LA PAZ.— Thousands of people, most of them young people from different countries, began a 60-km march to the village of La Higuera in southeastern Bolivia to participate in a vigil in memory of the Argentine-Cuban revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara, who was murdered there 40 years ago.

The march began in the town of Vallegrande, where more than 7,000 people gathered from all over the world. Most of whom had not even been born when Guevara led the guerrilla warfare campaign in Bolivia that lasted almost nine months. The young people filled the town with their multi-colored tents.

The vigil would be the preamble to the main program planned for Monday, which was to feature the participation of President Evo Morales, according to Osvaldo Peredo, one of the organizers of the 2nd International Conference on Che Guevara, which began on Friday with cultural activities, colloquiums, exhibits and musical performances, the AP reported.

The main activity planned for today, October 8, will take place on the Vallegrande landing strip, where Che’s body was secretly buried together with those of his fellow combatants, and where they remained until 1997, when they were repatriated to Cuba. 

Translated by Granma International

Granma 08-10-2007