Cubans remember guerrilla fighter Guevara

SANTA CLARA, Cuba, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Thousands of Cubans Tuesday commemorated the 40th anniversary of the death of Marxist revolutionary leader Che Guevara at his tomb.

The ceremony, attended by an estimated 10,000 people, including former comrades, was led by interim Cuban leader Raul Castro, who laid a wreath at the grave site, Granma newspaper and Radio Cadena Agramonte reported. Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who along with Guevara led the 1959 Cuban revolution that ousted dictator Ruben Fulgencio Batista, did not attend the ceremony.

Guevara was killed in 1967 in Bolivia by troops trained by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

"The validity of the economic and political strategy of Ernesto (Che) Guevara is manifested in Cuba as the society's driving force of development across the country," Ramiro Valdez Menendez, commander of the revolution, said at the end of the ceremony.

Valdez used the occasion to Cuba's humanitarian aid and cooperation in different fields to other countries despite the U.S. embargo against the Communist island nation.

During the ceremony, 210 children who begin elementary school this term received blue bandanna and committed themselves to follow Guevara's example.