Guevara mural painted over before Latin fest

An iconic mural featuring the face of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara has been painted over by a local authority just weeks before a local Latin-American cultural festival.

The face of Guevara, who visited and stayed in Kilkee, West Clare, in 1961, was painted on the sea wall recently, having adorned the same spot for the previous two Che do Bheatha festivals.

Clare County Council staff removed the 6.1m-high mural early yesterday despite agreement having been reached at a Kilkee Town Council meeting on Monday night that it should remain until the festival was over.