 In late 1995 , the retired Bolivian General Mario Vargas revealed to Jon Lee Anderson , author of Che Guevara : A Revolutionary Life , that Guevara 's corpse lay near a Vallegrande airstrip . The result was a multi @-@ national search for the remains , which would last more than a year . In July 1997 a team of Cuban geologists and Argentine forensic anthropologists discovered the remnants of seven bodies in two mass graves , including one man with amputated hands ( like Guevara ) . Bolivian government officials with the Ministry of Interior later identified the body as Guevara when the excavated teeth " perfectly matched " a plaster mold of Che 's teeth made in Cuba prior to his Congolese expedition . The " clincher " then arrived when Argentine forensic anthropologist Alejandro Inchaurregui inspected the inside hidden pocket of a blue jacket dug up next to the <unk> cadaver and found a small bag of pipe tobacco . Nino de Guzman , the Bolivian helicopter pilot who had given Che a small bag of tobacco , later remarked that he " had serious doubts " at first and " thought the Cubans would just find any old bones and call it Che " ; but " after hearing about the tobacco pouch , I have no doubts . " On October 17 , 1997 , Guevara 's remains , with those of six of his fellow combatants , were laid to rest with military honors in a specially built mausoleum in the Cuban city of Santa Clara , where he had commanded over the decisive military victory of the Cuban Revolution . 
