By 8pm in the main square of the dusty town of Vallegrande, the only sound is the buzz of prayer coming from the church. Inside, devoted Catholics sit and stand around the image of Our Lord of Malta — the only black Christ in Latin America, brought to this Bolivian town during the Spanish conquest, The Guardian reports from La Higuera, Bolivia. But this is not the only foreign element of devotion. Father Agustin, the Polish priest, reads out prayers written down by local people: “For my mother who is sick, I pray to the Lord and...”, hesitantly, “to Saint Ernesto, to the soul of Che Guevara, Saint Ernesto,” the parishioners murmur in response.

It was here in Vallegrande, 40 years ago, that the corpse of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara lay on display, eyes open, in the hospital laundry. And it is here that his unofficial sainthood is becoming firmly established. Susana Osinaga, a nurse who cleaned Guevara’s body, recalls: “He was just like a Christ.” Today, the laundry where Guevara’s corpse was laid is a place of pilgrimage. According to his executioner, Mario Teran, Guevara’s last words were: “Calm down and point well; you are about to kill a man.” What came after the shots, according to inhabitants of La Higuera, was that “Saint Ernesto was born in La Higuera”.