"Bolivia, 7 th June 1997." "All of the material has been created and produced in Vallegrande for the World Wide Web." "Interested persons, of course, are invited to discuss my ideas and seek vengeance against my opinions." "But only if the revenge is not of the physical kind!" "That's clear." "I cannot find music that suits this atmosphere" "I knew this journey would turn out to be an anthropological excursion." "My doubts were confirmed the moment we left Ezeiza airport." "Matias!" "The king of imbeciles, who acts as my assistant, took 15 minutes longer than the other passengers to discover that he hadn't won the Aerolineas prize draw, and then vomited." "Perhaps moved by feelings of guilt, he wanted to speak to me but you can't talk and vomit at the same time." "The path inevitably leads us down towards a stupid hell, no frills:" "Vallegrande." "Mountains!" "There's nothing to see or do in Vallegrande." "It's not even picturesque." "There's a kitchen garden." "Who can tell what they plant or harvest." "Basins without water, moss..." "This is the idea, the fascinating idea of decadence." "The House!" "This is Perla, the dog I adopted." "Here is the corner reserved for the sub-Argentinean slave, alias the utter idiot." "I've been asked to produce this site." "Marco... asked me to come to Bolivia to create a site from here." "From Vallegrande." "A space where locals can express their opinions." "We couldn't reach an agreement, nevertheless, I came." "Have you seen the valley!" "Beautiful, isn't it?" " Not bad." " It looks like Cordoba." "Have you ever been?" " Never." " It's similar to Cordoba." "Then, we have traveled 1000 kms for nothing." "The guy who just entered is Marco, the italian filmmaker who is shooting the movie... for pseudo-humanitarian reasons." "Apart from that detail, I have to admit I like him." "Let's start the projection." "This kind of approximation bothers me." "How long will the Cubans need to find the remains." "I have no idea." "It could take months." "Marco, the producer's on the phone." "Andrés, the sound technician, the only one into music and cinema." "The others..." "We are the most unlikely team that has ever existed!" "Rebeca!" "I'll show you the images." "If he chose the Bolivian soil, and in particular Vallegrande, it's because... he came here, and we want him always to be with us." " And the silence at the end?" " I cut it." "It's boring." "But I think it's the most interesting part of what she says." "You lose the tension." "Did you see her eyes at the end?" "I know, the feelings..." "But it's too heavy." "It was the most interesting." "Yeah, okay." "Tell me who you want to start with." "Let's start with the museum director." "When Don Pedro Lucio Escalante de Mendoza came here, on 30th March 1612 to found the town of Jesus... y Montes Claros de los Caballeros del Vallegrande, he found the Spanish already established." "In that square, the town was founded, and the Spanish flag was raised." "One year later the King of Spain bestowed the noble title "Nobles Hidalgos del Solar"" "on all the inhabitants of this city." "Raising their social status." "Rewarding them, keeping them motivated, for their loyalty which they had to maintain, to protect this city of whites." "The majority of us in Vallegrande, don't want the body of Che to be taken from us." "He has great significance for us." "He's important to us." "Che asked to be left where he died." "That's what he wanted." "If he chose Bolivian soil, and in particular, Vallegrande, it's because he came here and... we want him to be with us always." "His spirit is always with us, isn't that so?" "Don Che Guevara." "Good afternoon everybody." "Here is the news." "We're focusing on local news." "They don't want to give any information." "They don't want to?" "Well, as far as I know, regarding where he is buried, they are not even close." "Frankly, I've no reason to go over there." "I have a perfect view from here with these binoculars." "We are now in the historical town of" "Vallegrande where, it seems, rest in peace the remains of Che Guevara the Argentinean-Cuban guerilla, who died with other comrades fighting against the army on Bolivian territory in 1967." "For the time being, nothing's happening, which is why, on the excavation site, we can quash the rumors surrounding the so called remains of Che." "Which is why..." "Cut!" "Dear friends, there is a lot to film here." "Mainly "nothingness"" "and our reaction to this nothingness." "Everyone seems to be awaiting the moment." "But the moment of what?" "The Cubans are putting down stakes on the airstrip, people look at us as if we were strange animals and General Banzer smiles on the post-election posters." "In the midst of this crap..." "I find myself talking to the dogs." "Stop complaining!" "At least over there something is happening." "Even more than in Paris." "What do you think is happening?" "If they find alien graffiti on Che's shoulder blade, that would be interesting!" "Remember that you are dealing with "the most perfect man of our era"" "as Jean Paul Sartre used to say!" "It makes sense." "No, no, you're wrong." "Che Guevara was a dangerous madman." "A psychopath, a deadly combination" " of weapons and sex appeal." " Sure, you're right." "But he had the strength to affirm that you could become a better person beginning within yourself." "The problem with these characters is they want you to believe in them." "You know how it feels being surrounded for 18 years by people dreaming of revolution in Argentina?" "You are not the only one who has something against militants." "Nowadays, where are you going to find a politician who says what he thinks and who acts accordingly?" "Come on, Michel!" "Che Guevara!" "How many died in his name?" "How many were executed?" "That's bullshit, Blumenkranz!" "You are manipulating history!" "Tell him, Frank." " And you're an idealist." " Leave me out of this." "Rafael, the peasants living there now..." " are they living better now than then?" " Listen..." "Here..." "I'm more and more convinced that if Che's bones aren't under the famous airstrip, at least some of the victims of the 1968 epidemic of stupidity might be buried there." "Folks, nothing's going to happen!" "Whoever says you're going to miss something is talking..." "Sure, nothing's going to happen." "The only interesting thing that could happen would be the arrival of an alien spaceship." "You know..." "This place is so strange..." "I feel like I'm outside of reality..." "Yeah, I feel like I'm living outside of reality." "My friends, see you tomorrow." "Here, for your headache." "Coca leaves." "Coca?" " People chew them?" " You can make tea with them." "To stay well at 2000 m" "I need an astronaut's suit." "Here's today's material." "Three videos to edit." "They have to be ready tonight." "Let's try to edit short cuts." "If Quick Times are not animated enough people will get bored and they'll surf elsewhere." "Matias!" "The tape is ready." "My name is Erich Blossel." "I was born on July 29, 1929." "I grew up in Germany at the time when Adolf Hitler was the Chancellor, during the war that started in 1939 and ended on May 5, 1945." "Well, I... it's incredible how with the passing of time you understand things..." "I presented myself in early January." "I was fifteen and a half, and I volunteered for the army without being conscripted." "Since that time, the smell of rotting flesh has been engraved in my memory." "It's difficult to imagine that such a smell would stay with you for over 40 years." "Almost 50 years." "Once you have memorized a smell like that you immediately recognize it." "The smell of rotting human flesh." "It happened to me here." "At the time, I was 30 years old." "Here you can see the picture of the group that was ambushed." "The first great victory of the Bolivian Army." "See how terrible they look." "Their clothes in tatters, boots held together with wire..." "Here is the photo of Che right after his capture." "He looks serious." "Next to him is a CIA agent, a former Cuban." "Here we see the helicopter that transported Che's body just before it lands in Vallegrande." "Here's one of me next to Che." "I was, how can I say, quite overwhelmed, surprised that before me lay the corpse of the great guerrilla." "This photo is very impressive." "He seems to be looking at the camera as though he were alive." "Che's corpse is very impressive." "I believe that... the discovery of Che's remains will remain a myth." "They won't find Che Guevara." "For various reasons I am convinced that" "Che Guevara is not even in Bolivia." "He could be in the Pentagon or in some other place." "I'm Dr Geronimo Menacho Caballero, native of Vallegrande," "I live in the capital." "I'm a lawyer by profession and I have fulfilled political, civic, administrative and now judicial functions." "I was talking to the farmer just now." "I said, jokingly:" ""This is the land of dead guerrillas, no"?" "He protested of course." ""They've buried no-one here"." "But back then, they could well have buried a few in the farmyard, it was a military zone." "The only restaurant here, which deserves that name belongs to Erich, a former nazi." "It looks like if somebody knows where Che is buried, it might be him." "Some advice." "For Frank and..." "Oh, it's you." " Where's everybody else?" " Who?" "Marco, Rebeca." "Where are they?" "Rebeca is filming aborigines." "And Marco?" "Marco..." "He is lobbying with the Cubans, as usual." "It's the night of Saint John." "There are bonfires." "Want to come?" "Oh good!" "Go on, go!" "Go jump over fires with the natives." "Don't you want to come?" "I've got stuff to do." "Just for a short while." "Just to relax for a bit." "Come on." "Let's go." "There is no sense of humor in this expedition." "What do I have in common with these anthropo-escatologists" "I work with?" "Look." "The Cubans were offended today by a mural painting." "The classical Che wearing his beret was transformed into a wolf-man with a harelip." ""It is a great lack of respect" said one Cuban." "Actually, I was slightly worried, but then I thought about it." "I reflected on it." "We can't really expect much humor from a Cuban, when the "radical" Europeans that are with me, have even less." "I almost forgot that today... is Che's birthday." "The local youths wanted to dedicate to him a music festival which of course my colleagues didn't miss recording." "Here you are." "Time passes, but the people continue to hope that the remains of Ernesto Che Guevara will be found." ""Why all this interest in the body?" Ask the inhabitants." "I can't answer you but tonight something will become clear." "Some say it is to give him a saintly burial, pure and Christian." "Others affirm they want to take him to Cuba where his family can bury him." "The leaders of our village say he will remain here in a mausoleum that they want to erect." "But these are just versions you cannot trust, because it's been proven... that they won't recover Che's remains." "There is nothing to hide." "All the authorities do..." "and the people as well... what is there to hide?" "What crime?" "What?" "There is no crime." "They are free to look for him and spend their money." "It's worthwhile looking for him!" "To me, they can go on forever." "No one can agree on what really happened." "And no one can say with certainty where Che is buried." "So there is no way... we can give a textbook answer to the tourists." "On the contrary, what counts most is the diversity and spontaneity." "Does someone else have something to say?" "In Vallegrande there is enormous cultural and historical diversity." "And also... there are superstitions and big myths, and they are so enormous that it's up to us to take advantage of them." "What else is there?" "You, explain what you were saying before." "Vallegrande didn't sell out on Che, it was due to circumstances." "Back then, Che wanted to bring communism here," "It is not the fault of Vallegrande that he was arrested." "We support him here." "Che was never communist, he was a socialist and he wanted to implant a socialist regime in Bolivia." "The kind of society that Marx had imagined." "This ideals were so great that they cost him his life." "If I was from here" "I would hate them all for making the place what it is today." "Che was the worst thing that could happen to them." "Do you know who this his?" "It's Bernardo Prado." "Note the Micky Mouse hat." "Everybody thinks he is a CIA agent." "Marco, above all." "He's a lot more paranoid than I am." "You know who is the CIA's second man?" "It's the latest news!" "Erich!" "Marco and I, we call him "Rommel"." "And Rebeca?" "She asked a question that, considering her one track-mindedness, quite impressed me:" ""Why would the CIA pay a guy for 30 years to run a restaurant... in a place where nothing ever happens?"" "No one has the answer." "But what's sure is that" "Erich has the answer to a lot of things, and that everyone here is lying, including us." "Inside the living room, I feel good." "I'm alone." "Outside though, I risk the vultures." "Some young guevaristas came by today." "What were they looking for on the Net?" "A) Michael Jackson's photo b) Pantera's photo c) Pink Floyd's photo" "Correct answer:" "A + b + c." "Neither modernity nor folklore to give them a Martian flair." "Vallegrande's youth look for" "Pantera and Café Tacuba's photo." "Yuck!" "These bananas are rotten!" "How can they eat them?" "When I entered the room," "I felt something very strange, from head to toe, like a breeze was whispering to me that Che Guevara had been there." "They had held him captive there." "I felt something, like an air pocket when you're flying." "I left the room, and I told my priest:" ""A strange thing happened to me"." ""Were you overwhelmed?", he said." "I answered no, but I felt it." "I felt something move inside me." "I think that Che... was trying to tell me something." "Vallegrande was occupied by the military." "There were around 2000 soldiers." "I was a kid when they brought the first dead bodies from the skirmishes." "It was very shocking because they had been dead for 3 days already" "and with the way they were presented, the horrible smell, it was unbearable." "But they all came to view the remains, I mean." "We are a rural community... when we were told that one of the fighters was a doctor and another..." "People couldn't believe it..." "They thought they were simple soldiers..." "Nobody knew about the vocation and the aspirations these people had." "You cannot cut this part, it is important." "He is telling how he experienced Che's death." " We have a technical problem." " I'm working, Rafael!" " Just a second." "This file is too big." " We have to send it anyway." "The timing has changed, Rebeca." "What kind of movie you are making?" "An Iranian movie?" "I don't want to do an Iranian movie!" "Don't try be funny." " Rafael, what are we doing here?" " That's what I ask myself every day." "I'm creating a website where the people of Vallegrande... can say what they've never dared to say before." " What are you saying?" " Nothing." "Will you listen to me?" "These people were oppressed for 30 years, under military control, are you listening or not?" "Vallegrande comes to life once every 30 years!" "And that's often, compared to many other places in the world." "You know what the Cubans told me today?" "In Cuba, not a single image of the dead Che" " has ever been shown." " Sounds logical." "Revolutionary heroes should be remembered alive." "Rafael, for the Cubans, Che is considered a missing person." "I want to know why they are looking for the remains." "It's normal for the family to look for the remains." "You believe that version?" "I'd like to know who will get the remains." "Fidel Castro?" "To display them next to a rifle in the Museum of the Revolution?" "Then saying:" " "This is true glory!"" " No, I will take the remains!" "Put them in a show-case, load them on a truck and start a new Freak Show." "I'd take a couple of Camilo Cienfuegos, and exhume them and Jesus Christ, why not?" " The Freak Show!" " Rafael, try to understand... international law considers that." "After 30 years, Bolivia has to give them back." "That's a screen to hide the secret agreements between Fidel and Bolivia." " Give me a break!" " Look at today's page." "Here it is important to know, whose pictures are they, whose images..." ""Havana." ""The year of agriculture." "Fidel," ""at this moment I remember many things:" ""When I met you at Maria Antonia's," ""when you suggested I come along," ""all the tension involved in the preparations." ""One day they came by and asked" ""who should be notified in case of death," ""and the real possibility struck us all." ""Later we knew it was true," ""that in a revolution one wins or dies," ""if it is a real one." ""Other parts of the world" ""request my modest efforts." ""I can do that which is denied you" ""due to your responsibility as the head of Cuba." ""To the new battlefronts" ""I carry the faith you taught me," ""and the revolutionary spirit of my people," ""the feeling of fulfilling the most sacred" ""of duties:" "To fight against imperialism" ""wherever it may be!" ""If my final hour finds me under other skies," ""my last thought will be of this people," ""and especially of you." ""I am grateful for your teaching and your example." ""I will try to be faithful up to the final consequences of my acts." ""I am not leaving to my wife and children any material possessions" ""and I am not sorry about this." "I am happy that it is that way." ""I ask nothing for them, as the state will provide them with enough to" ""live on and receive an education." ""Hasta la victoria siempre." "Patria o Muerte." ""I embrace you with all my revolutionary ardor." "Che."" "They speak of him as the "Commandant of the Americas", where did they get that from?" "Everything has a limit, no?" "Without Fidel, he would never have become a commandant." "Just because in Cuba he was considered a hero, obviously... a man of courage... you can't say Commandant of the Americas when Cuba is just a tiny island." "If you put your finger on a map, you cover Cuba entirely." "You can still see the rest of America, though." "I cannot accept that." "It really makes me angry." "We camaramen can't work without the journalists." " We've been here for a week." " Sorry but I'm under orders." "What would you do in our place?" " Please, I don't want any problems." " Let's just all go through!" " No!" " We'll stir up a scandal!" "It's better for you if we go in altogether." "You can pass today, but I want you out in 15 minutes." "I can accept that you impose restrictions of 5, 10, 20 meters, but we, the press, must be allowed to stay here." "On an international level, if the news happens at 10 a.m. And we communicate it at 12 p.m." "It isn't news anymore." "And we lose our jobs." "I'm a correspondent for CNN, and if I tell this to my boss he'll laught at me." "Let's find a solution." "One international camera to be present all day for all of us." " That's not possible!" " Why not?" "I'll tell you something." "If you want to film..." " you must get authorization." " Where do we get it?" "From the Ministry of the Interior." "Let's call them right away." "You are not allowed to film here." "We'll let you know when you might enter." "I want to talk to your superior." " "What could I do, Marco?"" " I must treat you like reporters." ""Can he distinguish between a filmmaker and a journalist?"" ""Why not?"" "You can film for 5 minutes in the morning and 5 in the afternoon." " This is cultural censorship!" " "You're too straightforward!" "A shitty character."" "I defend the culture of my country, you defend the culture of yours." " "I can't believe it!"" " Please, leave the area." "On Ministry orders, this area is restricted." "Leave." " "Go on like this, we're going to fuck up." - "It's my fault, isn't it?"" "Turn off the camera." "Leave." " "I had to leave." - "They threw you out."" " Censorship..." " Leave." "Sure, if you had been in my place it would have gone better." " Surely I'm more tactful." " Yeah, tactful!" "It's noon, they've cut off the water." "I haven't washed for three days." "What's this, Rafael?" " Are these my helicopters?" " No, they are DEA." "This is not my material!" " Of course it is, darling!" " What's this soundtrack?" "I modified it." "How could you, without asking my permission?" "This is already on the site?" "It's a lie!" "If you don't see a helicopter flying, it's not a helicopter!" "You're lying to the people!" "Rafael, why are you here?" "I bring the artistic touch to your work, honey." ""Which is worse?" ""The Cubans who don't vote" ""or us voting for the enemy?"" "I'm sorrounded by no-lifers who are on the trail of the supreme no-lifer." "I tried to explain, but it was hard." "Try telling Rebecca... to go get a life!" "From the point of view of a living person nothing these people do makes sense." "From my point of view, for example, as someone who needs affection and love..." "And here I am, alone." "Blumenkranz!" "I agree with you..." ""Nasties" are bad because they don't fuck." "Speaking of fucking..." "Yoko, are you online?" "Let me see the gothic cathedrals." "Please, Yoko, answer." "Turn on your web-cam." "Why the hell are you off-line?" "You're not there!" "Here is today's news." "The ministry has forbidden Marco to film at the airstrip." "I would've filmed anyhow." "Why are we here?" "Either I film what I'm interested in or I go home." "This morning Marco asked me to write to the Minister of the Interior." "I almost told him to fuck off." "A letter in the morning!" "You know how good I am at that kind of stuff." "So... to honor my mission as an independent spy" "I agreed." ""Your Excellency, blah, blah..." ""Being a person of high moral standards," "I'm sure you see to it that the law is strictly enforced."" "One look at a minister is enough to make you lose all hope." "They short-circuit everything." "This looks harder." "Here we have a softer part." "We can focus on the details..." "Another question, for the press." "Why can't the Italian director film his documentary here?" "You should ask the Minister himself." "We just receive orders and we carry them out." "But he wasn't refused anything." "He enters at the time normally allowed." "Look, the gentleman has his pass, the young lady as well." "Anybody can enter." "No one has been refused." " Yes but they cannot film." " But the young lady is filming now." "But this is a restricted area, and in any country, you can't film in a restricted area." "It's just a small area which is restricted." "If they want to do a documentary, they must go to La Higuera, instead of filming me." "They should go to La Higuera to ask questions." "That's how to make a film." "That's cinema." "Shouldn't that be up to them to decide?" "OK, but do I look like a cartoon character?" "Good." "Thank you." "Yes, yes, they are filming." "It's probably for TV." "Apart from this, no news for today." "Three, two, one." "They're still digging at the..." "They're still digging at the Vallegrande airstrip." "Should some remains be found, it will be necessary to conduct some forensic examinations the results of which will tell us..." "Will tell us the secret..." "Do you think it's normal that a Bolivian official, is negotiating this business?" "That a law can be interpreted differently depending upon the personal interests of some functionary?" "I would't hesitate to take this to court." "I've got enough evidence:" "A fax sent by a member of the commission to CBS network, offering them..." " Know who he's talking to?" " The exclusive on the images of Che." " To Omar Barrientos, the lawyer." " This is about the freedom of expression." " Yes, he's General Barrientos's nephew, the President who ordered Che's death." "Strange, isn't it?" "You are like most lawyers, money first." "It's not a matter of money, it's a matter of principle." "My producer will send you the money, don't worry." "Marco, what do we do with the under secretary?" "Very funny." "I won't censor myself because of this idiot." "Show it!" "The President of the Bolivian republic should be able to see how his officers work in Vallegrande." "I'll take responsibility." "Put it on the Net!" "Have you ever seen an extraterrestrials?" "What?" "They want to evangelize Mars, it seems there are extraterrestrials there." "It's evident that the camera belongs to a private production company that wants to sell exclusive coverage to CBS." "No, no." "Mr. Politi... is a representative in..." " in the Ministry of Development." " But he owns a production company." "Everyone knows that." "For over 20 years he's been responsible for filming political and historical events." "Can you guarantee that the images shot here won't be commercialized?" "Anyone who has evidence to refute me should present it and denounce it wherever he wants, to the media... to parliament, to the courts, wherever!" "Madam, leave the area." "And stop filming." "As you can see, the director is mainly filming panoramas." "He films panoramas, because here anything else has to be approved by a Special Governmental commission." "Three obese men with greasy skin prepared to do anything for money." "Look." "Here's the letter Politi sent to CBS." "It's signed by Monica, his daughter." "To keep it in the family." "Not only does she offer exclusive images but at various prices." "That much for a guerilla... but of course for Che it's more expensive." "Apart from the moral issue, I'm a bit worried." "Oh fuck!" "Here they are, back already." "I'm expecting an exponential increase of this nonsense." "I met the Secretary of the Interior." "He threatened me with expulsion if I stayed on the case." "He literally said:" ""We'll have your ass if you don't quit!"" "Good news!" "The search for Che ends up in court" "Italian producer sues the government" "Television rights for sale" "Parliament investigates research agreements" "Exploitation of Che" "Producer makes case against functionaries" "Will he abandon the project?" "He doesn't give a shit!" "And you are defending him?" "The only thing I'm defending is the film." "But if he's leaving, in Vallegrande, we won't find anybody with his computer skills to replace him." "If you take on a project, you should see it through." "This is important." "I can't believe it!" "Well, try to understand, we are in a very dengerous position." "There's a trial..." "You think I don't understand?" "I'm the one who's filming at the airstrip every day, in spite of all the problems." "What am I supposed to understand?" "But what hurts me most, is the fact that while we are trying to communicate on a worldwide scale, we can't get through to those closest to us." "Read these messages." "Feedback from vallegrande." "Com." "Just got them." ""Patria o Muerte, venceremos."" ""Hasta la victoria, siempre."" "Aren't you proud of yourself?" "You did it!" "You talk faster than José." "You're ten times cooler than a dude from Jakarta." "Let's get one thing clear." "I'm not here to impose justice on earth." "Or to work with people who want to, through means that they detest or can't control, but that have immense power." "There are two possibilities here:" "Either you are a witness or a protagonist of history." "Any other perspective might as well be that of a Martian." "Listen Rafael, I've always tried to understand you, but this time you are really exaggerating." "You cannot always observe things from a distance as if you came from another planet." "Staying inside all the time is affecting your brain." "Get out, see people, go out on the street." "Everyday I see what's going on outside on Rebeca's site," "She brings me the images..." "Trust me." "That's more than enough." "Everything is 30 years out of date." "The political ideas are 30 years old, the cigarettes, too, the music, the cornflakes... even the idea that death... is an external entity inflicted by the enemy." "As if anybody's life could be programmed to last forever." "You're so sure of yourself..." "so sure..." "Michel, I'm not doing this site to slander anybody." "What you are doing might be compromisory." "Compromising, Michel." "You don't get it!" "This is an experiment." "Regarding the "political correctness" of my expressions or the absence of it, my contempt towards some people does not depend upon their social or cultural group." "With time," "I tend to scorn individuals rather than groups." "I know we shouldn't scorn anyone, but that's the way it is!" "You of all people praise sincerity!" "You're tiring me out." "I wouldn't like to be filmed without knowing." "I'm leaving, I'm off, bye-bye!" "You can't leave, Michel." "We haven't recorded the percussion yet." "Stay, Michel!" "Don't be so self righteous." "Come back here with your guitar and play something for us." "Michel, I'm not criticizing, much less condemning the people" "who find it difficult to enjoy life." "But I hate it that these difficulties cause the death and suffering of others." "The only reason I'm letting you stay, is for the money." "But if they've already paid, then leave!" "Staying longer among those little shits will damage you." "It's like walking in the Sahara desert." "Your brain gets fried." "The visitors must leave now." "I'm sorry, but I forgot my pass at home." "That's a problem." "You didn't give back the authorization." "At least, leave an ID." "I'll return the pass later." "Will I get back my ID when I leave?" "When you return the pass, you'll get it back." "The excavator broke the cranium." "It was a calculated risk." " Where's this part?" " Just above the head." "It's the elbow joint." "They'll say that the hands are missing." "We don't know yet." "It doesn't look like he was laid to rest." "It looks like they just threw them in like garbage." "What did you feel when you discovered these bones?" "It's an emotion that you feel only at the moment of discovery." "It was overwhelming." "All of us comrades here embraced and congratulated each other." "Then we met the geophysicists who were still working." "It was moving for them too." "But we still have work to do." "Who did you inform in Cuba?" "We contacted the Association representing the families." "I called Aleida, his wife..." "Che's widow, and we told her of the discovery, but no-one ever said these remains are Che's." "Doctor, what are the chances of finding Che?" "I'm a doctor of legal medicine, working according to methods of criminology..." "Without any evidence, I cannot state that this is Che." "They're going to take him to Cuba now, back to his family." "But why take him now, after so many years?" "They're taking him now, just when we simple folks are looking to build a mausoleum for him." "They'll take him away." "But we were thinking they'd find him here and leave him here." "None of it's our fault." "Not mine, anyway." "When Che came to La Higuera, and danced with the people," "I said, "The guerrillas must be good people."" "The whole world will understand that Che Guevara had a strong personality." "He wanted freedom for all the oppressed peoples, freedom from the injustice and poverty that still characterize the countries of Latin America," "Asia and Africa." "All those countries where people don't have the chance to live with dignity in a free world as given to us by God." "There's more." "I've decided to take them to court." "They won't let me express myself, they sell the images." "You know how I am, without freedom of expression, I can't work, I can't move," "I can't make films." "A trial against the Bolivian State?" "I don't believe it." "What did you come here for?" "A trial or a movie?" "To make a movie, you know." "You're not in Europe, you're in Bolivia." "It makes no sense." "Tomorrow, you enter the restricted area as the video man for the Argentinean anthropology team." "It's the only way." "A trial... what are you thinking?" "It's a historical event." "It must be recorded..." "I discovered something... it seems my lawyer is defending drug lords." " Here it is." " Every so often you get it right!" "Once they have been identified, we will talk to all the families and find a place here for them to rest in peace." "So that they can be remembered in the history of Bolivia." " What's your brother's name?" " Aniceto." "I'm sure he's here." "He was 22 when he disappeared." "This is the first one we found." "This one is the fourth, lying on his back, left arm extended." "Parallel to the arm, you also see the fifth skeleton." "This is the pelvis, and this, we don't know." "Then the sixth..." "Tibia and fibula..." "Personally, several things have irritated me." "The image given of the peasants of Vallegrande, and of the people who met Che, this image is not correct." "To claim that they betrayed Che is wrong." "You should look at what was happening in the country at that time." "Remember that General Barrientos was the President who signed an agreement between the military and the peasants." "I would define Che as a suicidal adventurer who entered the lion's ten." "There were 50 guerrillas against an army of 20 or 30 thousand soldiers!" "He knew the danger he was facing." "He himself made the mistakes that led to his death." "If they would have, let's say killed him." "If they had shown him to the press and public in the state he was in when captured, without washing or tidying him up things would have been different." "Because when he was captured he looked more like a wolf man than a Christ." "Which has lead us to the absurd situation that today they call him Saint Ernesto de Higuera!" ""Que-esté-pues!"" "There's a bird singing, "que-esté-pues!"" "Sometimes he comes tapping on my window with his beak." "I feel very close to flowers and plants, to all of nature" "It's very close to me." "That's why I show my feelings." "I feel the marvelous workings of nature, that we often don't appreciate enough." "As for the magnificent creation that is called man, we underestimate its value." "A simple body with no hands might be enough identification for the media, but for our scientific work, it isn't an identification." "Are you optimistic?" "Absolutely." "One minute's silence in honor of the dead." "We talk a lot here... of understanding, of dignity, of a country that must give the remains back to the families so they can be repatriated." "Ernesto Che Guevara led guerrillas, he died in this country and this is where he should have stayed." "The idea is to hold a vigil where the remains were found and a Mass, to conclude it all." "We wanted to do that with the remains still here but the government didn't allow it." "That's the way things stand now." "What we wanted... to offer a tribute... to celebrate a Mass, trying to heal, to find the peace we haven't had for 30 years." "Today, we know that many of them were not treated as Prisoners of War but that they were assassinated." "All that had been very tough." "Now we would have liked to cancel... no!" "Better, to heal the soul..." "This, the authorities didn't understand nor the media who were looking for a show or a spectacle." "People ask:" "Why did they do it?" "Why didn't they do it openly?" "Why not talk about it?" "It gives one cause to doubt of the government itself." "We're human beings, we are capable of understanding." "We feel this turmoil." "Our country is supposed to be a democracy, but it's like we've gone back to a kind of dictatorship." "The President ordered this." "It was not his business." "This land is ours." "They imposed upon us and this hurts me and makes me angry." "They took away Che, who was so good to me!" "I loved him so much." "I've always loved him, ever since I met him." "Why do they make me cry?" "I'm so old and so sad." "Why do they steal him from us, without telling us anything?" "He is not an object!" "He was a man, of importance and value, who dedicated himself to the poor." "Why do they do this?" "Stop filming, this is the minister!" "Lower the camera!" "You won't believe it, but each minister took a small bag containing earth from beneath Che's remains as a souvenir!" "Rebeca and Marco told me from the start that what interested them was utopia." "Which utopia?" "Thomas More?" "The New Man?" "The utopia of the great south American nation?" "I never found out." "But living this kind of stuff can only lead you to a place such as this:" "Real, but totally unlikely."