Completely refurbished in 2014, the Mexican-Cuban Friendship Museum is filled with displays on José Martí, pictures of Che Guevara and Castro, and other memorabilia. To get to the museum, take a boat (M$5) across the river from the quay near the ADO bus station, walk several blocks south to Obregón, then turn right. The museum is at the western end of Obregón, on the river. Cuban-themed cultural events happen here on Friday nights.
On November 25, 1956, the errant lawyer-turned-revolutionary, Fidel Castro, set sail from the Río Tuxpan with 82 poorly equipped soldiers to start an uprising in Cuba. The sailing was made possible thanks to an encounter in Mexico City between Castro and Antonio del Conde Pontones (aka ‘El Cuate’). On meeting Castro for the first time, Pontones, a legal arms dealer, was immediately taken by the Cuban’s strong personality and agreed to help him obtain guns and a boat. To smooth the process he bought a house on the south side of the Río Tuxpan where he moored the boat and allowed Fidel to meet in secret. Today that house is the Museo de la Amistad México-Cuba.
