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50 Years On: Remembering Che

October 11, 2017 09:02 IST

October 8, 1967: Ernesto 'Che' Guevara was taken prisoner by Bolivian soldiers near the town of La Higuera in Bolivia.
The next day, 'El Comandante' was executed.
50 years later, in the remote corner of eastern Bolivia where Che was killed, thousands gathered to commemorate his death anniversary.

 

 

'Che' Guevara, second from left, with members of the Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional de Bolivia, or National Liberation Army of Bolivia, at Nancahuazu camp in the Bolivian jungle in 1967. Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

People visit the area where Che's remains were found in 1997, during events to commemorate his 50th death anniversary in Vallegrande, Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Photograph: David Mercado/Reuters

Che's last words to Sergeant Jaime Terán, the soldier ordered to shoot him, were, 'I know you've come to kill me. Shoot, you are only going to kill a man', The Washington Post said, quoting Jon Lee Anderson's biography Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life. Photograph: David Mercado/Reuters

A view of the laundry room where Che's body was presented to the media 50 years ago in Vallegrande, Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
'Do not shoot! I am Che Guevara and worth more to you alive than dead,' he had reportedly said as the US-trained Bolivian troops closed in. Photograph: David Mercado/Reuters

Susana Osinaga Robles, a nurse who washed Che's corpse 50 years ago, seen at the laundry room of the hospital.
Che himself was a trained doctor.Photograph: David Mercado/Reuters

Che's children: Celia, left, Camilo, centre, and Aleida, at the ceremony in Vallegrande. Photograph: David Mercado/Reuters

Bolivian President Evo Morales, right, with Cuban guerrilla Leonardo Tamayo 'Urbano' in La Higuera, where Che was executed.
'This is a historic moment, not just for me personally, but for all peoples who struggle for their liberation,' Morales -- clearly a devotee of Che unlike the anti-Communist Bolivian leaders of the 1960s -- was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera.
'To remember the 50th anniversary of Che's death is to remember the struggle for dignity and national sovereignty, and against imperialism,' Morales said.
Photograph: David Mercado/Reuters

A Che supporter at the commemoration event in Vallegrande. Photograph: David Mercado/Reuters

A woman with Che ear-ring at the event to mark the eternal revolutionary's death anniversary.

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