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LA PAZ, Bolivia -- A Cuban forensic expert said Sunday he is almost certain that human remains found in central Bolivia are those of the Argentine guerrilla leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara.
The remains were sent under tight security Saturday night to the city of Santa Cruz, said Jorge Gonzales, head of the Cuban Institute of Legal Medicine. A positive identification of Guevara is expected within a week.
But the facial bone structure, teeth and the absence of hands on the skeleton uncovered in Vallegrande, 550 miles southeast of La Paz, have led experts to believe the remains are Guevara's, he said.
He noted that Guevara's hands had been severed after his death and taken to Cuba.
Gonzalez said the skeleton was covered with a jacket and did not have any socks. The last photographs taken of Guevara after he was killed showed him with a jacket and without socks.
Guevara was an Argentine doctor who fought with Fidel Castro during the Cuban revolution in the 1950s. He was Cuba's second most influential leader until he returned to South America to foment revolution.
Although 30 years have elapsed since his death, Guevara remains a figure of almost mythic proportions in Latin America, with his bearded image appearing on everything from T-shirts to mudguards on trucks.
He and other guerrillas were captured on Oct. 8, 1967, near Vado del Yeso, in a remote area 250 miles southeast of La Paz. The revolutionaries were flown to Vallegrande, where Guevara and some of his forces were later executed.
In 1995, retired Bolivian military officers claimed that his remains were buried under the Vallegrande airstrip.
A four-month search by Cuban, Bolivian and Argentine forensic experts last year unearthed the remains of four slain rebels four miles from the airstrip.
They renewed their hunt in May, and discovered seven skeletons in a common grave near the Vallegrande airport eight days ago.
The second skeleton was in a horizontal position as if it had been placed in a common grave on top of a stretcher, Gonzales said.
He said the other skeletons were piled on top each other, indicating the bodies may have been dumped from a truck into the grave -- which would corroborate a report given by a truck driver to Bolivian officials years ago.
Gonzales said the remains of the other skeletons are those of Guevara's guerrilla comrades, including Chang Navarro from Peru, Simon and Aniceto Reynaga from Bolivia, and Alberto Fernandez, Rene Martinez and Orlando Pantoja from Cuba.
The remains of Guevara and his group of Cuban rebels will be turned over to family members when identification is confirmed.
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