The youngest son of Argentine-born Cuban revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara is behind a tourism initiative that offers expeditions around the Communist-ruled island on board Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
The leader and co-ordinator of the project, 49-year-old Ernesto Guevara, is a lawyer who "inherited from his father a passion for motorcycles, which have allowed him to traverse the country and know it like few others" and who has devoted more than 20 years of his life to restoring Harley-Davidsons.
The tours - and the name of the Argentine-based travel agency, "La Poderosa Tours" - are directly inspired by the expedition that Che (1928-1967) and his friend, Alberto Granado, two medical students, made in 1952 on a run-down motorbike they gave the ironic name La Poderosa (The Mighty One).
That journey also inspired Brazilian director Walter Salles' 2004 biopic The Motorcycle Diaries.
In recent interview the owner of La Poderosa Tours, Mimi Kohen, said the idea of offering motorcycle tours is an established global trend, adding that Cuba was chosen because "it's a wonderful country and even more so when the weather co-operates".
The Harley-Davidson brand was chosen for the tours because of its longstanding tradition in Cuba and its post-revolution staying power, Kohen said by e-mail, noting that the island even has a Harley club.
Camilo Sanchez, a childhood friend of Che's youngest son, and Sergio Morales, a mechanic with more than 40 years of experience and Cuba's most famous Harley aficionado, also are behind this initiative.
The agency offers tours that start at $US3,000 ($A3,852) per couple and $US4,200 for individual expeditions. They begin in Havana and cover routes that include the cities of Santa Clara, Cienfuegos, Trinidad and Cayo Santa Maria island.
The tours include lodging, food, a guide and transportation via a "brand-new motorcycle," but not the price of gasoline.
"Our tours combine the delights of this island's varied landscapes with intimate contact with a part of the history of a unique revolution that generated a mystique that still endures and broadly transcends Cuba's geographical limits," La Poderosa Tours' Web site says.
