Municipal Museum of Playa Girón

Cuban cultural heritage; Declared a National Monument on October 10, 1978. Memorial dedicated to the battle waged by the Cuban people against mercenary troops of Cuban origin, supported by US naval forces, which invaded the country from April 17 to 19, 1961. Inauguration 19 April 1976.

It exhibits the material evidence that testifies to the events that occurred in Playa Girón, the place where the first great defeat of Yankee imperialism in Latin America took place.

Location

It is located in the Playa Girón tourist perimeter, next to the town of Gironcito, belonging to the municipality of Ciénaga de Zapata, Matanzas province.

History

Simple in style, it was built in late 1959. From 1964 to 1976, its two rooms exhibited an allegorical photographic exhibition of the actions and response of the Cuban people about the bad intentions of the mercenary forces that sought to annihilate the nascent Cuban Revolution.

Subsequently, the property was expanded and reopened, as a Municipal Museum, on April 19, 1976. The Museum was primarily dedicated to highlighting the actions of April 1961.

It is an eloquent example of how the National Revolutionary Militias, the Liberation Army, the National Revolutionary Police and the Revolutionary Navy, together with the effective performance of a small air force, annihilated in just 65 hours the well-equipped mercenary force, sent by the rulers. Americans.

Due to the extraordinary historical values ​​of this Memorial, the National Monuments Commission declared the Playa Girón Museum as a National Monument described by Resolution No. 3 of October 10, 1978.

Its functions of rescue, conservation, hoarding, temporary exposure and dissemination are also destined for the history of the town. Among the most important activities that are carried out are: the sample of the month, talks, conversations, conferences, meetings with history, treatment of the most important ephemeris of each month, teaching of courses for adults and circles of interest.

Collections

Shoes pierced by shrapnel from American planes

Among the more than a thousand pieces that the Museo de Playa Girón treasures, there are the pair of shoes pierced by the shrapnel of North American planes, which belonged to Nemesia Rodríguez Montano, the adolescent girl from Cenaga who inspired the poet Jesús Orta Ruiz to write Elegía de los white shoes.

In the two rooms that the museum has are exposed:

Weapons used by the mercenary brigade in the actions of April 1961

• 81mm Mod-35 mortar manufactured N.A. Browning machine gun, model M-2 .50 caliber, N.A.
• 75mm recoil-free anti-tank rifle (barrel) N.A.
• 42-inch M-30 mortar, N.A.
• Field uniform, badge of the 250C mercenary brigade.
• M41 Walker Bulldog Lightweight Tank N.A.
• 10-foot outboard motor boat for landing troops, Manufacture N.A.
• N.A. "Armored Command" truck
• Remains of a B-26 plane shot down by the mercenary brigade. Pieces of great attraction to the public.
• Captain degrees and aviator insignia that belonged to Luis Alfonso Silva Tablada, founding officer of the Rebel Air Force.
• Uniform with projectile impacts worn by Eduardo García Delgado when he wrote the name of Fidel with his blood.
• Kepis, key and ornamental spoon that belonged to Rolando Valdivia Fernández, gunner from the Granma base.
• Pair of shoes that belonged to Nemesia Rodríguez Montaño, destroyed during the bombing of Yankee planes, which caused the death of this adolescent's mother.
  
  Weapons used by Cuban fighters.
• Heavy machine gun Mod. 37 caliber 7.92 Czechoslovak manufacture.
• Soviet-made 82mm mortar.
• Mortar 120mm Mod. 42 Soviet manufacture.
• Anti-aircraft quad machine gun 12.7mm Mod. 53 Czechoslovak manufacture.
• British-made SeaFuay Naval Fighter.
• Single seat monoplane suitable for aircraft carriers. It was one of the planes used by the Revolutionary Air Force during the Playa Girón fighting.

Pieces of great attraction to the public.

• Captain degrees and aviator insignia that belonged to Luis Alfonso Silva Tablada, founding officer of the Rebel Air Force.
• Uniform with projectile impacts worn by Eduardo García Delgado when he wrote the name of Fidel with his blood.
• Kepis, key and ornamental spoon that belonged to Rolando Valdivia Fernández, gunner from the Granma base.
• Pair of shoes that belonged to Nemesia Rodríguez Montaño, destroyed during the bombing of Yankee planes, which caused the death of this adolescent's mother.