Santa Clara’s premier site is a semireligious monument, mausoleum and museum in honor of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara. The complex is just outside the town center and can be seen for miles around with its tall Che statue. The statue was erected in 1987 to mark the 20th anniversary of Guevara’s murder in Bolivia, and the mausoleum below contains 38 stone-carved niches dedicated to the guerrillas killed in that failed revolutionary attempt. In 1997 the remains of 17 of them, including Guevara, were recovered from a secret mass grave in Bolivia and reburied here. Fidel Castro lit the eternal flame on October 17, 1997. The adjacent museum contains a large number of Che photographs – the great poser playing golf and eating what appears to be a hamburger are two of the less expected shots. Other ephemera include guns, letters, medical equipment and a rare late picture of Che shorn and looking uncannily like Brando in The Godfather .
