'The Life and Legacy of Che Guevara DVD and Lecture'

by pat c Tue Dec 13, 2005 16:16

I hope the meeting goes well, I thought you might be interested in this extract. The full article is at the link below.

"DR Congo's rebel-turned-brain surgeon
By Mark Doyle
BBC World Affairs Correspondent


A Congolese rebel-turned-brain surgeon, who worked with the Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara, is the subject of a planned film by an anthropologist who struck up a friendship with him before he died late last month.

Ilanga had hoped to return to DR Congo before his death
Freddy Ilanga worked as Che Guevara's translator when the South American went secretly to the Congo in 1965 with a mission to foment revolt against the pro-western regime in Kinshasa shortly after the assassination of Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba.

Guevara's mission failed and he was chased out of the region by white mercenaries led by Colonel "Mad Mike" Hoare.

He returned to Cuba, followed shortly afterwards by Mr Ilanga, who trained as a doctor specialising in paediatric neurosurgery. "