Cuba tour in Che's footsteps
BY ROQUE GRILLO
The "heroic guerilla", Ernesto "Che" Guevara, may be all the fashion on T-shirts or posters but those people who want to get beyond the romantic imagery now have a special chance to do so. Ocean Travel of Havana and the socialist youth organisation Resistance are organising a January 2001 tour of Cuba called "In Che's Footsteps".
Billed as "a unique discovery of revolutionary Cuba", the 17-day tour will seek to capture the spirit of the Cuban revolutionary leader, murdered by US-backed soldiers while trying to lead a popular revolt in Bolivia in 1967. Participants will visit some of the most significant sites of Che's revolutionary activity in Cuba and meet with veterans of the revolution who worked with Che in Cuba, Congo and Bolivia.
The tour will visit the place where Fidel Castro's small band of revolutionaries, Che included, disembarked from the Granma in 1956 to begin the guerilla war. It will travel to the Sierra Maestra mountains, where the rebels established their first bases. It will see the Moncada Barracks in Santiago, attacked in 1953 by Castro's rebel group in what was to be the opening battle of the revolution. And it will visit the Che Memorial, where his remains are buried.
Participants will also be able to visit schools, hospitals, child-care centres, factories, and historic and cultural sites in Havana and Cuba's provinces to meet with Cubans. They'll even get a chance to soak up the sun on the Caribbean beaches and enjoy the country's sensational night life.
The cost of A$4000 includes return air fares departing Sydney on January 9 and returning on January 26, 13 days accommodation (twin share) in Cuba, plus two meals per day, transportation within Cuba, translation of all programs, reading materials, seminar fees, a qualified trip leader and airport taxes. Options to extend the time in Cuba and make stopovers are available.
For further information, contact Ocean Travel on (03) 9326 4280 or by email at <travel@oceanpress.com.au> or the Resistance national Office on (02) 9690 1230 or by email at <resistance@greenleft.org.au>. On the web, visit <www.cubatravel.com.au> or <www.greenleft.org.au/resistance>.