By IANS
Washington, Oct 26 (DPA) Several artefacts claimed to relate to the death of Latin American revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara — including a lock of his hair — fetched $100,000 in an Internet auction.
The buyer of the single lot was Bill Butler, a bookstore owner and antique-book dealer from Texas, who has previously purchased Beatles and Jimi Hendrix memorabilia.
The items were sold off by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions for seller Gustavo Villoldo Thursday.
Villoldo claims to be a former CIA agent who supervised the burial of the Argentine-born revolutionary. He says he advised the Bolivian army on the pursuit of Guevara and his men, leading to the revolutionary’s arrest and execution the next day, Oct 9, 1967.
Villoldo told DPA that he saved the lock of hair — cut off after Guevara’s death — as a symbol of having defeated “the revolution of the bearded men”. He was surprised by how much the bidder was willing to pay for a memento from a “criminal”.
“I wouldn’t have paid 10 cents for that,” Villoldo said.
The auction lot with the hair also included photographs, maps of the mission to find and capture the revolutionary in Bolivia, the text of an intercepted message that helped lead the Bolivian army to the rebels and prints taken from Guevara’s fingers.
“I just hope that the person who bought it keeps (the auction lot), and someday it will be useful for somebody to study it,” Villoldo said.