Cubans pay tribute to Che Guevara 55 years after his death

Cubans on Saturday are paying tribute to Argentinean-Cuban revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara on the 55th anniversary of his capture and subsequent assassination in Bolivia.

In the central city of Santa Clara, some 300 kilometers east of Havana, the traditional tribute takes place at the Mausoleum that keeps his remains and those of the fighters who fell with him as part of the Bolivian internationalist guerrilla group, the Cuban News Agency reported.

On Friday, an artistic gala was held in Santa Clara to recall the man known here as the Heroic Guerrilla, who is considered an icon of the revolutionary movement worldwide and a symbol against social injustices.

Ernesto Guevara was born in Argentina on June 14, 1928. He landed in Cuba on December 2, 1956, along with the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, and 80 other expedition members on board the Granma yacht to start a guerrilla war that made it possible the victory of January 1, 1959.

After the triumph of the Revolution, Che served as president of the National Bank, director of the Industrialization Department at the National Institute of Agrarian Reform, and Minister of Industries.

In 1959, Che was one of the founders of the Latin American News Agency Prensa Latina at a time when Cuba needed to protect itself from media campaigns on the newly-formed Revolution.

From 1965 to 1967, Che fought in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Bolivia, where he was captured and executed by the Army, under orders from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States.