Alberto Granado, a childhood friend and a motorcycle companion of famous revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara, died on Saturday of natural causes in Havana at the age of 88, the Cuban media said.
Granado was born in 1922 in Argentina and met Che Guevara as a child. Both were medical students when they embarked on an eight-month motorcycle tour around Latin America in December 1951.
The journey exposed Che and Granado to poverty and social injustice in Latin American countries, and essentially set Che Guevara on a revolutionary path, while Granado returned to Argentina to pursue a career in biochemistry.
After the Cuban revolution, Granado moved with his wife to Havana on the invitation by Che Guevara in 1961, and taught biochemistry at Havana University.
Granado was the author of the book Travelling with Che Guevara: The Making of a Revolutionary, which served as reference for the highly-acclaimed 2004 film The Motorcycle Diaries directed by talented Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles.
In line with Granado's wishes, his body will be cremated and his ashes spread in Cuba, Argentina and Venezuela.
HAVANA, March 6 (RIA Novosti)
