Santa Clara's Che Guevara Memorial and Museum
Che Guevara Memorial Memorial and Museum

By way of introduction to the Santa Clara Monument and Memorial to Che Guevara "El Guerrillero Heroico" (heroic guerrilla), we share with you the words of Cuban sculptor José Delarra who created it.
José Delarra, creator of the Che Memorial

José Delarra, creator of the Che Memorial. His paintings, art and sculptures have been displayed in 40 countries.
What was your idea for the complex?

My idea was to pay homage and perpetuate the memory of Ernesto Che Guevara and his comrades who fought along side him in Bolivia.

Who provided the labor?

Architect Blanca Hernández worked with me, building my ideas into reality, and architect Alberto Cao designed the meeting area in the Plaza. They both designed the Memorial with my authorization. The actual construction involved more than 500,000 people from Villa Clara who volunteered their labor without receiving a penny. A majority of the original members of Column 8 still alive volunteered every weekend (Column 8 was Che's battalion in the fight against Batista). And of course the skilled artisans of Eliseo Díaz Machado Foundry in Guanabacoa.

When was the project begun?

We started in 1982, and the complex was inaugurated on December 28, 1988 with the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces Raúl Castro in attendance. This was the 30th anniversary of the date Che took Santa Clara.

Describe ideas behind the complex.

The monument is orientated 190 degrees pointing Che's figure directly towards South America – reflecting his focus and outlook.

Many different aspects of Che's life are represented throughout the complex. For example, his time in Guatemala and at the United Nations is sculpted. His farewell letter to Fidel is inscribed in full. It has more than 2,000 characters chiseled into a six meter column.
Bronze sculpture of Che in Santa Clara

Bronze sculpture of Che stands 6.8 meters (22.3 ft).
Crowning the column is a bronze figure of Che 6.8 meters high, wearing the loose clothing of the guerrilla with gun in hand. His asthma inhaler visible in a pocket. Che doesn't carry his gun ready or aimed, because he is a guerrilla continuing onward. Che's arm is in a cast from a fracture suffered in Bolivia. I depicted it out of the sling for historical fact, but also not using the sling was part of his personality, a man rebelling even against himself. At the base is his phrase, "Hasta la Victoria Siempre" (Forever Onwards Towards Victory).

The adjacent decorative wall measures 6 meters high by 18 meters wide and depicts Che in the Sierra Maestra consulting with Fidel. Next is Che with Celia Sánchez Manduley; with the Comandante Camilo Cienfuegos; in the mountains on horseback followed by the group of combatants who marched with Che from east to west. Most of combatants portrayed are comrades who later died heroically fighting at Che's side in Bolivia. Also reflected is the meeting to unite the revolutionary forces held in El Pedrero and the decisive assault on the armored train that led to the capture of Santa Clara. Finally, the figure of Che, after his victory in this military operation that was so important.

Another section shows Che while as Minister of Industry performing voluntary work. Another relief describes youth as the "fundamental clay in our work," literacy tutors, children in schools, and young pioneers issuing the salute "We will be like Che."

I used very pure geometrical elements – rectangles and squares – representing Che's persona, very steady, very strong.

What happened in 1997 when the remains of Che and most of the other 38 who fell in Bolivia in 1967 were found and returned to Cuba?

Alberto Cao, the architect of the Memorial, wanted to change its name to Mausoleum. I opposed this word because it is derived from King Mausolus of Alicarnaso whose funeral monument was made of gold, marble, and other wealthy materials. Che would never have wanted to be in such a Mausoleum. So, we stayed with the name Memorial and kept it very moderate. I modeled the faces for niches of the 38 companions that fell in Bolivia, and although not all of them have been found, they are symbolically present, including those of different nationalities: Bolivians, Peruvians and Argentinians, as well as Tania (Haydee Tamara Bunke Bider, better known as Tania the Guerrilla) whom we consider to be Cuban.
Fidel: If Che had realized his plans in Bolivia, perhaps today the world would be different

If they could have realized their plans, perhaps today the world would be different, said Fidel Castro of Che and his Bolivian rebels.
Postscript: On October 17, 1997, President Fidel Castro presided over a ceremony held at the Ernesto Che Guevara Memorial to re-bury the remains of Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara and fighters from the Bolivian excursion. He said in part:

"We didn't come to say goodbye to Che and his heroic comrades. We came to receive them.

"I see Che and his men as a reinforcement troop, as a military detachment of invincible combatants, that this time included not only Cubans, but also the Latin Americans that came to fight by our side and to write new pages of history and glory... the invasion from the Sierra Maestra over immense and unprotected ground and the capture of the city of Santa Clara with only a few men, along with their other actions, are a testimony to the heroic feats of which they were capable. Their ideas about revolutions in their homelands and in the rest of South America were feasible, despite the enormous obstacles. If they could have realized their plans, perhaps today the world would be different."