the heights of history
with the sun of your bravery
you laid siege to death
Chorus
The deep (or beloved) transparency of your presence
became clear here
Commandante Che Guevara
Your glorious and strong hand
fires at history
when all of Santa Clara
awakens to see you
Chorus
You come burning the winds
with spring suns
to plant the flag
with the light of your smile
Chorus
Your revolutionary love
leads you to a new undertaking
where they are awaiting the firmness
of your liberating arm
Chorus
We will carry on
as we did along with you
and with Fidel we say to you:
Until Always, Commandante!
Chorus

[nekokate]

I can't wait for the Del Toro movie to come out. He is a superb actor and I'm sure he'll do justice to Che.