Military Units to Aid Production

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Military Units to Aid Production or UMAP’s (Unidades Militares para la Ayuda de Producción) were established by the Cuban government in 1965 as a way to eliminate alleged "bourgeois" and "counter-revolutionary" values in the Cuban population.

Homosexuality and religious conviction was seen by Fidel Castro as a corrupt, morally decaying byproduct of capitalism. Between 1965 and 1968, homosexual men and others, including some religious believers, considered to be "counter-revolutionary" were incarcerated in the UMAP forced labor camps in an attempt to reform them from the "scum of society" into sound Party members. Castro claimed that this policy was necessary for those "people who have committed crimes against revolutionary morals."

Supplied with information from local Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs), Cuban police arrested tens of thousands of men, ostensibly to check the validity of personal ID cards. The names and locations of many homosexuals, Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, and members of several Protestant religions were recorded. These individuals were incarcerated in the UMAP camps between the years of 1965 and 1968, as the Cuban government, Castro in particular, believed that hard work would rid these individuals of their alleged counter-revolutionary tendencies.

The camps were closed down in 1968 following protests to the government by the Cuban Writers and Artists Federation, although these individuals were banned from most areas of employment in Cuba.