The Cuban Museum Every American Needs to See
State Sponsor of Terror or victim of terror?
How can two countries that are separated by only 90 miles of ocean be so far apart?
Last summer, I was lucky enough to be able to take a trip to Cuba with the medical aid and solidarity project known as HATUEY. For Americans, it is a struggle to travel to Cuba due to the US blockade of the island. This is why, if you want to travel to Cuba, you cannot go as a tourist. This would contribute to one of Cuba’s major industries — tourism — and violate the US blockade.
If you are from the United States and you want to go to Cuba, you have to go on a special brigade like HATUEY, Pastors for Peace, Brigada Juan Luis Rivera, National Network on Cuba’s May Day brigade, or others that have special permission from the US government to visit the island.
Without getting too much into it (don’t get me started…), the US blockade stops Cuba from purchasing things it desperately needs to provide for its people. This includes things like oil and natural gas for electricity, needles and oxygen during the COVID-19 pandemic, and anything else in the world that contains more than 10% American components.
All that aside, this blockade that prevents trade between the two countries has also caused a chasm in what we know about Cuba. People who were once so close are separated by not only 90 miles of ocean but by 60 years of criminal sanctions and disinformation campaigns.
So, to any and all of you who are able to visit Cuba and see it for yourself, I cannot recommend enough that you do so. And if you are able to visit, your trip won’t be complete without a visit to the Memorial de la Denuncia.
But What is Memorial de la Denuncia?
Memorial de la Denuncia is a Cuban museum/memorial that seeks to lift up the voices and the stories of all of the Cuban victims of terrorism. The purpose of the museum is to highlight three main things:
1. To remember the Cuban victims of terrorism.
Recently, Cuba was put on the State Sponsor of Terrorism list by Donald Trump. This designation is immensely harmful to the Cuban economy and the Cuban people because anyone who engages in trade with the island is then deemed a terrorist in the eyes of the United States — the biggest military and economic power in the world currently.
But why are they on this list?
It would almost be laughable when you find out the real reason, if it wasn’t such a serious issue. Cuba hosted peace talks between the Colombian government and an armed rebel group there known as FARC. These peace talks resulted an agreement between the FARC and the government that represented some of the first semblances of peace in Colombia. In Novemeber of 2016, a peace agreement was reached and the official end of the conflict was marked.
Brokering peace and attempting to aid Colombia in creating internal stability is the reason Cuba is now on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. Peace apparently makes you a terrorist.
But this museum does a good job of highlighting another important aspect of this issue: Cuba is actually a victim of terrorism, not a perpetrator of it.
With interactive technological components, declassified documents, video testimonies, and a slew of other immersive elements, Memorial de la Denuncia paints a more hollistic picture of the sheer violence that has been enacted against the island nation. For example, the museum covers everything from the CIA-linked bombing of Cubana de Aviación Flight 455 that killed the entire Cuban fencing team and all passengers on board to the Bay of Pigs invasion attempt by US-backed Cuban exiles.
2. To show the affects of and denounce the US blockade.
Ever since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, the United States government has done all in its power to effect regime change. By far the most robust and explicit attempt at this is the imposition of the US blockade, who’s stated goal is to “[provoke] hunger, desperation and the overthrow of the government.” (Lester D. Mallory, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the State Department, dated 6th April 1960)
Cuba, like all other countries, deserves the right to self-determination, and the blockade is an attempt to snuff that out. Though, as Americans, we typically see our government as the “good guys,” it is important to see this museum and realize that no matter how righteous the reasons may seem, preventing people from accessing food, medicine, and supplies to rebuild after a hurricane can never be good.
3. To expose the harmful affects of Operation Peter Pan.
Another important history that this memorial showcases is Operation Peter Pan. This is a much much lesser known campaign by the US government to provoke immigration from the island, not only to make it look as though the Cuban government had failed but also to take valuable contributors to society away and increase hardships on the island.
Operation Peter Pan was a disinformation campaign ran through CIA operated radio stations, broadcasting false information about the Cuban government to its people.
They are reported as broadcasting that the Cuban government was going to ship their children to Russia or kill them or worse. Though these were absolutely baseless claims, the sources appeared credible enough for people to send their children out of the country in a frenzy. Many were sent to the US alone by their parents and have been completely separated from their family and what would’ve been their home.
In some ways, the US continues this strategy to encourage Cuban migration by giving Cuban immigrants special treatment over other migrant groups, bother at the border and inside the United States. This includes social services that not even American citizens receive like guaranteed housing, work, health care, and other forms of assistance.
Conclusion
So, with free, highly-informational tours, Memorial de la Denuncia is a must-see for visitors to Havana. It may be hard to see at first, but for us Americans to truly get a grasp of the island of Cuba and learn its history, we have to understand the part our government has had to play in causing harm to the Cuban people.
If you want to support Cubans, please donate to the HATUEY project that has sent multiple shipments of medicine, maternal vitamins, burn care for the victims of the terrible Matanzas tanker fire, and most recently construction supplies to aid in rebuilding the most damaged parts of Cuba from Hurricane Ian.
If you ever get the chance, the beautiful island of Cuba, that is so close yet so far, is a destination that you can’t miss.
If you like what I do and want to support, buy me a coffee.
