Ernesto Che
Guevara complex declared
a national monument
BY EDUARDO
LUIS MARTÍN—Granma daily staff writer—
SANTA CLARA—The Ernest Che Guevara
monument complex was declared a national monument
yesterday, the 45th anniversary of Che being granted
the status of a Cuban citizen.
Nilson
Acosta, executive secretary of the National
Monuments Commission, read the resolution approving
that just initiative, which took into account the
extraordinary merits of the heroic guerrilla, whose
name has been given to the monument complex of a
plaza, a bronze sculpture and its base and other
facilities. This singular work was built in 1988
with the participation of the people.
From October 1997 to the present day,
more than 1,060,000 people have visited the
memorial-museum, which houses Che’s remains as well
as those of his comrades who fell in Bolivia. One
third of those visitors have come from the four
corners of the Earth to express their admiration and
pay tribute.
Ernesto Che Guevara was a
revolutionary of universal stature, who became a
symbol of humanism, solidarity and internationalism
for the world. He was a central leader in Cuba’s war
of national liberation and led the victory of the
Battle of Santa Clara. Roberto López Hernández,
first secretary of the Communist Party in Villa
Clara, and Mercedes Piñon, the monument’s director,
unveiled the plaque with the inscription of National
Monument. It is located at the entrance to the
museum that houses the documents, photos and other
objets of historical value recounting the life and
work of the legendary guerrilla.
