- Title: BOLIVIA: Bodies uncovered of supposed Che Guevara followers
- Date: 21st August 2009
- Summary: LA PAZ, BOLIVIA (AUGUST 17, 2009) (REUTERS) TORRICO IN INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) TORRICO, SAYING: "We decided that the relatives association ASOFAMD would be in charge of the direct contact with the families [of the disappeared guerillas]. It is important that the families participate and help us, for example, in doing the DNA identifications."
- Embargoed: 5th September 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,History
- Reuters ID: LVAB06BDIAWHV6ZGDZNPXU3VA01B
- Story Text: Forensic investigators have uncovered the bodies of five people believed to have carried on the revolutionary cause of Ernesto "Che" Guevara in Bolivia, after the Argentine communist was captured and shot there in 1967.
The bodies were found in various sites near the town of Teoponte, located 150km (95 miles) north of the capital La Paz, where it is thought many of Che Guevara's followers fled to after his execution in the province of Santa Cruz.
An Argentine-born medical doctor, Guevara was Fidel Castro's lieutenant in the 1959 Cuban revolution. His attempt to spark another subversive movement in Bolivia in 1967 was stopped after seven months of fighting in the subtropics.
Work at the site began five weeks ago, and officials say they believe many more of the 67 guerrillas that formed the Teoponte resistance could still be found.
"There are 19 sites that have been identified that we have been working at over the last year. There are sites that still haven't been touched. The sites are spread out. It seems that each one of [the guerrilla fighters] went off by themselves and when [the soldiers] found them they killed them," said Justice Minister Celima Torrico.
The investigators -- a team made up of Bolivian and Argentine forensic scientists -- were led to the burial sites by testimonies taken from local residents at Teoponte, who said they saw the guerrillas being killed.
The discovery hasn't come without controversy, however, with some of the residents saying they saw the guerrillas being executed after they had surrendered to the CIA-backed Bolivian army that was hunting them.
"These men gave themselves in [to the army] voluntarily. I lived here before. They came down, were captured and right there they were killed and then they brought them here to bury them. The others were buried on the other side," said Teoponte resident Jaime Medina, one of the people interviewed by the forensic team.
Investigators working at the scene say the excavations have not only unearthed the ground, but also many stories from the local people that have been buried for nearly 40 years, that tell of the atrocities that happened in the area during the country's series of 1970s dictatorships.
"Without the collaboration of the town this would have been impossible. That has to be said because up until now, the history of the guerrillas in Teoponte was spoken about behind closed doors, because the repression was so brutal, the people only talked about it in their homes," said Argentine forensic investigator, Alejandro Rodriguez.
The discovery initially provided a lot of hope to relatives of the lost guerrillas, who say their family members disappeared in 1970, three years after Che Guevara was executed.
But now some of them are concerned that the government is trying to cover up what exactly happened in Teoponte.
Marta Montiel, from neighboring Chile, said her father Tersio Montiel fought alongside Ernesto "Che" Guevara, and has previously gone on hunger strike to demand that the Bolivian government declassify documents she believes will reveal his resting place.
"Keeping the relatives away from the excavation sites raises the suspicion that the Ministry of Justice has an agreement with the Armed Forces to stop the truth being uncovered, and even worse, it shows that there is an intention to cover up human rights crimes," Montiel said in a news conference on August 13 in La Paz.
The government says however that it is trying to work with the relatives of the disappeared guerrillas, especially as the identity of the bodies will need to be confirmed by DNA samples.
"We decided that the relatives association ASOFAMD would be in charge of the direct contact with the families [of the disappeared guerillas]. It is important that the families participate and help us, for example, in doing the DNA identifications," said Justice Minister Celima Torrico.
The administration of current President Evo Morales is the first Bolivian government since the dictatorship period to make dedicated efforts to investigate the atrocities of the dictatorship period, and recently uncovered torture cells in the basement of the Ministry of the Interior where around 2,000 political prisoners were held and tortured. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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