Military Units to Aid Production

Background

Military Units to Aid Production or UMAPs (Unidades Militares de Ayuda a la Producción) were agricultural forced labor concentration camps operated by the Cuban government from November 1965 to July 1968 in the Province of Camagüey. The UMAP camps served as a form of forced labor for Cubans who could not serve in the military due to being conscientious objectors, Christians and other religious people, LGBT, or political enemies of Fidel Castro or his communist revolution. The language used in the title can be misleading, as pointed out by historian Abel Sierra Madero, "The hybrid structure of work camps' military units served to camouflage the true objectives of the recruitment effort and to distance the UMAPs from the legacy of forced labor." Many of the inmates were gay men, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists, Catholic priests, Protestant ministers, intellectuals, farmers who resisted collectivization, and anyone else who was considered "anti-social" or "counter-revolutionary." Former Intelligence Directorate agent Norberto Fuentes estimated that of approximately 35,000 internees, 507 ended up in psychiatric wards, 72 died from torture, and 180 committed suicide. A 1967 human rights report from the Organization of American States found that over 30,000 internees were "forced to work for free in state farms from 10 to 12 hours a day, from sunrise to sunset, seven days per week, poor alimentation with rice and spoiled food, unhealthy water, unclean plates, congested barracks, no electricity, latrines, no showers, inmates are given the same treatment as political prisoners." The report concludes that the UMAP camps’ two objectives were "facilitating free labor for the state" and "punishing young people who refuse to join communist organizations." The Cuban government maintained that the UMAPs were not labor camps, but part of military service. In a 2010 interview with La Jornada, Fidel Castro admitted in response to a question about the UMAP camps, "Yes, there were moments of great injustice, great injustice!" Historically, the Cuban government has presented the camps as a mistake, but according to Abel Sierra Madero, the institution must be understood as part of a project of "social engineering" tailored for political and social control.

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