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The Basque roots of a historic character like Ernesto Ché Guavara, will be discovered today on ETB2, in the debut of the program Origen.  This format, presented by journalist, Olga Zabalgogeaskoa, invites Juan Martin Guevara, brother or the Argentine myth, to get to know the Basque Country and thanks to historians and genealogists, research his Basque roots as well as even meet family members.  The program debuts at 22:25 on ETB2, and can also be seen online and on Canal Vasco/ETB Sat. 

Bego Miñaur/Donostia-San Sebastian.   Today the program Origen debuts in the Basque TV. Over the coming weeks it will show return trips to the Basque Country by various Basques in the Diaspora who, accompanied by presenter Olga Zabalgogeaskoa will seek and discover their Basque roots, and even meet family members for the first time. 

The first episode of the program is called “Ché.  The Myth was Basque,” and will share Ernesto 'Che' Guevara's younger brother’s arrival to the Basque Country and travels through various places, like the Palace of Guevara (Gebara) in Araba, in search of his origins, thanks to the help of experts like historian Oscar Álvarez Gila.

The program airs at 22:25 on ETB2, and in the morning at 2:15am on Canal Vasco/ETB Sat (info here). It can also be watched on EITB’s website, and a la carte, beginning tomorrow here.

Basque, on all sides

As Maite Ibañez, the program’s producer explained to EuskalKultura.com, “in the case of Ché’s family, they didn’t know much about their origin.  As Juan Martin told us, he only remembered an aunt that told them she only had some idea but that they were descendants of Basque and Irish.”  In the program, Guevara discovers that “the myth was Basque, and also on all sides,” Ibañez says. 

Other Diaspora Basques will be feature in future episodes of the show.  EuskalKultura.com has followed the trips with great interest, as well as the recordings of each.  They include: Mariana D'Orazio, from Argentina and a Basque student at Euskaltzaleak in Buenos Aires; Eduardo Strauch Urioste, a survivor of the tragic airplane crash in the Andes, Pilar Garcia de Gurtubay (more about her episode here), Txomin Amutxastegi from Mexico, grandson of the mythic cesta punta player Guillermo Amutxastegi, and Argentine chef, Germán Martitegi, well-known in his country for his TV shows.