More like Che needed to fight injustice: Aleida Guevara

ALGIERS - Aleida Guevara, the eldest daughter of legendary Cuban-Argentine guerrilla Ernesto “Che” Guevara, said that the world needs “many (like) Che” to fight the injustices against which her father fought and from which human beings still suffer “to an even greater extent”.

Aleida, who is on a visit to Algeria, said that if her father “is (still) alive in the hearts and spirits of many people” it is because the problems against which he fought continue to exist and “the differences between rich and poor are even more marked”.

Aleida, 49, said Latin America is experiencing “a situation of important tension” and she accused the US of being “complicit” in the coup d’etat in Honduras and of threatening the countries in the region with the establishment of military bases in Colombia to impede the initiatives for unity like the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas or ALBA.

“The United States is reacting once again with arrogance to the search for solutions to improve the living conditions of our peoples, and that’s why we need the solidarity of all the friendly peoples like Algeria,” she said Thursday, adding that it is necessary to “join forces to protect the sovereignty” of nations who “suffered from foreign colonialism”.

This is her second visit to Algiers, a city to which her father frequently travelled during 1960s when Algeria was an example worth emulating for African liberation movements after its war of independence against France.

The city’s main avenue along the seaside bears the name of the guerrilla leader, who is much loved by and well-known to Algerians.

Aleida Guevara - who was received Wednesday by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika - said that her stay in Algeria had allowed her “to feel once again the love that this people has for my father”.

When asked about what Che would think of the current situation in Cuba, she said that “he would be very critical of us, but at the same time he would be very satisfied that we’ve been able to survive such difficult situations as we’ve confronted in recent years.”

“Che continued to be a banner of struggle above all for something that people note: he was a very consistent leader and never demanded that anyone do something that he was not able to do. The most important (thing) was his human quality,” she emphasised.

–EFE