In February 2015 as I flew over Cuba en route to
Nicaragua on an American Airlines flight the on board wifi informed me I was
picking up a signal from Che Guevara's Mausoleum. Little did I know that less than 12 months
later I would be there!
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| Che Guevara's Mausoleum |
The town of Santa Clara is significant for being the site
of the last battle of the Castro revolution.
Here Fidel, Che and their followers spied upon a troop train from the
nearby hills as it made its way into the town.
They stole a bulldozer, blocked the line, captured the troop train and
subsequently took the city. Batiste, now
fearfully aware of the revolutionaries rapid advance from East to West, fled
Havana in his private plane, and three days later the war was over.
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| Recreation of the battle site- storming the troop train |
Che spent some time as a minister in the new
regime, but dissatisfied with this life, eventually went to fight oppression in
Bolivia, where he was captured and murdered.
His body was returned to Santa Clara, the site of his final victory in
Cuba, and is interred here. His
mausoleum is a major visitor attraction and the battle site has been recreated
nearby wth several of the original troop train carriages scattered across the
landscape.
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