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View Full Version : Che Guevara’s “Motorcycle Diaries” companion dies aged 88



Bob
11th March 2011, 01:49
Alberto Granado, who accompanied Che Guevara on his South American journey made famous in “The Motorcycle Diaries”, has died aged 88.

Granado, then 29, was the one whose idea it was to undertake the trip. At that time he had taken a full-time position as a biochemist, but wanted one last thrill before settling into a comfortable, middle-class future. The pair famously commenced their trip on ‘La Poderosa’ – a 13 year old Norton that broke down none too long into the journey. The pair continued on foot, hitch-hiking and stowing away whenever they could.

The trip deeply affected Guevara, sending him on the revolutionary trail that would lead him to join Fidel Castro in ousting Cuba's U.S.-backed dictator, Fulgencio Batista, in 1959. Guevara continued to spread his message, before finally being killed trying to spark an uprising in Bolivia in 1967.

Granado took a less political track, undertaking research into the causes of leprosy, later founding a school of medicine in Santiago. He is survived by wife Delia Maria Duque Duque, along with several children and grandchildren.