Buenos Aires  - A 3-tonne bronze statue of the legendary Argentine-born revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara was loaded on a truck and paraded through the streets of Buenos Aires for hours on Tuesday.

The tour which ended in Buenos Aires harbour lasted an hour longer than originally planned due to the many people who gathered to cheer it, sculptor Andres Zerneri told the daily Clarin.

To make the statue, the artist used some 75,000 keys and other bronze objects donated by more than 15,000 people over the past two years.

On Wednesday, the statue is set to embark for Guevara's native city, Rosario, some 250 up the Parana river. It is set to arrive in Rosario on Sunday.

The revolutionary was born on June 14, 1928, and killed in 1967 by a Bolivian soldier after being arrested in Bolivia. A doctor by training, he was one of the leaders of the revolution headed by Fidel Castro which overthrew Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959.

Since his death over 40 years ago, Guevara has become a global symbol for rebellion and the search for a fairer world. (dpa)