Source: Xinhua| 2017-08-25 04:38:48|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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HAVANA, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Since opening 20 years ago, the Che Guevara Mausoleum in the central Cuban city of Santa Clara has drawn more than 4.5 million visitors, the vast majority foreigners.

Of the 4,542,488 people who have visited the monument to the leader who fought alongside Fidel Castro, 3,013,431 were foreign visitors, the mausoleum's Yanesky Gutierrez told the daily Juventud Rebelde (Rebel Youth) in the lead up to the 50th anniversary of Guevara's death this fall.

The numbers "attest to the universal recognition his revolutionary legacy," the daily said.

Interest in his legacy appears to be alive and well, to judge by the flow of visitors.

In 2016, a record 374,900 people visited the mausoleum located about 260 km east of the capital Havana, most from Germany, Argentina, Canada, France and Italy, said Gutierrez.

The mausoleum is ranked as the No. 1 attraction in Santa Clara, according to travel planning website TripAdvisor.

One Belgian traveler, who went by the handle VBEline, wrote two weeks ago "Beautiful monument, museum and tomb of Che Guevara ... In my opinion, a must visit when in Cuba."

A visitor from Florida, IslandSunAMI, wrote in May, the mausoleum "Completes Your Cuban Experience!"

The museum recounts the role Ernesto "Che" Guevara played in Cuba's 1959 Revolution and international struggles for independence in Africa and South America.

In October, Cuba plans to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Guevara's capture and execution in Bolivia at the hands of CIA-funded counterrevolutionaries.