[NYTr] CDR Museum Opened in Havana

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[This museum, and the fascinating Museum of the Ministry of the
Interior, should be a must-see for every politically interested visitor.
The Ministry of the Interior museum documents years of CIA and 
counterrevolutionary plots and attacks on Cuba, Also not to be
missed, if you get to Santiago, is their museum on the July 26th 
Movement, the underground work done in the East, and especially on
their local hero, Frank Pais.  Havana is full of surprising museums,
but away from the capital city there are many others.  In tiny Palma
Soriano there are at least 3 museums on the revolution in the east,
with with original sites of some of Che's and Fidel's radio broadcasts
to the country. -NY Transfer]

Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN)
http://ainch.ain.cu/mailman/listinfo/ingles


New CDR Museum Opened in Havana

Havana, Sept 28 (ACN) The history of the Committees for the Defense 
Revolution (CDR) is treasured at a museum opened Thursday in Old 
Havana, a day prior to the anniversary of the 47th anniversary of the 
organization.

Images combine with texts to narrate the chronology of the 
organization, including its precedent and founding. Thus, the museum 
shows the development of the CDR committees, which is also about the 
progress of the Cuban revolution, says a report by Granma newspaper.

Twenty four panels tell the story of the CDRs participation in Cuban 
society. While in the beginning the organization was totally absorbed 
in a system of collective surveillance to counter terrorist acts, the 
years following its creation found it in the anti-polio campaign, the 
construction of schools, promoting blood donations, recycling, food 
distribution, and agricultural tasks, among other responsibilities.

Art also welcomes visitors, with the museum's lobby displaying an 
exhibition of pieces by Aleis Leyva Machado (Kcho), inspired by the 
CDR's during his early days as a sculptor.

The design of the first floor reproduces a Cuban neighborhood in which 
the social duties of CDR members are present. A neighboring hall 
depicts recent history and the battle for the return of Elian González, 
for the release of the Cuban Five, anti-terrorist fighters unjustly 
incarcerated in the United States, and Cuba's internationalist missions.

Bibliographic material, including the card certifying Cuban president 
Fidel Castro's CDR membership, conferences and documentaries enliven 
the third floor, which has become the CDR's central archives and 
information center, an initiative enriched, moreover, with an 
interactive classroom in which 60 former CDR organizers will take turns 
to share their personal experiences with visitors.

There are also documents of Alicia Alonso showing the ballet artist's 
relationship with the organization. Thanks to donations, the museum 
exhibits some 4,000 such items.

The opening of the museum also has a historical meaning. It wasn't a 
recent idea, says the director, since on February 10, 1975, during a 
National Plenary Session of the CDR's, Fidel, after receiving some 
gifts, said that he would keep them for one day when perhaps a museum 
of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution would be created.