2019 has been a very busy year full of accomplishments. At year-end, we thank you for your support and send our best wishes.
Among our key projects was the publication of a comprehensive investigation on Cuba's role in Venezuela, a needed reference guide relevant to millions of Cubans, Venezuelans, and citizens of other countries targeted for a Cuba-led continental project. The book was produced in record time,
published in English last August, and just published in Spanish (now available in
ebook and in paperback in a few short days). This work was presented in many TV and radio programs during the year as well as in Washington, DC, in May at meeting of the OAS Permanent Council and in July in Capitol Hill for the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation's Captive Nations’ Week, and in Miami at the annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy. In November, the ambassadors to the OAS from the US, Carlos Trujillo, and Venezuela, Gustavo Tarre, hosted a book presentation at the OAS library in Washington. The book was also presented in December at the Vista Festival in Miami and at the Universidad Ana G. Mendez in San Juan in October.
Cuba Archive also continued its work documenting deaths and disappearances, completing, among others, in-depth investigations of the Batista period, the Angola war, and Cuba’s Ethiopian intervention, as well as making many additions and updates to the online
database. Of the 11,000 documented cases to date, sixteen deaths occurred in 2019, including six doctors in “internationalist” medical missions and eight individuals in detention. Our annual report will soon provide details.
We also continued exposing trafficking in persons of temporary workers by the Cuban state, especially of medical professionals. Cuba Archive prepared an official report to the Trafficking in Persons Office of the US Department of State in January and on December 17th participated in an
event at the OAS in Washington, DC, to expose the dark realities of Cuba’s international medical missions.
Our work was cited in many media venues and consulted by journalists from around the world, including from, in the U.S., The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, NPR, National Review, Voice of America, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Tampa Bay Times, BBC, Buzz Feed, WNYC, America Teve, Mega TV, as well as ABC (Spain), The Guardian (UK), La Nación (Argentina), El Libero (Chile), NTN24 (Colombia), EVTV (Venezuela), and the independent Cuba-focused 14 y medio, El Nuevo Herald, Cibercuba, Radio Televisión Martí, and Diario de Cuba. We also addressed numerous inquiries and requests from researchers, academic institutions, and organizations from the U.S., United Kingdom, Japan, Panama, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Italy, and Russia as well as from several government entities.
Our reports in 2019 dealt with issues mentioned above as well as on Cuba’s failure to compensate victims of aviation accidents, on Spanish victims of the Castro regime, and on other issues relevant to our work. These reports reached many influential people in governments, policy tanks, academia, and international organizations as well as civil society activists and other actors inside Cuba. Our social media posts featuring profiles of victims reached upwards of 20,000. Our online
petition to Barnes and Noble to remove from prominent display a book on Che Guevara was supported by over 1,000 in just a few days. We also supported human rights defenders and civil society actors in Cuba and collaborated with several human rights organizations.
Our goal is to advocate for those living in oppression through fact-based information. Sadly, the human rights’ situation in Cuba and its satellites Venezuela and Nicaragua is still terrible; in addition, a new modality of Cuba-supported insurgency threatens many countries in Latin America as Cuba continues its alliances with state enemies of democracy such as North Korea, Iran, Russia, Syria, and China, and non-state bad actors. Thus, our efforts are still greatly needed.
In 2020, we hope to continue our work on different fronts and have exciting plans that include a revamped website and the new initiative
Cuba Salud, a joint project with Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and Global Liberty Alliance. So, stay tuned!
To all our supporters, our heartfelt thanks. Please continue to help us disseminate this work.
Best wishes for the holiday season and in the coming year.
From Cuba Archive’s Board of Directors and Staff
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