MORE THAN EIGHT YEARS OF SUCCESFUL        OPERATIONS 
 

Grupo de Apoyo a la Disidencia, recently transformed in Grupo de Apoyo a la Democracia to indicate the growth in the scope of its operations, began in 1994 as a pilot project directed towards offering humanitarian and logistic support to the by that time budding civil society.  Until then, there was no organization in exile dedicated exclusively to offering that service, and although many different groups provided limited assitance to some of the democratic activists in Cuba, it was primarily done on the basis of political or religious affinity. GAD began the concept of  not only providing assitance to all groups, but also helping create, promoting, and supporting specific projects geared towards the creation of a strong civil society.

The assitance provided by GAD has been based on an agreed strategy, with clear objectives, and specific goals to be met .

We can proudly state that our goals have not only been met, but surpassed by much more than we could ever expect.

• Distribution is reaching more than 90 percent of Cuba’s municipalities.
• The creation and growth of the Project of Independent Clinics, started in Santiago de Cuba in 1999 in a very modest way, and now with fully operative independent clinics in six municipalities.

One of the main providers of assitance to almost 100 percent of those projects operating within the island, from the independent libraries to the independent labor unions.