Overview
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation’s Latin America Studies and Programs Center promotes individual freedom, respect for human rights, and democracy throughout Latin America, but especially Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. Our researchers document human rights abuses, support in-region civil society and pro-democracy groups, and educate the American public and U.S. policy makers about the realities on the ground.
Programs
The Castro regime has developed sophisticated human trafficking and forced labor schemes to exploit the Cuban people, with emphasis on health personnel. The Cuban regime, in collusion with international communist allies, sends Communist Medical Brigades overseas to sell health care services for propaganda purposes. Communist commissaries and secret police agents oversee the Communist Medical Brigades’ workers and regularly confiscate between 75% and 90% of their wages. VOC’s Latin America Programs advocate for the rights of these workers, conducting research on Trafficking in Medical Personnel (TIMP) and providing legal assistance to these victims of communism.
Publications
“Lie, lie, and something will remain. The bigger the lie, the more people will believe it.” That phrase—attributed to Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels—has become something of an operating manual for authoritarian regimes. Few have perfected it more methodically than…
The recent protests led by university students began after the Cuban dictatorship’s state telecommunications company, Etecsa, on May 30, 2025 announced dramatic increases in internet pricing, and new restrictions in what critics describe as a “covert dollarization” and a “cash…
Religious freedom in Venezuela is under attack. Led by Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s socialist regime is waging a campaign against those who dare to maintain religious autonomy in opposition of state control. As VOC’s Latin America team outlines in a new…
When recently asked whether Venezuela is a dictatorship, the newly appointed Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Albert Ramdin, refused to label it in those terms. His stance, similar to that of the European Union’s new foreign affairs…
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC) proudly congratulates Rosa María Payá on her historic election as a commissioner to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) during the 55th General Assembly of the Organization of American States. Payá’s steadfast…
On Wednesday, June 25, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation launched a new temporary gallery on Operation Pedro Pan, the United States’ mission to save over 14,000 Cuban children from communism between 1960 and 1962. Following opening remarks from Ambassador Carlos Trujillo,…
In recent days, an extraordinary scene has unfolded in Cuba: university students have taken to the streets in protest. The apparent trigger was a steep hike in tariffs by ETECSA, the state-owned—and sole—mobile telecommunications provider on the island. But is…
Just days ago, Cuba signed a cybersecurity agreement with Russia, Iran, China, North Korea, and Venezuela. At first glance, it appears to be a technical cooperation pact. But the names on the list tell a very different story—this is a…
At a recent hearing before the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security, three experts expressed concerns regarding a threat that—whilst not new—has become more sophisticated: the expansion of China’s influence on the island of Cuba. Dr. Ryan C. Berg, director…
