Cuban American National Foundation

Major Activities

Throughout the 1980s, CANF promoted a hardline anti-Castro, anticommunist stance that mirrored the strong opposition toward communism espoused by then-president Ronald Reagan. Claiming to be the voice of the Cuban American community, CANF successfully lobbied Reagan to establish Radio Martí in 1983. The first Radio Martí broadcast aired on May 20, 1985. Modeled on Radio Free Europe, Radio Martí consists of Spanish-language radio broadcasts laced with anticommunism programming that is transmitted directly from the United States to Cuba. CANF achieved another major success in 1990 when it helped establish TV Martí, which transmitted anti-Castro televised programming to Cuba. During the 1990s, CANF founded its own radio station, La Voz de la Fundacion (The Voice of the Foundation), to transmit anti-Castro broadcasts into the Caribbean island nation.

Also during the 1980s, CANF expressed strong support for the Reagan administration's policy of extending assistance to the Contras of Nicaragua in their fight against the leftist Sandinista regime. As the Nicaraguan struggle against communism resonated with numerous Cuban American exiles, Reagan sought to use CANF to court Cuban voters into the Republican Party. Given the importance of the Cuban voting bloc in Florida as well as Florida's electoral significance in presidential elections, Republican recruitment of Cuban voters has had a profound impact on American political history.

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 marked the official end of the Cold War. Nevertheless, the fiery and outspoken leadership of Jorge Más Canosa enabled CANF to convince elected officials of both major political parties to maintain the trade embargo against Cuba and to eschew diplomatic talks with the Castro regime in the era of post-Cold War geopolitics. Más Canosa met with political figures from around the world throughout the 1990s to cultivate international support for his anti-Castro agenda, including Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Argentine President Carlos Saúl Menem.

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