We at the Center for a Free Cuba (CFC) are proud to reflect on the progress we made together this year in the struggle against the dictatorship in Cuba, and for freedom on the island.
Thanks to your support, in 2024, CFC sent medicines to families of jailed dissidents, provided smartphones and laptops, and ensured internet access for uncensored information to flow in and out of the island.
In 2024, CFC facilitated an activist’s address to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, exposing Cuba’s systematic abuses. On the same day, at a CFC press conference in Florida, Cuban victims of repression shared powerful testimonies, and recommendations were made to subject the dictatorship to an international boycott and suspend its UN Human Rights Council membership.
Yet, the struggle against Cuban tyranny is far from over. The dictatorship in Havana continues to repress Cubans on the island, and export repression and terror abroad in Nicaragua, Venezuela, and backing Putin’s illegal war on Ukraine.
A friend of the Center has pledged a matching gift challenge of up to $10,000. Donations made or postmarked by 11:59 p.m. ET tonight (Tuesday, Dec. 31) are tax-deductible for 2024, and will be matched dollar for dollar.
CFC’s work in 2024
This year, CFC promoted and defended freedom in Cuba. Among our many achievements, we:
- Hosted a reflection on the non-violent resistance of Cubans against the Castro dictatorship on the International Day of Nonviolence.
- Authored a brief history of the Cuban dictatorship’s spying on and harm done to the United States, in an OpEd published in the Miami Herald, providing context in the aftermath of U.S. Ambassador and Cuban spy Manuel Rocha’s decades long betrayal of the United States.
- Raised questions of reciprocity when an event hosted by the Cuban embassy at the Busboys and Poets near Takoma Park to spread misinformation became public. Specifically, the ability of the US Embassy in Havana to host an information event in a similar venue. CFC distributed a fact sheet that asked “Beautiful, but what about Cubans?” near the venue. The event was canceled.
- Held a parallel event with victims of human rights violations speaking from Cuba, and others present at Florida International University when the outcome for the Universal Periodic Review of Cuba was presented to the UN Human Rights Council.
- When former prisoner of conscience Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet was arbitrarily detained; the Center issued a statement calling for his immediate release, and upon his release, Dr. Biscet recognized a number of organizations that condemned his arrest, including the Center.
- Visited Congressional offices with Joseph Connor to provide information on the case of his father Frank Connor, who was murdered in a 1975 bombing carried out in New York City by terrorists sponsored and trained by the Cuban dictatorship. The bomber is a U.S. fugitive harbored by Havana today.
- Screened two documentaries produced by CFC: The Havana Cartel, and Terrorism: The Cuban Connection followed by a panel discussion at the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora moderated by CFC’s president, Ambassador Otto J. Reich.
None of our achievements would have been possible without the generous support of individuals like you.
Help us continue our mission of facilitating a nonviolent transition to a Cuba that respects the rule of law, human rights, and freedom.
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Center for a Free Cuba,
417 West Broad Street, Suite 204
Falls Church, VA 22046