Che Guevara Tribute

international | anti-capitalism | news report Thursday July 03, 2003 21:21 by Gaz - im unemployed..but hey thats capitalism

about 3 weeks late but ive been busy.

On June 14th Cubans marched, held ceremonies, watched special television programs and in other ways paid tribute to legendary leftist guerrilla Ernesto "Che" Guevara on the 75th anniversary of his birth.

Most people don't realise that Che had Irsih roots. Che's grandmother, Anna Isabel Lynch, was born in the west of Co. Galway

On March 13th 1965, the Irish Times journalist Arthur Quinlan interviewed Che at Shannon Airport during a stopover flight from Prague to Cuba. Guevara talked of his Irish connections through the name Lynch. He told Quinlan of his Grandmothers Irish roots in Galway. Later, Che, and some of his Cuban comrades, went to Limerick City and adjourned to the Hanratty's Hotel on Glentworth Street. According to Quinlan, they returned that evening all wearing sprigs of Shamrock, for Shannon and Limerick were preparing for the St. Patrick's Day celebrations.

Guevara, born in Rosario, Argentina in 1928, attained almost mythical status after his death in the jungles of Bolivia in 1967. More than 30 years later his iconic image as a bearded revolutionary wearing a beret remains a symbol of protest around the world.

"Che" became one of President Fidel Castro's most important commanders during the cigar-chomping rebel's successful 1959 revolution against the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.

Guevara went on to hold key posts during the first year's of the Cuban revolution, before leaving to fight guerrilla wars in Africa and Latin America.

Around 100,000 people gathered in Santa Clara, the capital of central Villa Clara province, to honor his memory.

Guevara's remains rest in a mausoleum in Santa Clara, the scene of some of his most famous combat exploits, along with those of other killed with him by the Bolivian army on Oct. 9, 1967 as they attempted to spread the Cuban revolution to that country.

Che's remains, minus his hands, were returned to Cuba in 1997.

Cuba's state-run media planned special programming on "Che" throughout the day, and a cultural spectacular was scheduled for Saturday evening, which was attended by Cuba's leadership, including Castro.

Cuba has promoted "Che" as a symbol of revolutionary virtues, sacrifice and internationalism inside and outside the country since his death.

Castro, during a recent visit a few weeks ago to Guevaras homeland, Argentina, called Guevara "an extraordinary human being of great intelligence and culture, with an enormous sense of solidarity."

Cuban Grammar school students, called "young pioneers," salute the flag every morning with the slogan "pioneers for communism, we will be like Che."

An international photo exhibit of Guevara, whose image is considered among the most distributed in the world, opened on his anniversary in Havana.