Santa Clara, Cuba, October 8 (PL) Today Cuban Vice President Raúl Castro will lead the national commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the death of Cuban-Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara.

Those attending a political and cultural event last night included family members of the hero, killed 40 years ago after being captured leading a column of insurgent fighters in the mountains of Bolivia.

Others included the families of other fallen comrades who died with Guevara in this Andean country and whose remains are also permanently enshrined beside those of their commander within the monument where last night’s event took place.

Some 10,000 people came together in the city’s plaza, where the heroic fighter led one of his most important military victories, the taking of Santa Clara in December of 1958.

In recent days, a variety of tributes to Guevara have taken place in different places around the world; the most important have included those in Vallegrande and La Higuera, Bolivia.

Translated by Granma International

Granma 08-10-2007