That evening, Felix meets with the top brass of the Bolivian army. One of the generals is concerned people may not believe this is really the body of Che Guevara.

 

In Haiti, Fidel Castrol denied that this is Che Guevara. We need really approval. And he said," Cut his head and put in for my eye." I said," you are a head of state, you can not present a head of human being as a proof." So he said," Colonel cut both hands put in for my eye." So they cut both hands this level.

 

Che's hands were sent to Cuba as proof that he's dead.

 

It was the next day when Che's body disappeared.

 

Che's body, along with his dead comrades have been secretly buried in an undisclosed place.

 

It was a combination decision between the Bolivian president, the CIA and the generals on the ground there. The idea was to deny Che, a burial place where his followers would find him and be able to render tribute to him.

 

October 18th, Fidel announces Che's death to the people of Cuba.

 

When I heard that Che had died, I didn't believe it. I didn't think it was possible.

 

Around the world, people demonstrate and protest against his execution. In death, Che's legend grows.

 

His face has come to be the quintessential icon for youthful defiance of the status quo.

 

Che's burial site remains a mystery for 28 years until author John Lee Anderson uncovers the truth.

 

I had an interview with the retired general Mario Vargas Salinas, and it occurred to me almost in passing just to ask him. So where's Che's body? Which I knew to be a military secret. And much to my shock, he sat back down and said, "Well, look, I'll be willing to tell you about that." And he told me.

 

The remains of seven bodies are found in Vallegrande.

 

And I will never forget going to this pit and they just told me under their breath, "John Lee, that’s him?"

 

You are aware that you're looking at a crime scene that an entire state had tried to cover up. And so you feel history just wash over you, and I feel great about revealing that history.

 

Che and others are finally laid to rest in a tomb in Santa Clara, Cuba on the 30th anniversary of his death.

 

His beautiful martyrdom helped play out in nurturing and encouraging future generations of revolutionaries in Latin America and elsewhere.

 

Yet che's only real success as a revolutionary had been in Cuba.

 

The problem is that he failed and none of the things that he wanted to change have been changed yet. Most of the people that have contact with Che Guavara and helped him in any sort of the way really paid the consequences.

 

From the whole group in Bolivia, only 3 of us survived, 3 of us Cubans.

 

I'm in part glad that Che did not live to see all the things that are now going on in Cuba because he would die of a heart attack, rage and disgust.

 

Benial now lives in an exile in Paris and he's considered a traitor in Cuba.

 

Che's still remembered in Bolivia, its socialist president Evo Morales is a critic of the United States.

 

If we had Che Guavara today, we would easily be undergoing huge transformations. His principles for a life, sovereignty for Latin America, for the people. Is these principles that we share and take with us as we go forward. Now as when we need a Che, not so much for the arm force but for the defence of humanity.

 

Nobody talks that guerrilla war for any more today, it's all terrorism. It's not Che Guavara, it's Osama Ben Laden and people like him. Che was almost the purist. He didn't agree with terrorism. There were no car bombs in Che's world war. There were no suicide bombers. There was the idea of noble sacrifice. In the end, Che was a paradox, both, someone who's social, indignation and passion, I can empathize with and understand, but someone who's cold logic at a time and his rhetoric. And sometimes whose actions, I found, terrifying. Someone whose aspirations were to change the world, and who tried but ultimately failed.