Roberto Gonzalez
I had expected more, placed on a...
I had expected more, placed on a pedestal and worshiped as an icon of the city that seems to live by and for Che. But there is the other side of the city, which is much more intimate and elaborate than that presiding over the grand mausoleum and museum that welcomes us into Santa Clara.
You need to walk roughly 15 minutes and leave behind the Monument to the armored train that takes us to the front of the Provincial Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba. Here, the statue, which seems to fill your entire view, shows Che with a small Cuban child (symbolising the next generation) on his shoulders.
And if you were to look more attently, and it's imperative that you do, you can find smaller sculptures incorporated into the revolutionary uniforms, depicting moments of his life. There are also portraits of the 38 men that were killed with Guevara in Bolivia hidden in the belt buckle. The work is the product of the artist Marroyo Basque Casto, who used her son Sandro as a model for the child who Che has on his shoulders. It's worth coming to visit the statue to admire a something slightly different to the typical effigies that you might find of Che on the island.
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