For nearly 30 years, the fate of Che Guevara's body remained unknown. In late 1995, a Bolivian general confessed to a writer that Che's body had been buried a few meters from Vallegrande's small airstrip.

A search effort began, lasting nearly one year and involving people from many countries. hundreds of holes were dug. Finally, on July 28, 1997, a team of Cuban geologists and Argentine forensic anthropologists discovered the remains of seven people in two mass graves. One of them was missing his hands. This indicated that the body belonged to Che Guevara. Bolivian government officials later confirmed that the excavated teeth were perfecty matched with the plaster cast of Che's teeth which was made in Cuba before his Congo expedition.

In 1997, all excavated bodies transferred to Havana.

The Burials

On October 17, 1997, 30 years and 8 days after Guevara's death, the remains of Che Guevara and his six comrades who had died with him in the uprising in Bolivia during 1966-1967, were brought from Havana to Santa Clara in a convoy of small wooden coffins on trailers pulled by green jeeps. A ceremony was held, attended by several hundred thousand people, during which a choir of schoolchildren sang Carlos Puebla's elegy for Guevara, "Hasta Siempre" (Forever).

On the same day, the remains of Che Guevara, along with the remains of six other guerrillas, were laid to rest in a specially built mausoleum in the Cuban city of Santa Clara, where he had commanded over the decisive military victory of the Cuban Revolution. Buried with him in this mausoleum are the Cubans Alberto Fernandez Montes de Oca (Pacho), Orlando Pantoja Tamayo (Olo), and René Martínez Tamayo (Arturo), who were killed in the Quebrada del Yuro on October 8, 1967, and another Cuban Carlos Coello (Tuma), who was killed in the Rio Piraí on June 26, 1967, and the Peruvians Juan Pablo Navarro-Lévano Chang (El Chino) and the Bolivian Simeon Cuba Sarabia (Willy), who were executed together in La Higuera on October 9, 1967.

After several years of searching between 1997 and 2000, the remains of many guerrillas that took part in the insurgency in Bolivia, were found by the forensic anthropologists operating in the territory of southeast Bolivia. 23 of them were transferred to Cuba in batches and interred in the Che Guevara Mausoleum in addition to the six guerrillas buried before. The rest remained in their countries of origin at the request of their families. The burial locations of eight guerrillas have not yet been determined. One of them is Cuban, the rest are Bolivian.

Those subsequently buried in the mausoleum on December 29, 1999, at the day of the 40th anniversary of Guevara's victory in the Battle of Santa Clara, were the Cuban Manuel Hernández Osorio (Miguel) and the Bolivians Mario Gutierrez Ardaya (Julio), Roberto Peredo Leigue (Coco), and Aniceto Reinaga Cordillo (Aniceto), who were killed in the Quebrada de Batan on July 26, 1967, Haydée Tamara Bunke Bider (Tania), an Argentine citizen of German origin, who was killed in Vado del Yeso on August 31, 1967, the Bolivians Francisco Huanca Flores (Pablito), Jaime Arana Campero (Chapaco), the Cuban Octavio de la Concepcion Pedraja (Moro), and the Peruvian Garvan Edilverto Lucio Hidalgo (Eustace), who were killed in Los Cajones on October 12, 1967, and the Bolivian Julio César Méndez Korné (Nato), who was shot by his comrades after being seriously wounded on November 15, 1967.

Those subsequently buried in the mausoleum in 1999 were the Cubans Gustavo Manchin Hoed de Beche (Alejandro), Israel Reyes Sayas (Braulio) and Juan Vitalio Acuña Nuñez (Joaquin), the Bolivians Apolinar Aguirre Quispe (Polo), Freddy Maymura Hurtado (Ernesto), Moises Guevara Rodriguez (Moses) and Walter Arencibia Ayala (Abel) who were killed in Vado del Yeso on August 31, 1967.

In 2000, the bodies of six guerrillas were added to the burials in the mausoleum. These were Cuban Eliseo Reyes Rodriguez (Rolando), killed in El Meson on April 25, 1967, Cuban Antonio Sanchez Diaz (Marcos), killed in Peña Colorada on June 2, 1967, Bolivian Serapio Aquino Tudela (Serafin), killed in Iquira on July 9, 1967, Cuban Jose Maria Martinez Tamayo (Papi), killed in Rio Rosita on July 30, 1967 and Peruvian Restituto José Cabrera Flores (El Negro), who was killed in Rio Palmarito on September 4, 1967.

The Che Guevara Mausoleum rests on a rolling hilltop overlooking the city of Santa Clara. Due to its elevated location, it is visible from various points in the city.

The full area in the Plaza Che Guevara, that contains the bronze 6,8 meters high statue of Che Guevara, the museum and the mausoleum, is referred to as the Ernesto Guevara Sculptural Complex (officially, Conjunto Escultórico Memorial Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara).

This world-famous sculptural group is the resting place for the remains of Che Guevara and currently 29 of his comrades who lost their lives during the armed uprising in Bolivia in the period of 1966 –1967.

Murder of Che Guevara and His Comrades

When CIA learned that Che arrived in Bolivia to organize Bolivian peasants, it sent its agents and military advisors to assist the Bolivian army. Che and the 30-35 rebels who had established a base in the forests around Ñancahuazú faced dire circumstances due to lack of support of the locals. With food scarce, they hunted in the forests around Ñancahuazú. Che's asthma was flaring up again.

After a local farmer tipped off Che Guevara's camp in the Yuro Valley in La Higuera, Bolivian Special Forces, consisting of 180 armed men, arrived in the region and surrounded the guerrillas in the Quebrada del Churo on October 7, 1967. In the ensuing clash on the morning of October 8, Che was wounded twice and captured by the Bolivian army.

He was taken to a dilapidated mud schoolhouse in the village of La Higuera, the small town of Vallegrande. The next day, Bolivian President René Barrientos ordered Che Guevara's execution. The US government requested that Che be sent to Panama for detailed interrogation. However, Félix Rodríguez, the commander of the unit holding Che captive, argued that Che might escape and that public pressure would intensify, demanding an immediate execution. Mario Terán, a sergeant in the Bolivian army, volunteered to kill Che. To make the gunshot wounds appear consistent with the story the Bolivian government planned to publicize, Félix Rodríguez ordered Terán not to shoot Guevara in the head, but instead to aim carefully so that it appeared as if Guevara had been killed during a clash with the Bolivian army. On October 9, 1967, Che was shot nine times by Mario Terán and died at 1:10 pm of mortal wounds to his chest and throat at an age of 39.

Following his execution, Guevara's body was strapped to a helicopter landing skids and flown to nearby Vallegrande, where he was laid out on a concrete slab in the laundromat of the Church Nuestra Señora de Malta. Photographs were taken, and his body was exhibited to hundreds of local inhabitants. Several witnesses were also called to confirm his identity. After a military doctor disarticulated the hands of Che for fingerprinting, the hands were sent to Buenos Aires (these hands were later returned to Cuba). The Bolivian army made no statement about where Che Guevara's body was buried or whether it was cremated.