Bolivia’s Morales lauds revolutionary Che Guevara on 50th anniversary of his death

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Aymara men hold images of Ernesto Che Guevara as they attend a ceremony to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Che Guevara's death in Vallegrande, Bolivia, on Monday. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:26am, 10 Oct 2017Updated: 11:58am, 10 Oct 2017

Bolivian President Evo Morales lauded Ernesto “Che” Guevara on Monday as he led commemorations 50 years to the day since the Cuban revolutionary leader was killed by CIA-trained Bolivian troops.

“The best way to pay tribute to Che is to continue his struggle, an anti-imperialist struggle,” the socialist Morales told an audience including Guevara’s brothers and four children in the mountain town of Vallegrande in central Bolivia.

The ceremony capped five days of special remembrance of the Argentine-born revolutionary in Bolivia, whose government ordered his execution on October 9, 1967, a day after he was wounded and captured in a firefight with a special CIA-trained unit of the Bolivian army.

“El Che fought and died for the liberation of Bolivia and thinking of the liberation of the great homeland,” said Morales, using the socialist term for Latin America.

Bolivian Vice-President Alvaro Garcia Linera (left), President Evo Morales, and Cuba's vice-president Ramiro Valdes attend an event paying tribute to Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, marking the 50th anniversary of his death, in Vallegrande, Bolivia, on Monday. Photo: AP

Morales defended himself against criticism for putting the spotlight on Che at the expense of the Bolivian army that fought Guevara and his rebels as he tried to export revolution to the South American country.

Two members of his rebel unit who survived the gun battle, Harry Villegas Tamayo, and Leonardo Tamayo Nunez, were among the invited guests.