Museo de la Lucha Contra Los Bandidos

Rising northwest of Plaza Mayor [1] is the campanile of the Antiguo Convento de San Francisco de Asís. The torre (tower) and church are all that remain of the original convent, replaced by a baroque structure now housing the Museo de la Lucha Contra Los Bandidos (Museum of the Fight Against Outlaws, Calle Echerrí #59, esq. Pino Guinart, tel. 041/99-4121, Tues.–Sun. 9 a.m.–5 p.m., CUC1), which traces the campaign against the counterrevolutionary guerrillas (called “bandits” by the Castro government) in the Sierra Escambray [2] in the years following the Revolution.

There are maps, photographs, a CIA radio transmitter, a small gunboat the CIA donated to the counter-Castro cause, plus parts of the U-2 spy plane shot down during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Ascend the bell tower for views over the city.