che Not Buried in Cuba

Some interesting breaking news regarding the [very dead] body of che guevara:

On an October night outside the Bolivian city of Vallegrande, Gustavo Villoldo says he secretly buried the body of iconic revolutionary leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara along with two fellow rebels. The year was 1967.

That night, he says he snipped a lock of Che's hair and scribbled down the exact geographical coordinates before dropping the bodies into a common grave.

Now, Villoldo - a Miami Cuban exile hired 40 years ago through the CIA to hunt down Che - has come forward for the first time with his evidence to claim that Che's remains may still be in Bolivian soil and not in a Cuban mausoleum, his official grave site - as Fidel Castro claims.

"In the hair, I'm sure there is a sample of Che's DNA, and I'm willing to have it tested and compared against the remains in his tomb in Cuba," he said.

To prove it, Villoldo would need the cooperation of Che's relatives to compare DNA and that of the Cuban and Bolivian governments to examine Che's supposed remains.

That's unlikely, but Villoldo's claim is sure to add more intrigue to the long-running international debate over one of the Cuban Revolution's most recognizable faces. It's a debate that began in the 1990s when the Cuban government, amid much fanfare, announced it had located Che's bones and returned them to Cuba in 1997.

For the retired 71-year-old South Miami-Dade farmer, it means closing his personal circle with Che, who he calls a "cold-blooded killer" for ordering the execution of hundreds of Cubans before firing squads and the man, along with Fidel Castro, partly responsible for the suicide of Villoldo's father.

"I don't understand these kids who think Che's someone to be admired. The man was a monster," he said. [emphasis mine]

He contends that hundreds of thousands who make pilgrimages yearly to Che's tomb in Santa Clara are being hoodwinked by the Cuban government.

Villoldo said he's one of only four men who were present when Che's body was buried and is positive that he is the only one who knows the grave site's coordinates - and can settle the matter once and for all. [...] Unclassified CIA documents and Che biographies confirm Villoldo's involvement in the case. [...]

Two good things going on in that article. First, it's great to read the truth about che guevara in a major publication. Too often we get false stories of a brave revolutionary hero kissing babies, liberating the poor, and riding motorcycles. Second good thing in that article: the world is reminded that che's dead.