Advocates and representatives from dozens of embassies and groups around the globe gathered in Washington, D.C. on Friday to remember the millions of victims of communism.
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, a non-profit educational and human rights organization, hosted its ninth annual wreath laying ceremony on Friday morning in an effort to raise awareness about the effects of communism and recognize individuals who have pushed for freedom in nations where they are stifled.
"We have a duty to generations past and future to remember those who were dehumanized by Communist regimes and those around the world who still are their victims," Marion Smith, the executive director of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, said of the event.
The ceremony, which took place at the foundation’s memorial in Washington just blocks from Union Station, featured remarks from Paul Goble, a former State Department special adviser and CIA analyst who fiercely advocated for Baltic independence in a post-Soviet world. Goble on Friday received the Truman-Reagan medal of freedom that the foundation awards annually.
During a brief speech, Goble emphasized the need for Americans to speak out against communist abuses and support those who fight against repressive regimes.
"The basic strength and decency of America is well-reflected in what is incised in marble in the monuments around this city. These inscriptions not only capture the essence of our country but ensure that that essence continues from generation to generation," Goble said.
"I am proud to have the chance to speak at the Victims of Communism monument because it is playing exactly that role and is ensuring that in the future, when those who are victims of communism past or present are able to come to the United States, they will be because of the efforts of those who have raised this monument and be able to hear from another ordinary American, ‘Yes, we have heard of your plight, we know and we support your struggle to be free.’"
The ceremony also featured an appearance by Sirley Ávila León, a Cuban community activist who was forced out of her position in an official legislative body in Cuba for trying to keep a school in her neighborhood open. She later joined a government opposition group, the Patriotic Union of Cuba, and began protesting against injustice, which led the regime to label her a mercenary. She was brutally attacked in 2015 and received no assistance from the Cuban government. She traveled to Miami to recuperate.
The Obama administration is trying to normalize relations with Cuba despite continuing human rights abuses by President Raúl Castro’s regime.
The U.S. Transportation Department announced on Friday that it approved direct flights to Cuba from six American air carriers in five American cities beginning as early as the fall.
Obama first moved to restore diplomatic ties with Cuba in December 2014, claiming that America’s decades of isolating Cuba had not been effective.
The United States has eased travel and banking restrictions on Cuba and both countries have reopened embassies in each other’s capitals. In March, Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit the island since Calvin Coolidge in 1928.
While some have celebrated the president’s decision to thaw relations with Cuba, others have objected to the move, accusing the president of rewarding a regime guilty of persistent human rights abuses.
Friday’s event concluded with a wreath laying ceremony during which embassies and groups serving countries such as Cuba, China, North Korea, and Ukraine placed flowers around the Victims of Communism Memorial in solidarity against repressive regimes.
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation was established in the early 1990s to erect a memorial and museum honoring victims of communism to Washington. The memorial was completed less than a decade ago, and the foundation has embarked on a project to build a museum.
The memorial, dedicated by former President George W. Bush in 2007, features a bronze replica of the statue erected by Chinese students in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Friday’s ceremony capped a week of events organized by the foundation to honor the victims of communism and raise awareness about communist regimes. One week before, the group hosted a vigil in memory of those who died during the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989.