Santa Clara, Cuba.- Fidel Castro”s historic presence at the Ernesto Che Guevara Memorial in Santa Clara was evoked Tuesday on the occasion of the 93rd anniversary of the birth of the leader of the Cuban Revolution.

The surroundings and interior of the sculptural complex devoted to Che in Santa Clara, capital of the Cuban province of Villa Clara, welcomed thousands of people from several generations, who paid tribute to the Commander in Chief on August 13, his birthday.

On October 17, 1997, Fidel Castro delivered a speech here on the occasion of the arrival of the remains of the Heroic Guerrilla, Ernesto Che Guevara, and his fellow combatants killed in 1967 in Bolivia.

Fidel described the internationalist group as a Reinforcement Detachment, whose remains were laid in niches inside the Che Guevara memorial, lit by an eternal flame, which the Commander in Chief himself first lit.

In the sculptural complex which has already been visited by more than 5,111,600 people from all over the world, on September 30, 1996, Fidel Castro spoke to thousands of Santa Clara inhabitants, who spontaneously gathered to listen to him.

On July 29, 2000, in an open tribune commemorating the assaults on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks on July 26, 1953, the leader of these heroic actions expressed:

‘Villaclareños, victors over difficulties and obstacles, winners of the honor of hosting the 47th anniversary of the day in which the spark of an example and an idea that currently travels the world was ignited.’