Che Guevara festival to prove a revolution

THE Cuban ambassador to Ireland will formally open one of the country’s more unlikely festivals of the year at the end of this month.

The west Clare town of Kilkee will play host to the inaugural Che do Bhetha festival on the last weekend of September, which celebrates the visit of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara to the town 50 years ago.

The ambassador, Teresita Trujillo, will formally open the three-day festival on September 30.

Organiser Tom Byrne yesterday billed it the “Latin Willie Clancy festival” confirming “three days of Cuban music, salsa dancing, Latin American food, fancy dress, American classic cars and all things wonderfully Cuban”.

The seed for the event was sown in September 1961.

Mr Byrne said “Che Guevara and his entourage [were] stopping over at Shannon airport en route from Prague to Havana. The airport was fogbound and the aircraft couldn’t fly that day, so Che Guevara asked where was a good place to spend a night and he was told Kilkee.”

Guevara stayed at the Strand Hotel and signed his name as Raphael Trujillo, because he was wanted by the CIA at the time and did not want to sign his real name.