Che himself affirms, “The true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love,” leaving us another creed to steer us along the road of just causes.

These are times to live this love, turn it into action, into an example, struggle… not a slogan, or a cold image sculpted in bronze, but rather the common man, the everyday person who, without asking a single question, marches off to save lives, unaware that he or she is a hero.

There are human beings who are beyond time, who disregard borders to give themselves to the world, even dashing the dreams of their enemies, like Che’s in Higuera, who took his life without knowing they were handing him over alive, forever.

As the poet sang: …Che has no other road to take / other than that of resurrection / and remaining to the left of men / demanding that they quicken the pace / for centuries on end /Amen.

On the 175th anniversary of the Bronze Titan’s birth, and the 92nd of the heroic guerilla’s, the President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, recalled on his Twitter account: “Maceo and Che are always present in our daily struggle, in our conquests, in our aspirations as a nation, in our commitment to solidarity, in our patriotism.”

During the difficult days of October 1962, Che said that the whole of Cuba was a Maceo, and years later, amidst the grueling hardship of the special period, and the struggle for the return of the boy Elián González, Fidel reaffirmed our decision to resist and win as an eternal Baraguá, in reference to Maceo’s historic refusal to surrender.

Maceo’s name continues to serve as a call to combat, and provokes, in the spirit and attitude of Cubans, the same emotions that Martí discovered in the General: “He loves the country so much that when he speaks, alone with his oath, of its reality, of the fire within it, joy illuminates his eyes, and forms a knot in his throat.”

This is how he was remembered in his hometown, with a floral wreath in the name of the Cuban people, by a representative group of Santiago residents, in the Plaza de la Revolución that honors his name, where 23 giant machetes bear witness to his struggle and a flame of eternal life burns.

TRIBUTE IN SANTA CLARA

As Che’s city, the current epidemiological situation presented no obstacle for Santa Clara to commemorate the births of Antonio Maceo and Ernesto Che Guevara with several activities.

Once again, the Memorial Sculpture Complex that is honored to bear the name of the Heroic Guerrilla served as the main venue of the tribute that began with the placing of floral wreaths alongside the bust of the Bronze Titan and at the Memorial where the remains of Guevara and his comrades in struggle in Bolivia rest, in a ceremony presided by Yudi Rodriguez Hernandez, president of the Provincial Defense Council. .

During the day, in which Party and Young Communist League membership cards were presented to a group of outstanding workers and students at Marta Abreu Central University, Ché’s work as an internationalist doctor was recalled, and gratitude for the efforts of Cuban medicine in the current battle against COVID-19 expressed.

Performances by recognized artists from several provinces and other Latin American countries were streamed across the planet – via an online transmission – from the Memorial Sculpture Complex, singing to these two giants of Our America.

To honor the anniversaries, a brigade of outstanding youth took part in volunteer work at the Las Villas Front Combatants Mausoleum, doing needed maintenance in the gardens and cleaning niches where the remains of those who fought alongside Che rest, while several groups of workers joined the initiative on the production front.

(Source: Granma)

“Che was one of those people who was liked immediately, for his simplicity, his character, his naturalness, his comradely attitude, his personality, his originality … the type of man who, when a difficult mission must be completed, doesn’t wait for you to ask him to take on the mission …”

“This was one of his principal characteristics: his willingness to instantly volunteer for the most dangerous mission. And naturally this aroused admiration – and twice the usual admiration, for a fellow combatant fighting alongside us who had not been born here, a person of profound ideas, a person in whose mind dreams boiled of struggle in other parts of the continent, and who nonetheless was so altruistic, so selfless, so willing to always do the most difficult things, to constantly risk his life.”

“Che was an incomparable soldier. Che was an incomparable leader. Che was, from a military point of view, an extraordinarily capable man, extraordinarily courageous, extraordinarily aggressive. If, as a guerrilla, he had his Achilles’ heel, this Achilles’ heel was this excessively aggressive quality, his absolute contempt for danger.”

“Che was a master of war… Che was an artist of the guerilla struggle…The artist may die – especially when he is an artist in a field as dangerous as revolutionary struggle – but what will surely never die is the art to which he dedicated his life, the art to which he dedicated his intelligence.”

“He was a man of profound thought, of visionary intelligence, a profoundly cultured man… Che, as a revolutionary, possessed the virtues that can be defined as the fullest expression of the virtues of a revolutionary: a man of total integrity, a man with a supreme sense of honor, of absolute sincerity, a man of stoic and Spartan living habits, a person in whose conduct not a single stain can be found. He constituted, given his virtues, what can be called a truly model revolutionary.”

“…That is why we say, when we think of his life, when we think of his conduct, that he constituted a singular case of a most extraordinary man, able to unite in his personality not only the characteristics of the man of action, but also of a man of thought, of immaculate revolutionary virtues, and of extraordinary human sensibility, joined with an iron character, a will of steel, indomitable tenacity.”

“Che’s writings, Che’s political and revolutionary thought, will be of permanent value to the Cuban revolutionary process and to the Latin American revolutionary process. And we do not doubt that his ideas… have and will continue to have universal value.”

(Granma)

The ceremony was attended by Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, first secretary of the Party Central Committee and President of the Councils of State and Ministers of Cuba who, shortly before the ceremony, and together with other Party Political Bureau members, paid tribute to the Heroic Guerilla and the Reinforcement Detachment at the memorial erected in their honor.

The words of Fidel at the solemn wake, when he announced the sad news of Che’s death to the people of Cuba, could be heard once again, moving all in attendance:
“If we want the model of a person, the model of a human being who does not belong to our time but to the future, I say from the depths of my heart that such a model, without a single stain on his conduct, without a single stain on his action, without a single stain on his behavior, is Che! If we wish to express what we want our children to be, we must say from our very hearts as ardent revolutionaries: we want them to be like Che!”

This oath, “We will be like Che!” was then repeated by 50 elementary school children who were presented with their blue kerchiefs identifying them as members of the José Martí Pioneers Organization.

During the ceremony, ninth grade pupil Leyanis Águila, and pre-university student Sara Mary Vega, spoke on behalf of Cuba’s new generations who have grown up with the example of Che, and who have the enormous responsibility of continuing one of his greatest legacies: the Cuban Revolution.

Artists from the province also paid homage to the Heroic Guerilla, performing songs and reciting poems dedicated to Che.
Also participating in the political-cultural act were members of the Party Political Bureau, the Central Committee Secretariat, and vice presidents of the Councils of State and Ministers, as well as senior officials from the Party, government, youth and mass organizations, Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Ministry of the Interior, and others.

Relatives of Che and his compañeros in Bolivia were also present, as well as a delegation of combatants from the invading columns of the Battle of Santa Clara.

(Granma)

The brigadistas, visiting sites linked to the Heroic Guerrilla through October 15, participated in the central act to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his assassination in Bolivia, October 8, at the memorial complex that honors the legendary Comandante in the city of Santa Clara.

Other sites visited include the Cueva de los Portales, in Pinar del Río, the Morro-Cabaña complex in Havana, the Las Villas Front Memorial and Mausoleum, the Armored Train Museum; the monument to the martyrs of Sancti Spíritus; the Camilo Cienfuegos Sculptural Complex; El Pedrero in the municipality of Fomento; and the Cemetery of the Martyrs of Column 8.

Argentine brigadistas Claudia Menéndez, Loli Bracamontes and Ana Tenaglia, told Granma International that the figure of Che today helps reclaim the sense of struggle and strengthen the masses in the face of the onslaught of neoliberal capitalism. They bring a message of solidarity, while continuing to ask about the whereabouts of activist Santiago Maldonado, defender of the rights of the Mapuche people, and call for the release of political and social leader Milagro Sala.

The friends are active in the Argentine Cuba Solidarity Movement (MASCUBA) in the city of Córdoba, which is undertaking various activities throughout this year and the next to honor several important historic dates relating to the island. Next June 14, they will commemorate the 90th anniversary of the birth of Ernesto Che Guevara; and 2018 will see activities to mark the centenary of the Argentine university reform of 1918, a movement which spread around the world, promoted in Cuba by student leader Julio Antonio Mella. These events will culminate with activities to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution on January 1, 2019.

Claudia Menéndez denounced the suffering of her people, due to the sale of national heritage to monopolies; the rise in unemployment; as well as the criminalization of protests and the persecution of trade union leaders, activists and social movements underway in Argentina today. “We also denounce the media war imposed on us through various means, where lies are spread and news misrepresented in order to ideologize the population toward passivity in the face of neoliberal measures,” she stated.
Meanwhile, Ana Tenaglia commented on the huge protests held in recent months in several Argentine cities over educational reforms, against unemployment and the rising prices of basic goods.

She added: “In these circumstances, Che is alive, showing the way forward in our struggles. He helps us to breathe every day, so we do not tire, on the basis of his concepts, his bravery and his internationalism.”

Her thoughts were shared by Loli Bracamontes, who defined Che as the hope of a better future, to encourage us that another world is possible.

Meanwhile Bagueli Gonatas, from Greece, noted that the austerity measures implemented in his country have generated widespread discontent at the increase in the cost of living, taxes and unemployment. “We want people to understand that we are fighting against a common enemy that is imperialism in all its manifestations, especially that of the United States.”

For these reasons Gonatas joined the Greek-Cuban Solidarity Association and the José Martí Cultural Society. “My work has been to translate from Spanish to Greek various articles about the Revolution to be published on blogs and alternative websites,” he explained, adding that along with other compañeros he organizes groups that wish to visit the island or join the international brigades. Today they have a national network to attract people and raise awareness about the benefits of this initiative.

“Our organization,” he noted, “has as its purpose the denunciation of any policy of the Greek government that does not respect Cuba’s sovereignty; we challenge the blockade and travel bans year after year, saying that no president, law or policy can prevent relations with this courageous people.”

Viviana Mejías Castrillón, from Colombia, explained that the Solidarity with Cuba Movement in Bogotá accompanies the Cuban Revolution on all fronts of its international battles, firstly by calling for an end to the criminal U.S. economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed for more than 50 years; for the return of the territory illegally occupied by the Guantánamo Naval Base; and U.S. interference in Cuba, specifically through radio and television broadcasts.

She explained: “Right now, we are holding lectures on Fidel’s thought in Bogotá, together with the Alba-movimiento organization, composed of different social groups. We have come together to study the contributions of the Comandante en Jefe and to continue his legacy. In November, we will organize the national meeting of solidarity with Cuba groups in the city of Barranquilla, where we will invite several Cuban intellectuals to update us about the country’s history and current reality. Today we are grouping together to collect donations that we will deliver to Hurricane Irma victims.”

Her compañero, Ramón Jaramillo Correa, reported that the city of Medellín has seen various activities in schools, workplaces, and local parks to publicize U.S. interventionist and hostile policies against Cuba. There, activists also intend to carry out a variety of activities next year to commemorate Che’s birthday, the 60th anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, and a tribute to Camilo Cienfuegos to mark the 60th anniversary of his disappearance, on October 28, 2019.

He stressed: “We will pay tribute to the Cuban people for helping us to reach a peace accord in our country. Likewise, Cuba continues to accompany us to enforce what was agreed and to build true and lasting peace.

“We want to thank this sisterly people for granting more than one thousand free scholarships to young Colombians affected by the war. Today, 198 from different provinces have begun their studies, belonging to the most materially deprived social groups, and to diverse ethnic groups. I’m referring to indigenous peoples, Blacks, afro-descendants and campesinos, who are unable to study medicine in Colombian universities because of the high cost.”

He added that they are very concerned about the setback in diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba. President Donald Trump’s conduct is unsurprising, as no U.S. government has been benign toward the Cuban Revolution, he added, noting: “What strikes us is this fabrication of a sonic attack on its diplomats in Havana, something difficult to believe and verify. Firstly, because they apply many security norms in all countries for fear of being attacked, on being the main aggressors of the peoples of the world. Also, because it shows they won’t recognize the reality of Cuba, a completely peaceful country for its residents and visitors.”

Jaramillo spoke out against this new U.S. slander against the island, and called on the current administration to respect the agreements signed under Barack Obama, to advance bilateral relations.

Meanwhile, U.S. trade unionist Rafael Justo Luna, who lives in the Bronx, New York, highlighted the hundreds of murders that take place on the streets of his country at the hands of the police. “We decided to organize and form the Black Lives Matter movement. Every Monday, at seven in the evening, we visit bars, restaurants, businesses and other places to spread information on the people shot for being poor, Black or Latino,” he explained.

“We believe we are witnessing a total genocide,” he stated, noting that the media justifies these murders by inventing stories about victims, and defending police violence. “We demonstrate to the people of the United States that they are assassinated for belonging to the oppressed class, be it immigrants, homosexuals, women or the religious. The lie is covered up by any pretext, such as not paying the fare on public transport, selling cigarettes on the sidewalk, outside a store, or because someone suspected them of carrying a weapon,” he explained.

Justo added that he will share these stories with his fellow brigadistas, to make known the suffering and struggles in the United States. He concluded by saying: “Cuba for us means the rule of the majority over minorities. We admire the courage of the Cubans to rise up with arms and change the fate of the country, toward human betterment. It hurts me to see injustice, and Che is a symbol to rise up every day, and not feel tired or exhausted in the struggle.”

(Granma)

Over the past several days, men and women from a variety of institutions are working jointly to return to its full glory this sacred site where the remains of Comandante Che Guevara and his comrades in arms rest, explained Noris Cárdenas Martínez, director of the Complex.

Among tasks previously completed as part of a months-long plan, to ready the site for the commemoration, was extensive renovation of landscaping, the results of which were severely damaged by Hurricane Irma, she reported.

Thus the need to replant palms downed by the winds, clear fallen branches, and touch up the interior of the mausoleum that contains many plants.

Lighting, and fountains were also improved, Cárdenas Martínez stated, while the marble floors and steps were repaired and polished, among other efforts to prepare the site for this important commemoration of Che’s legacy, to be attended by thousands of Cubans and international guests.

(Granma)

Maira Romero, director of the beautiful complex explained that cleaning the statue of Che, as well as repairs to the base, supports, joints, and metal lettering, figure among the most important works being carried out at the site.

Improvements will also be made to the stairway leading up to the Memorial and the mausoleum where the remains of the guerilla fighter and those of his comrades in Bolivia, rest.

Repair and restoration works are being undertaken in collaboration with the Havana City Historian’s Office and Villa Clara Provincial Cultural Heritage Center, as well as Alemán Michael Diegmann and the MD Projektmanagement company.

(Granma)

Besides the omission in the text, the site at which the Argentine-Cuban fighter and his comrades-in-arms had been buried remained unidentified.

In the mid-1980s, a team of Cuban specialists toured the Bolivian route described by Guevara in this text, with the aim of publishing an illustrated edition of the diary. One of the researchers who worked on this project was well-known author Adys Cupull Reyes.

“We wanted it to be didactic. Che says they ate armadillo and we photographed the armadillo. We wanted to present the animals he mentioned so that they would become known.

“We took cameras. Once there, we started to take photos of the different sites. Based on this work, we followed the whole trail that he describes in his diary, but seeking out and talking to the people.”

The research conducted in Bolivia had the support of local residents, who guided Adys and Froilán González García – also a researcher – through the dense wilderness, to reach those who had the answers to their questions.

“Such was the importance of these modest people who kept that secret for 30 years and took care of the place where the Cubans and Bolivians were buried.”

BOLIVIANS WERE NOT TO BLAME

At the beginning of the 1980s, Cuba and Bolivia reestablished ties. It was in this context that our interviewee traveled to Bolivia.

“We had read about Che, but we only knew of the diary that appeared in 1968. We were interested in learning more, as we had already done research on Julio Antonio Mella and Martí.

“I arrived with a sense and image that the Bolivians were to blame for what had happened. However, this research allowed me to learn about Bolivia and how much they had suffered.

“There were things that were done during the investigation that, if not for the Bolivian people, could not have been done. They cried when the remains were to be taken away. They did not want them to be moved. Where the guerrillas were buried there are now stones and a mausoleum.”

As part of the search for Che’s remains, it was necessary to interview soldiers who were operating in the area near La Higuera at the time of his assassination. “With the exception of those who said that he (Che) was buried, the soldiers who had operated there said that they had cremated him and scattered his ashes. This was an official version and we started to investigate that official version.

“Many people collaborated with us, files were opened, photographs and documents were handed to us. This encouraged us and let us know what they (the Bolivians) were like. It was not as I thought. They were not to blame for anything. They had been victims.”

FIDEL THE VISIONARY

Based on what Che pointed out in his notes between 1966 and 1967, and visits to places he mentioned in the diary, the Cuban specialists were able to confirm that the text published in 1968, with an introduction by Fidel Castro, had been tampered with.

“We realized that the diary was missing pages. In the introduction Fidel points this out when he says: They (the missing pages) have not yet arrived… “What a visionary! He knew they would turn up.

“When we got there, we started to poke around among the Bolivians, in press agencies like El Diario, in the newspaper Presencia, which was widely read, and it turned out that they had already published it (the diary).”

Adys and Froilán were responsible for the images, annotations and photos that appear in the illustrated edition of El Diario del Che en Bolivia, stemming from their stay in the South American country in the 1980s.

“Not only did the names and photos of the places, mountains and people appear, but also the maps of where there was fighting. These are maps we brought from Bolivia. Here, Harry Villegas, a survivor, and Tamayo collaborated with us. They checked and confirmed. It was not something done by one person.

“We also include, apart from the sites, maps and photographs, other aspects of the research; we expanded the voices that appear in Quechua, Aymara and Guaraní, we sought the meanings with the people who spoke these languages in those regions, as we were accompanied at certain times by a guide who knew Guaraní. Later a teacher of that language told us about the words.”

THE MISSION COMES TO AN END

The year 1987 not only marked the 20th anniversary of Che’s assassination in Bolivia, but also the end of Adys’ mission in that country, having been there since 1983.

Speaking to Granma International, Adys explains: “By the end of 1986 we had a series of photos. I think it was at the beginning of ‘87 that we put together an outline with all that material. How could the diary be illustrated to facilitate greater understanding? We already had photos of the guerrillas.

“We took that outline to Comandante Juan Almeida, because he directed a commission on historic subjects. It was a very profound conversation. He looked at everything, made suggestions and at the end he said, ‘All I ask is that you be consistent with what you are going to write and do.’ And they gave the Editora Politica house the task of publishing the diary. We enthusiastically worked day and night, and with the desire to know and make known the results.”

Finally, in October 1987, the illustrated edition of El Diario del Che en Bolivia was published. This time all the pages of the original text were included.

“For the first time the photographs of each of the guerrillas appeared. It was not until the 1980s that people knew who they were. There were pseudonyms, but their names were unknown. There were even some Bolivians whose photos had to be taken in the Central Forensics Department.

“There were those he (Che) said were in the vanguard, in the rearguard, those who had been left out because they had entered the forces but were not reliable and had to be kept apart. You realize just how many they were. In all there were 50, but thousands of soldiers had been deployed around them.”

To date the text has been translated into English, Italian, Turkish and Russian; there are three editions, four reprints, and the diary continues to arouse interest among those who admire this unforgettable internationalist fighter.

THE INFINITE DIMENSION OF CHE

The initial goal of the investigation that took Adys to Bolivian soil was not to write about the Heroic Guerrilla. But the data they collected, the interviews conducted and the places they visited provided enough material to write several books on Che.

All these publications not only honor the memory of Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, a man of epic proportions, but all those who accompanied him between 1965 and

1967, during what would be his last days as an internationalist fighter.

One of the most well-known of these texts is the book La CIA contra El Che, for which the authors were once again helped by the local Bolivian people.

“We had the courage to publish it in 1992. The text is one of the most printed. It received awards from the Cuban Academy of Sciences and the Cuban Book Institute.

“In De Ñancahuasú a La Higuera one can glimpse all the pain and all the sacrifice of those poor people who did not know anything about guerrillas. They knew nothing of what was happening.

“At this time a book called El rescate has been published, it is no longer a case of from Ñacahuasú to La Higuera. Now it’s from La Higuera to Chile. It talks about the survivors, about how those men got out of there, in the middle of the jungle, surrounded by soldiers. This new book contains these facts. It was published in Argentina, but still hasn’t been published here.”

The unique opportunity to have closely studied the final years of Che’s life has left its mark on Adys Cupull Reyes, who in spite of her vast investigative work talks about Guevara with unlimited admiration:

“He deserves it, not just him but all those who fell with him. I think Che would be grateful that all his comrades appear in the diary. We did it with that intention, thinking that it was his desire.”

(Granma)