The Museo de la Lucha Clandestina is located on General Jesus Rabi street #1, between Santa Rita and Rafael P. Salcedo streets.

Tuesday-Sunday 09:00 - 17:00

The Museo de la Lucha Clandestina lies just west of Padre Pico stairway. It was built in pre-baroque style in the period between 1813 and 1824. It was among the first houses built in the neighborhood El Tivolí. The house, located on the hill Hueca (Loma de Boca Hueca), served as the residence of the mayor; that is why the area where it was located, was called from then on Loma del Intendente (hill of the intendant – high-ranking officer). 

Until 1950s it was inhabited by different families. Then it served as a school together with the adjoining building. After the modifications in 1951 and 1956, it was converted into the headquarters of the National Police Station. The building was burnt to the ground during the assault headed up by the underground leader Frank Pais on November 30, 1956. This attack with the other attacks on the government’s forces on the same day, has been done to divert the authorities’ attention from the arrival of Fidel Castro with the insurrectionist on the southwestern coast, called Las Colorados. In this action the house lost all its timber by the flames, but its structure was preserved, so that it was possible to erect the museum on the remaining walls of the masonry later. The museum was inaugurated in 1976 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the armed uprising in 1956. For its value from the historical points of view, it was declared National Monument in 1979. 

The museum has two floors, in which four exhibition halls, offices, and an activity room are distributed. It has also a large and beautiful courtyard in that some activities of political and cultural nature take place. On a panel in the hallway, you can read a piece of a letter written by Fidel Castro on the Sierra Maestra mountains in 1957.

Spread over two floors, the museum comprises a photographic history of the final years of the Batista regime that helps to understand the intricacies of the events leading up to the revolution. It highlights the role of Santiago de Cuba in the struggle against this regime. The attack in 1956, as well as the lives of Frank Pais, his brother Josué País that were subsequently murdered by Batista’s henchmen in 1957, and Celia Sánchez Manduley, symbol and exponent of the participation of women in the fight against the tyranny, are well documented in the museum.

The room I is located on the ground floor where documents, photos, weapons, implements of war and personal objects are displayed. The rejection of the coup by Santiagueros in 1952, and the preparation and the development of the actions carried out during the armed uprising to support the disembarkation of the Granma Yacht, as well as the self-sacrificing of three young men that fell when they faced the brutal interference of the tyranny, namely Jose Tey Saint-Blancard (Pepito Tey, second chief of the uprising and the attack on the National Police Station), Antonio Alomá Serrano (Tony Alomá) and Otto Parellada Echeverría, that along with his other classmates attacked the police station from the roof of the School of Plastic Arts, are reflected by photos.

In the room II the events related with the disembarkation of the Granma Yacht and the demonstration of the mothers on the streets, protesting the murder of the young men in 1956, are exposed by photos.

The room III highlights the political thoughts of Frank Pais, documented by some letters.

In the final room, room IV, the actions of René Ramos Latou that replaced Frank Pais after his murder and provided continuity in the plans of action resolved by him, and the strike on 9 April 1958 are documented. The photo of the entrance of the rebel army to Santiago de Cuba and a piece of the speech of Fidel Castro, granting the city the order Antonio Maceo and the title Hero City in the 25th anniversary of the triumph, are exhibited.

Some pieces of the collection of the museum are worth to mention: the Thompson submachine gun of Frank Pais, the poncho of Haydée Santamaria (a blanketlike cloak used widely in Latin American countries) that she had worn during her stay on Sierra Maestra mountains, the Cuban flag used by América Domitro, the fiancé of Frank Pais, the multilith that were used to print several clandestine newspapers, including the Sierra Maestra, some medical instruments that were sent to the mountains,  Molotov cocktails made from plastic oil bottles, a hysterical newspaper cutting announcing Fidel Castro’s death, and another published by the rebels themselves refuting the claim, are interesting things that will stick in your mind.