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LA PAZ, Bolivia, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Cuban investigators said on Monday they
discovered in Bolivia the remains of the only woman to fight with Ernesto "Che''
Guevara's band of revolutionaries during his 1967 campaign there.
The Cuban team found the bones of Hayde Tamara Bunke Bider, alias "Tania",
in the town of Vallegrande, 480 miles (770 km) southeast of the capital La Paz
and about two-thirds of a mile (1 km) away from where the same team unearthed
the bones of the legendary leftist guerrilla Guevara in July 1997.
``The wounds on the remains match up with those of Tania,'' said Cuban
forensic specialist Jorge Gonzalez.
Arm bones at the site were fractured, coinciding with reports Tania was shot
by a bullet that hit both arms. Investigators also found female undergarments,
Gonzalez said.
An Argentine-born medical doctor, Guevara was Fidel Castro's lieutenant in
the 1959 Cuban revolution. His attempt to spark another subversive movement in
Bolivia in 1967 was stopped after seven months of fighting in the subtropics.
Wounded and suffering from severe asthma, Guevara was captured on Oct. 8 and
executed the following day by the Bolivian army. His remains were put on display
for the press and shortly afterward disappeared for 30 years.
Tania -- an Argentine-like Guevara -- was part of a column that was ambushed
in the region of Vado del Yeso, south of Vallegrande, on Aug. 31, 1967.
Witnesses said Tania's body was dragged away by the Rio Grande's waters
before being found on Sept. 6. It was transported to Vallegrande and buried two
days later.
The physical proof also matched testimony by Dora Cardenas, a school teacher
who, together with other women, was granted permission by the military to bury
Tania. The women had put the cadaver in a coffin, guarded it with soldiers and
held a mass.
Gonzalez said Tania's skeleton will be sent to the same mausoleum housing
Guevara's remains in Santa Clara, Cuba.
20:13 09-21-98
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