The Che Memorial in Santa Clara, Cuba

*WS 149 – The Che Memorial in Santa Clara, Cuba*

Santa Clara is geographically the centre of Cuba. A mid-size city where the most important tourist attraction is the Che Memorial. “Che” is the nick name of Ernesto Che Guevara (1928 – 1967) an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician and guerrilla fighter. He was a key figure in the Cuban revolution led by Fidel Castro. After the successful Cuban revolution in 1959 he joined the government as a senior minister. He left Cuba in 1965 to “promote” Marxist revolution abroad. In 1967 while in Bolivia he was captured by the CIA and executed.

So you have fought and succeeded but you gave up the good life and position of power to fight in another arena. And you sacrificed your (only) life. What a Hero! Or what a Fool! The famous image of Che is easily the most popular image in Cuba. Even in Guatemala and Mexico, T-shirts with his image are found everywhere. The common poor all hope for another Che in a new revolution to help them to get out of poverty in this unjust World.  

The Che Memorial was completed in 1988. The 5th photo shows the Tren Blindada Memorial, a place in the city where the guerrilla fighters, led by Che, derailed an armoured government train, the last battle in the revolutionary war. The 6th is a curio photo of a “goat cart”. 

On the same theme of revolution, another story has to be told. A group of 1,400 Cuban exiles, armed and trained by the CIA, landed in the coast in the Bay of Pigs in April 1961 trying to overthrow the communist government, with the help of US bombers. But the Cuban army was ready for them, led by Castro himself. The locals were on the government's side too. The battle lasted only 3 days with the government forces the easy victors. A museum was built on the trunk road near the bay, some 100+ km from Santa Clara, and we visited the place too. The plane is a Hawker Sea Fury, a US fighter plane captured by the Cubans.