The Monumento de los 500 Anos marks Cumana's claim as one of the oldest continuously inhabited European-founded cities in the Americas. The monument is not subtle, but it points to the city's central historical fact: Cumana was an early Spanish foothold on the Caribbean coast.
Use it as a prompt rather than an endpoint. The better visit connects the monument with the cathedral, colonial core, and sea-facing forts, building a picture of a city where Venezuelan history began early and often violently.