Day of ‘Che’ Guevara lookbacks
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
The 40th anniversary of the death of revolutionary icon Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara has sparked an abundance of retrospectives in the Latin American media, notably in Argentina, where he was born and reared, and in Bolivia, where he was executed on Oct. 9, 1967.
The La Paz newspaper La Razon daily refers to ‘the Asthmatic Quijote,’ referring to Guevara’s lifetime struggle with asthma.
A survey by the Argentine newsmagazine Veintitres looks at the women in Guevara’s life. The magazine named Guevara, rugby-loving son of a genteel family of aristocratic pedigree, Argentina’s top political figure of the 20th century, topping another legend, Eva Peron.
Pagina/12 newspaper examines Guevara’s mixed cinematic legacy.
The Brazilian newsmagazine Veja looks behind the myth in a critical take on Guevara.
The Argentine daily Clarin traces Guevara’s footsteps in Bolivia during a youthful trip (1953) with boyhood pal Carlos ‘Calica’ Ferrer, part of a big multimedia package. Clarin even got a rare glimpse at the original copy of Guevara’s poignant diary of his Bolivian guerrilla campaign. The original notebooks, which at one point were rescued from the auction block at Sotheby’s in London, are now safely ensconced at the Central Bank of Bolivia.
A decade ago, Cuban forensic anthropologists in Bolivia solemnly removed what were believed to be Guevara’s remains, along with those of six fellow guerrillas: three Cubans, two Bolivians and a Peruvian. A mausoleum now houses the remains in Santa Clara, site of Guevara’s signature military triumph during the Cuban revolution. Guevara reigns as a kind of selfless, secular saint of the revolution. But the Spanish newspaper El Pais raises doubts about whether the bones in Cuba really are Guevara’s, to the dismay of Cuban officials.
Posted by Patrick J. McDonnell and Andrés D’Alessandro in Buenos Aires
Photo: Guevara’s face is everywhere in the Andean hamlet of La Higuera, where villagers sell memorabilia bearing his image or offer to show visitors stops on the ‘Che Tour.’
(Andrés D’Alessandro / For The Times)