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The exercise of economic, social and cultural rights, an
integral part of the commitment to promoting and
protecting all the human rights of all cubans.
One of the basic presuppositions of the anti-Cuban campaign
over human rights has been to place a false and
artificial division in the human rights the
Cuban people enjoy. Taking as their basic
premise a refusal to admit that all categories
of human rights enshrined in the Declaration of
Vienna are indivisible and interdependent, the
anti-Cuba campaign ideologues admit what the
statistics do not allow them to hide, the
undeniable achievements of the Cuban Revolution
in the enjoyment of social and cultural rights
of Cubans. Nevertheless, and as if it were
possible to make progress in education, culture
without the existence of civil and political
right, they try to fabricate the false thesis
that the Cuban political system is incompatible
with the enjoyment of civil and political rights
and fundamental liberties.
In a previous chapter the untruth of the charges of alleged
violations of civil and political rights and
fundamental freedoms in Cuba was established. A
synopsis was given of some of the questions
having to do with the Cuban people’s enjoyment
of economic, social and cultural rights.
The triumph of the Cuban Revolution in January 1959 made it
possible to put an end to the neo-colonial
domination that the United States had over the
Cuban people’s natural and human resources, and
laid the foundations for a fairer society in
which all the human rights of each and every
Cuban are protected.
Even though this new situation can be seen in the successes
achieved in all areas of the country’s life,
also visible are the disastrous consequences of
the United States’ policy of hostility,
blockade, and aggression against the Cuban
people.
A.- One of humankind’s essential rights: work
In spite of the severe international recession in recent
years and the measures for flexibilising,
deregulating and making work less secure which
have become entrenched in the area of labour
relations in many parts of the world, in Cuba
the right to work is guaranteed as an
inalienable human right.
Before the triumph of the Revolution, 24% of the workforce
was unemployed and around 200,000 people were
visibly underemployed, a figure that rose
considerably when the sugar harvest was not in
process. Approximately 60% of wage earners and
self employed people received less than the
existing minimum wage. Social security, besides
being inadequate only covered 50% of the
workers.
The unemployment rate for women and young people was double
or triple that for adult men and the use of
child labour was a common practice. In 1958,
133,000 children under employment age were working. When the
Revolution triumphed there were only 194,000
women employed; 70% of them were domestic
workers. During this period 100,000 young
people attained employment age but for them
there was no real hope of finding a job.
When the means of production became social property, it was
possible to make the essential changes which
resulted in the creation of new sources of
employment; A million and a half permanent new
jobs were created between 1959 and 1975 with an
annual average growth rate of employment of 4%.
Women’s employment rose from 12.6% in 1959 to
28% in 1976, in other words more than 700,000
joined the workforce.
In the last few years, as the country recovers from the heavy
blow dealt by special period in the first half
of the 90s, new employment programmes were
initiated; these have created 800,000 new jobs.
The sources of permanent new jobs are mostly in the social
programmes recently set in motion. These
include jobs for teachers who have graduated
from intensive training courses, for computer
science teachers, social workers, nurses, video
and television room operators, and urban
agriculture workers.
The revolutionary idea of making training upgrading, or
studying something new as a form of work has
been developed and implemented in Cuba. This
has allowed tens of thousands of young people
between 17 and 29 years of age, who were not
studying or working –most of them women– to
obtain secondary school graduation or even go on
to post secondary education and be paid while
doing so. 107,302 young people are currently
registered. There are 8,000 instructors
teaching them in 508 centres throughout the
country. At the end of 2003,
30,000 of these young people were already studying at post
secondary level.
The idea of study as work is being extended to workers who
have been made redundant and where there is no
possibly for them to find new jobs straight
away. Thus the best way to find new jobs for
them is to give them the necessary training.
This is now being done with sugar workers.
The restructuration of the sugar industry was implemented
while preserving and developing the human
capital there. This process has involved
219,594 workers of whom 59% have found work in
other parts of the sugar industry, 10% on farms,
20% work studying and 7% have found employment
with other enterprises. There are around
122,000 workers studying in the retraining
programme, 65,310 of them work studying.
The battle for full employment has a strategy and a well
worked out programme which guarantees each
citizen useful and productive employment. The
principles behind this plan are:
A permanent employment plan agreed to with the provinces
Placement is guaranteed for all of those completing one of
the Revolution’s social programmes
Completing and stabilising the labour force in urban
agriculture
Consolidating the Overall Upgrading Course for Young People.
Job placement for all university, graduates from technical
and professional education and from trades
schools
Retraining so as to find new jobs for those made redundant by
the elimination of their jobs
Filling necessary vacancies
Full employment for the disabled if they so desire
Giving priority in employment to woman and young people
Special attention given to the municipalities with the
highest unemployment rate and reducing the
unemployment rate to less than 5%.
As a result of employment programmes, more than 100,000 new
jobs were created in 2003 which allowed us to
lower the unemployment rate to less than 3%
Cuba is a signatory to 88 of the International
Labour Organisation’s (ILO) agreements. It is
in second place among Latin American countries
for the highest number of agreements ratified
and is one of top ten nations in terms of number
of agreements ratified. The United States, for
example, has only ratified 13 of the more than
184 agreements in existence.
B.- Guaranteeing existence: Social security and assistance
Social security in Cuba is a right with that makes no
distinction based on race, sex, religious faith,
or political ideology of the person.
Until 1959 the overwhelming majority of the Cuban people
lived in a precarious situation, with a total
lack of social protection or access to health,
education, pension and retirement services.
The social insurance system in 1958 was in dire straits,
their funds were in deficit because of the
corruption and thieving of the ruling regime.
The financial situation of most of the insurance
funds was depressing. Social assistance was
limited to the efforts of private charity
institutions and some state institutions which
only benefited a small strata of the population,
mostly in Havana.
From 1959 on the Revolutionary state began to transform
social insurance, designing a package of
measures whose immediate aims included financial
help to existing institutions in order to
guarantee they met their obligations.
Today social security is a comprehensive system which
includes security at work, on the job, of
salaries and wages, in working conditions and
training, and of nutrition, physical activity,
individual development and the active
participation of all citizens, including senior
citizens. The main indication of this is the
coverage given to 100% of the workers, their
families and the population who need assistance.
Social Security covers the risks of illness and common
accidents, occupational accidents, occupational
disease, maternity, disability, old age and
death. Social assistance provides protection to
families and individuals in need in the form of
subsidies. The benefits are given in money,
service and kind.
In addition to the aforementioned benefits there are also
social programmes for vulnerable groups of the
population such as the differently abled,
elderly people living alone and others and the
aim of these programmes is to meet the social
and economic needs these people have.
The Cuban Social Security System protects 1,438,295 people
through Social Security and 331, 681 (Data up to
30 June 2003) through Social Assistance; 2,739
million pesos was allotted from the State
expenditure budget to the system in 2004 to
cover its costs.
More than 15,000 social workers throughout the country are
employed in this noble task. Their
responsibility is to look after elderly people
living alone, differently disabled people, etc.
1. Care for elderly people
Cuba is not exempt from the demographic process
of an aging population which is affecting the
world. The total Cuban population is more than
11.2 million. It is one of the oldest
populations in Latin America having more than
one and a half million inhabitants over the age
of 60, a figure destined to increase in the
coming years. It is expected that the number of
people in Cuba over 60 will increase to two and
half million by the year 2005, that is, 25% of
the population.
Health care for the elderly in Cuba complies with the basic
principles of universality, being free of charge
and accessibility.
The Ministry of Health runs the Programme of Care for the
Elderly which work with the Multidisciplinary
Gerontological Care Teams which is a component
of the Family Doctor Programme. Similarly the
geriatrics and gerontology speciality was
started and a process of geriatrization of all
the hospital and community based services is
underway.
2. Care for the disabled
The Cuban government guarantees the human rights of those who
are otherly abled based on the principle that
every one has the same rights.
In Cuba, from 1959 on, concrete measure began to be
implemented for disabled. More recently (1995)
the Action Plan for Care for Disabled Persons
was initiated, to ensure more coordination in
matters concerning, employment, accessibility,
health, education, training and use of
information and communication technologies.
Cuba has developed new social services, such as the Home Care
Worker, the Food Service and grants to mothers
of children with severe disability, the use of
computers and other audio-visual programmes, the
progressive elimination of barriers to access,
the programme for technical prosthetic aid, the
system of close caption in the most important
television programmes, (the Braille system in
libraries and specialised finger telephone
services for those who are deaf and blind, etc.
In 2002 the Cuba government carried out a nationwide
clinical, psychological pedagogic and social
survey (In the course of this study, 366,864
disabled people were visited in their homes) of
the disabled which allowed us to know more about
their living conditions and health status, to
assess the policies in place up to that time and
to get new programmes and studies underway with
the aim of improving the quality of life and
full social integration of these Cubans.
There is an employment programme for the disabled (PROEMDIS),
which has made it easier to integrate them into
social life. Currently there is a fast track
programme underway to find work for 75,113
disabled persons, identified in the genetic
study we carried out, who are interested in and
able to work.
As for new legislation, we should mention the 2003 Decree Law
No. 234 dealing with maternity leave for female
workers. This law increases the scope of the
rights and benefits of this maternity leave
which has been extended until the child reaches
the age of three in the case of mothers with
disabled children; the mother has the right to
return to her job when her leave expires.
C.- The priority given to health in the Cuban system
Providing free medical attention to the Cuban population
became one of the revolutionary government’s
basic social pillars from the time it assumed
power.
Before the Revolution, health and hospital care were mainly
privately or provided to members of mutual
societies. Medical facilities and personnel
were mostly to be found in Havana where 65% of
doctors and 62% of hospital beds were
concentrated. There were virtually no medical
services in rural areas, where nearly half of
Cuba's population lived, and there was only one
rural hospital that had only 10 beds and no
doctors.
The percentage of people suffering from parasites was high
(36.10%) as was that of those suffering from
tuberculosis (13.99%), typhus (13.25%) and
malaria (30.03%). Infant mortality was over
sixty deaths per one thousand live births and
life expectancy was only about 58 years. State
health service was less than adequate and only
8% of the population obtained free medical
attention.
After the triumph of the Revolution, public health services
in Cuba showed an impressive level of
development in successive stages.
1960. Creation of the National Health System. Creation of
rural medical services. Creation of health
areas and polyclinics. Vaccination with the
involvement of the population.
1970. Decentralisation of teaching and of the health sector,
delegation of responsibility to the provinces.
Initiation of Mother and Child Programme
1980. Creation of the Family Doctor Programme. Introduction
of advanced technologies. Fast track
development of the medico-pharmaceutical
industry.
1990. Introduction and development of science and
technology’s achievements. Withstanding the
double whammy of the U.S. blockade and the
collapse of socialism in Eastern Europe and the
USSR.
2000 The stage when the system was consolidated, reformed and
modernised. Increased participation by the
community in health measures and actions.
2002 to date. New programmes to put advances in medical care
into practice. Development of polyclinics as
centres of the highest quality primary medical
care. Repairs to doctors’ offices and to
polyclinics. Fast track training course for
nurses.
Cuba’s achievement in the field of health mean that ever
since 1983 it has more than met the requirements
of Health for Everyone agreed to in the context
of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
However, currently far reaching transformations to health
services are underway in order to go beyond what
we have already achieved. One of the most
important of these is a programme to bring
services closer to the population, the extensive
retraining programmes for medical personnel –at
the beginning of 2003 there were 34,451 people
registered in this– and the continued
development of pharmaceutical drug production.
In order to be able to execute these transformations and to
continue improving the quality of medical
services, the state budget allocated 2,270
million pesos for this key area.
Some of the Cuban public health’s achievements in the last
ten years can be summarised as follows:
67% of the medicines the country need are domestically
produced
Programme for pre-natal diagnosis of congenital diseases.
This has helped to prevent the birth of more
than four thousand children with congenital
deformities
Medical genetics programme to reduce Down syndrome and other
diseases
Improvement of intensive pre-natal, paediatric and adults
therapies
Increase in the number of organ transplants performed
Discovery of the group B anti-meningococcal vaccine, the only
one of its kind in the world
Production of Hepatitis B Vaccine
Discovery of PPG (atheromix), first choice therapy for
treating high cholesterol, the major
contributing factor to coronary risk
Decrease in the number of cases of cancer in the advanced
stage and an increase in the survival rate.
Production of monoclonal antibodies for cancer
treatment. Manufacture of vaccines against the
disease.
More exact classification of leukaemia and its treatment
Cure or control of retinitis pigmentosa
Production of melagenina, a pharmaceutical obtained for human
placenta and used for treating vitiligo.
Production of high-quality, low-cost medicines.
Manufacture of equipment such as Neuronica (used for
monitoring during operations), the Medicid
(digital electroencephalogram), the Ozomed (for
ozone therapy treatment) and SUMA (Unilateral
Micro-Analytic System)
MAIN STRATEGIES USED IN HEALTH CARE FIELD
1. Reorienting the health system towards primary health care
and its cornerstone, the family doctor and
nurse.
Cuba today has 381 health areas which are fully
covered by the family doctor programme, of whom
there are more than 30,000 spread throughout the
country. More than 97% of the Cuban population
is covered by a family doctor and a nurse and it
is expected that this will increase to 100% in
the next few years. Continuing to give priority
status to care for the population’s health has
been a strategic challenge and goal for the
state and society as a whole.
There is also the polyclinic, the first link the Cuban public
health chain, which since 1997 is considered to
be among the 28 most complete health services in
the world, according to an assessment done by
the World Health Organisation (WHO).
2. Revitalisation of hospital care
During the 80s the country made a huge effort to extend and
modernise its hospital services network, which
meant improving coverage, accessibility,
capacity and comfort and incorporating the most
up-to-date technology into the services
offered. Although substantial progress was
made, the programme was interrupted by the
special period but it is today once again
underway with new enthusiasm and more ambitious
goals. In 2002, the country had 265 hospitals
and 55,864 beds.
3. Cutting-edge technology programmes and research institutes
Cuba has developed a series of top class medical
care programmes to protect the population’s
health. Some of the most noteworthy of these
are the programmes for preventing diagnosing and
treating cancer, treatment for those with renal
insufficiency, the cardiocentres, and the early
diagnosis of congenital complaints,
comprehensive pre-natal services, blood donor
programmes and the production of blood products.
4. Medical education and internationalist aid
Compared to 1959 when there was only one medical faculty in
Cuba and one dentistry faculty, Cuba today has
four higher institutions of medical science,
24 faculties of medicine and four of dentistry and more than
50 health and nursing polytechnics. Most of the
hospitals are also teaching institutions or
medical science faculties. As a result of the
development of this educational structure, in
2002 there were 67,079 doctors in the country
compared to the 3000 that the Revolution had
when it emerged victorious –another 3000
emigrated in the first few years after the
Revolution in response to the incentives offered
for this very purpose by the United States
government whose aim was to dismantle the Cuban
health service.
By 2005 the Latin American School of Medical Sciences (ELAM)
expects registration to rise to 10,000 with
Latin American students whose numbers include
representatives of 66 ethnic groups and
indigenous peoples from very isolated places
where there is no health care. That same year
the first doctors will graduate from ELAM; they
are committed to return to their own countries
once they have completed their studies.
Hundreds more young people from the Caribbean
and Africa are also studying medicine in Cuba.
Cuba’s solidarity in the health field is not
limited to education foreign students here.
Currently, 14 thousand 732 Cubans collaborate in
areas of health in 65 different countries. Cuba
has implemented the Comprehensive Health
Programme (PIS) which is welcomed by Governments
and by the populations that benefit directly
from it alike. Under the programme 3117 Cuban
cooperators are serving in 22 countries, of whom
2412 are doctors (Data from July 2003). Another
10,000 Cuban doctors have recently joined these
numbers. They are carrying out important
medical services in the Plan Barrio Adentro
(Into the Neighbourhoods Plan) all over
Venezuela.
Under the Comprehensive Health Programme tripartite
cooperation projects have been developed with
several countries. The programme is supported
by 95 non-governmental organisations from
various parts of the world and by international
bodies such as the WHO/PHO, the UNDP and UNICEF
whose financial contributions, medical equipment
and supplies are sent directly to the countries
or places where the Cuban health cooperants are
working.
Based on Cuba’s experience in the epidemiological control of
HIV/AIDS and on the fact that our country has
the human resources necessary to deal with this
pandemic, Cuba, in the special period of
sessions of the UN Assembly General on HIV/AIDS
held in New York from 25 to 27 June 2001
proposed :
Providing 4,000 doctors and health professionals to create an
infrastructure to supply the population in
countries in need with the medicines prescribed
and the necessary follow-up. These same
doctors, etc. could educate and train very many
specialists, nurses and health technicians.
Providing the professors needed to set up 20 medical
faculties in several of the world’s countries,
many of whom could be selected from among the
doctors who are already working as part of the
Comprehensive Health Programme. 1000 doctors
could be trained every year in the countries
that most need them.
Sending the doctors, educators, psychologists and other
experts needed to advise and collaborate with
the AIDS and other disease prevention campaigns.
Supplying the equipment and kits needed for the basic
prevention programmes
Anti-retrovirus treatment for 30,000 patients.
All that would be needed is that the international community
contribute the raw materials for the medicines,
equipment and material resources for these goods
and services. Cuba would make no profit and
would contribute the salaries of the Cubans in
its domestic currency, salaries being the most
expensive component for international health
cooperation bodies. Cuba would also supply what
is most difficult to find, trained people
willing to carry out this mission in the most
isolated areas.
Subsequently, in the Summit of Caribbean Heads of State held
in Havana on 8 December 2002 to commemorate the
30th anniversary of the re-establishment of
diplomatic relations between Cuba and the
CARICOM countries, Cuba offered a programme
supporting the regional strategy designed for
fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean
area. The programme proposed:
Sending 1000 health workers whose salaries would be paid by
the Cuban State.
Sending the instructors and technicians needed to set up, in
a country designated by CARICOM, a Technical
Education Centre to teach nursing and other
medical sciences at that level. Every year this
institution could turn out up to two hundred
young people from CARICOM countries who would be
especially trained to treat patients with
HIV/AIDS.
To provide free of charge no less than 30% of the value of
the equipment and diagnostic kits produced in
our country so that SUMA laboratories could be
set up since this would it easier to carry out
mass testing of the population. The cooperation
offered would include installing, starting-up
and technical assistance for the equipment and
training local staff to use the aforementioned
technology.
Cuba would be willing to share with other donors
up to 40% of the value of these diagnostic kits
and equipment in the case of Haiti.
Since its inception to date a total of 7,506 co-operators
have served and are serving under the
Comprehensive Health Programme.
Other aspects of the Cuban Health System development.
a) Mother and Child Programme. One of the most noteworthy
aspects is the infant mortality rate which at
the close of 2003 was 6.3 per 1000 live births.
b) The National Vaccination Programme. Cuba’s vaccination
programme is one of those with the widest
coverage in the world. Today all Cuban children
are vaccinated against 13 infectious diseases
and there is a broad range of projects to use
other kinds of preventative and therapeutic
vaccines for adults.
In 2004 the health service began to use the first Cuban
tetravalent vaccine to protect children against
four diseases (diphtheria, tetanus, whooping
cough and hepatitis). Encouraging results have
been obtained in the search for a pentavalent
compound which would include antigens against
haemophilus Influenzae type B. If the outcome
is successful, this would be the first vaccine
in the world against those five illnesses.
Also heartening are the advances in a therapeutic test
vaccine against the human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV) and in four therapeutic anti-cancer
vaccines which are in the clinical trial stage
in Cuba and other countries.
b) Chronic non-communicable diseases. Cuba’s epidemiological
profile is characterised by the preponderance of
death due to chronic non-communicable diseases.
Heart diseases, malignant tumours,
cerebrovascular illnesses and accidents cause
almost two thirds of the deaths in the country.
Diabetes mellitus, hepatic cirrhosis, asthma and
high blood pressure should also be mentioned as
significant causes of death.
c) Communicable diseases. This programme’s main objective is
to control communicable diseases to continue
reducing morbidity and to control risk factors
to prevent outbreaks and epidemics. Infectious
diseases are the main cause of death in the
world: many of these diseases can be controlled
with vaccines. In Cuba, a significant number of
such diseases have been eliminated. (See
Appendices)
d) Care for the elderly. There is a National Programme for
Care for the Elderly.
Major causes of death
When the Revolution emerged victorious, 14.2% of deaths was
caused by infectious diseases. Today the
proportion of deaths from infectious diseases
and parasites has fallen so greatly it has all
but disappeared. The major causes of death are
heart and cerebrovascular diseases, malignant
tumours, etc.
Although HIV/AIDS is a veritable threat to the continuing
existence of the human race in other parts of
the world, Cuba, thanks to the early adoption of
strategies and to a government group for
coordinating the national response to the
epidemic, has managed to keep slow the spread of
the disease.
To date (Data brought up to date by the Hygiene and
Epidemiology Branch as of August 2003) 4,979
people infected with the virus have been
detected, of these 2,221 have become ill and
1084 of the latter have died from AIDS.
The epidemic is considered to be at a low level, there being
a prevalence of 0.05 of people between the ages
of 15 and 49 infected with the disease; this is
the lowest in the Americas and one of the lowest
in the world.
Under the National Programme for the Prevention and Control
of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and AIDS people
living with HIV and AIDS are provided with
training, social and job security, specialised
medical attention, which includes free
anti-retroviral treatment and treatment for
opportunistic diseases for 100% of those
infected. An educational programme is being
developed, which plans to offer sex education in
schools, educational programmes specially
designed for vulnerable groups, adolescents and
the population in general. The programme’s main
focus is on prevention.
Cuba has managed to contain this pandemic in
spite of having limited access to 50% of the new
drugs which are produced by U.S. companies or
subsidiaries because of the severe economic,
trade and financial blockade imposed on our
country by the United States.
D.- Education: A Revolution within the Revolution.
The Government of the Republic of Cuba places the greatest
importance on its citizens full enjoyment of the
human right to education. Quality education
which totally respects cultural identity and
which includes values and principles that foster
solidarity, social justice, mutual respect,
patriotism and a profound knowledge of
humanity’s historic, cultural and artist
heritage and of its peoples’ customs have been
the clear guidelines followed in developing
Cuba’s educational system, from the triumph of
the Revolution on.
In 1953 Cuba had only about 6.5 million inhabitants; more
than half a million children had no school and
more than 2 million people were completely or
functionally illiterate. Only half of the
school population went on to secondary school;
there were 10,000 unemployed teachers; about
550,000 children aged between 6 and 14, almost
half the total number, did not go to school.
The population over the age of 15 had an average
educational level of less than three years of
primary school.
One of the first measures taken by the Revolutionary
government was the eradication of illiteracy and
the creation of the conditions to ensure free,
good quality universal education at all levels,
the results of which are clearly seen in Cuba’s
achievements in this field.
If one takes the advances in the educational field into
account, the goals set out by UNESCO for 2015
have already been met.
These results notwithstanding, and in order to continue
improving the Cuban educational system, new
educational strategies have been developed which
have further empowered administrators, teachers
and students to act as the protagonists of
educational changes.
In order to continue developing education and implementing
these new strategies, the Cuban State has
allocated 3,825 million pesos to education in
the 2004 budget.
As far as it has been able, the Cuban people has collaborated
with other developing countries in the
educational field. More than 17,000 young
people from more than 110 countries are studying
various subjects in Cuba, most of them at the
higher level.
Cuba proposed a project to provide UNESCO with
20 scholarships a year which has been approved
and is now in the revision and implementation
phase. The project should begin in 2004 and is
for countries in Africa but could possibly be
extended to other regions.
Cuba has also offered its support for a
universal literacy programme. Cuba would
contribute a large part of the technology and
specialist human resources needed. All that
would have to be done is to mobilise an
infinitesimal portion of the financial resources
which float about the world every year and which
would not exceed 0.01% of the GDP of OECD
countries. If the programme proposed were put
into practice, 1,500 million illiterate and
semi-illiterate people all over the world could
learn to read and write and study up to the
sixth year of primary school.
1.-.The basic principles of Cuban education
a) The principle of mass education with equal access for
all: Education is a right and a duty of all
Cuban citizens. We have an educational system
which covers all educational levels without
distinction on the grounds of age, sex, race
religious or place of residence. Special
benefits exist so that children from low income
families have equal opportunities to study and
to education; these include boarding schools.
b) The principle of establishing links between work and
study: This is the unity of theory and
practice, with the aim of creating an awareness
of being a producer, a creator in children and
young people, by eliminating the prejudices that
derive from the division between manual and
intellectual labour.
c) The principle of the democratic participation of society
in the task of education: This recognises that
society is a huge school and education is a
process that lasts a lifetime. It ensures that
all grassroot, social and other non-governmental
organisations participate in education, in
designing educational strategies, in supervising
education and in taking decisions about it, and
that this participation is by all levels of
society.
d) The principle of coeducation and of schools open to
diversity: Guarantees that men and women have
access to educational centres in any of the
subject areas and professions which the
aforementioned system offers. There are no
distinctions made nor discrimination practiced
on the grounds of skin colour, family income,
the political ideas or opinion of the person
being educated or of his or her relatives, etc.
e) Gender approach: This ensures the elementary right of
girls and women to have access to the
educational system, given that the mother’s
educational level is important for the education
of her children.
f) The Principle of Differentiated Education and
Assimilation into Public Schools: The attention
given is tailored to the needs and
potentialities of each person.
g) The Principle of Free Education: Education at all levels
is free.
2.- The New Educational Revolution.
Even though Cuba has made enormous progress in making
possible the human right to education,
everything that we are planning and doing today
will imply radical changes, the results of which
will be seen in 10 years time. Moreover, given
that these changes are all part of the
revolutionary process, they will bear the
solidarity-filled, altruistic, internationalist
seal stamped on them by a society that
engenders high values and a humanist ethics.
a) The Universalisation of Higher Education
Higher education in Cuba has undergone transformations so
that it may serve the population’s interests.
At this level the results of scientific research
have increased as have post graduate studies.
In the last few months, there has been a far-reaching
revolution at this level of education, bringing
the universities ever closer to each and every
Cuban. Every municipality in the country now
has university classrooms, in which a growing
number of subjects is taught. The
municipalisation of higher education has allowed
us to increase registration to 300,000 students
who study on
732 campuses. This has provided new opportunities for any
young person or adult to take university
courses.
b) The University of the Future: The Digital City.
The University of Information Sciences, a new university
which brings the number of institutions of
higher education in the country to 46, has been
given the task of educating professional to have
a high level of scientific and technological
knowledge. It is thought of as providing
support for increasing the use of computers in
the country, for producing software and for
industrial services.
Currently there are 4,000 scholarship students registered.
The new university has a faculty of more than
300 highly qualified instructors, who were
recruited from 27 of the other universities.
The projected capacity of this Digital City is 10,000, with
2,000 students registering every year.
c) A Qualitative Leap in Primary Education
A programme has been put in place in Cuba to ensure than
there are no more than 20 pupils per classroom.
This is so we may be able to offer
differentiated education, the foundation for the
qualitative leap we envisage for Cuban schools.
This goal has been made possible through the repair of
existing schools and building of new ones; the
prioritization of university training of primary
and early childhood education teachers; the
creation of 30 pre-university vocational
colleges for teacher training around the
country; intensive training of new teachers; the
introduction of audiovisual technology in all
classrooms; and the introduction of computer
instruction beginning at the early childhood
education level. All of the country's schools
are now equipped with one television per
classroom and a VCR for every 100 students,
while there are 24,000 computers distributed
among the primary schools.
d) The challenge of secondary education
Major steps have been taken in secondary education to foster
a closer link between teachers and students,
promoting more individualized attention for
students during the difficult period of
adolescence.
A significant advance has been made in this direction through
the concept of a comprehensive teacher for the
seventh, eighth and ninth grades, able to teach
all of the subjects corresponding to these grade
levels –except for languages and physical
education– and moving up with the same group of
students through these three years of study,
with a student/teacher ratio of 15 to one.
Other steps taken include the introduction of a full day of
classes for junior secondary students (who
formerly attended class for only half the day),
the training of new teachers, and the use of
audiovisual technology.
As a means of supporting this program, 567 new classrooms
have been built in
98 schools, 4,000 new teachers have graduated from the
Schools for the Intensive Training of General
Comprehensive Junior Secondary Teachers, and
33,281 teachers have been retrained under this new concept of
junior secondary education throughout the
country.
As for senior secondary education –grades 10, 11 and 12– in
both academic and vocational programs, new ideas
are being developed that will inevitably include
a combination of specialized teachers,
incorporating the principle of individualized
attention.
e) Special Education
Special education was initiated in Cuba 40 years ago, through
the creation in 1962 of the Department of
Special Education, aimed at attending to
children with special educational needs, to the
greatest extent possible and in accordance with
their individual capacities. The goal of this
program is not only to help these children to
grow into self-sufficient adults, but to allow
them to play an active part in society. No
program of this kind existed previously.
Since 1962, special education in Cuba has developed into a
whole system guaranteeing integrated
educational, psychological, physical and medical
attention for 100% of Cuban children with
special educational needs, who currently number
over 55,000.
Cuba has made significant progress in the study and research
of genetically transmitted disorders, with the
goal of diagnosing them from an early age,
providing support for carriers and victims, and
seeking ways to halt the transmission of some of
the 80 disorders of this kind.
Cuba has produced a wide range of equipment,
including Video-Voice, Medicid, Neuronica, and
more recently Audic, which constitute an
important means of support for special
education. The effectiveness of the Audic
technology has been demonstrated in Colombia,
Mexico and China, where laboratories have been
set up for the early detection of impaired
hearing.
The audiovisual and computer programs have also been
incorporated into this field of education, and
have proven to be excellent tools to enhance
learning.
The Latin American Special Education Reference Center was
established in Cuba in 1990. The country's
universities also offer a degree program in
special education, from which over 10,000
professionals have graduated. There are over
400 special education schools, at which the
principle of 20 or less students per teacher is
also applied, in addition to day-care centers,
special classrooms and classrooms in hospitals.
More than 1000 students receive classes in their
homes, provided by visiting teachers.
E.- Culture: the nation's heritage and a guarantee of its
sovereignty in a globalized world
The cultural work undertaken in Cuba since 1959 represents
one of the most eloquent expressions of the
humanistic, universal and democratic spirit of
the Cuban Revolution.
The Constitution of the Republic of Cuba establishes that the
state "orients, foments and promotes education,
culture and science in all their
manifestations," and specifically espouses the
freedom of artistic creation, the defense of
Cuban cultural identity, and the conservation of
the nation's cultural heritage and artistic and
historic wealth.
In Cuba, culture is the domain of the masses, with equal
opportunity for the development of the potential
of every citizen. For the Cuban government,
culture is an essential foundation of
development, in light of its spiritual,
creative, affective, moral and ethical
contribution to society and the tangible and
intangible heritage of the nation.
Based on this conviction, the Cuban state promotes the most
varied expressions of artistic, cultural and
intellectual activity, and this sector has been
given particular priority over recent years
through the development of programs aimed at
fostering a higher degree of general,
comprehensive culture and learning in every
Cuban citizen.
After the National Literacy Campaign, in the earliest years
of the Revolution, the foundations were laid for
profound cultural development, through the
establishment of important institutions with
this goal. These included, among others, a
national publishing system, bringing books and
reading to the masses; an art education system
of the highest standards yet accessible to all;
a system of local cultural institutions; and
national institutes and other agencies
responsible for promoting the various fields of
the arts.
The progressive growth in state funding of culture reflects
the priority placed on the development of this
sector, with an increase from 102 million pesos
in 1997 to 552 million pesos in 2004.
The Ministry of Culture and its provincial and municipal
departments are currently concentrating on the
following priorities:
The creation and promotion of art and literature throughout
the country and the active participation of
artists in the nation's cultural institutions.
The development and implementation of multifaceted,
high-quality cultural programming, with close
coordination among national, provincial and
municipal institutions, aimed at meeting the
growing public demand.
The enrichment, preservation and dissemination of cultural
heritage.
Community work on the part of cultural institutions, with the
participation of the different social forces
that support community cultural work.
Increased emphasis on the art education system, and the
development of human resources in general.
The introduction and application of new information and
communication technologies for the development
and dissemination of culture.
Closer ties with the media, as one of the fundamental means
of informing the public and influencing tastes.
The international promotion of Cuban culture.
Fostering the production and marketing of cultural goods and
services.
1.- Municipal cultural institutions
Cuba has developed a wide network of local
community cultural institutions, spread
throughout the country and numbering 2050 in
all, including
368 bookstores, 21 traditional music clubs, 178 video
theaters and two circus tents.
The amateur artist movement, promoted through community
cultural centers, has grown significantly in
recent years, with a current membership of
98,762.
There are over 2,200 professional cultural promoters
currently working in local people's councils,
districts and settlements. Between 1995 and
2002, 410 new cultural promoters were trained in
courses specially designed for this purpose.
The enrolment for the 2003-2004 course is 3654
students, of whom 1874 were participants in the
comprehensive upgrading courses for unemployed
youth.
In conjunction with the Ministry of Education, special
priority has been placed on the new schools for
art instructors, which are staffed by
instructors recruited from cultural institutions
and groups throughout the country. There are 15
of these schools in all, one in each of the 14
provinces and one on the Isle of Youth. There
are currently 15,482 students enrolled,
specializing in various artistic fields. The
first group of graduates, numbering 3,353 in
all, will complete their studies in 2004.
2.-Art education
The founding of the National School of Art in 1962 marked the
initiation of one of the most transcendental and
beautiful works of the Revolution: the creation
of an art education system. This system has
earned considerable international recognition
and prestige, owing to the quality of its
graduates and to its design, curricula, faculty
and high technical and artistic standards.
There are currently 20 basic art education schools and 29
junior college level professional art schools
throughout the country, a reflection of the
emphasis placed on this field of education. The
successes achieved in Cuban culture are
undoubtedly the fruit of this art education
system, crowned by the prestigious Higher
Institute of Arts (ISA).
During the year 2003, work continued in the training of the
16,000 students enrolled in the country's
schools for art instructors. The annual Book
Fair was expanded to encompass 30 venues
throughout the country, and was attended by 3.5
million people; millions of books were sold.
3.-The use of information technologies for
sociocultural development
Cuba, whose cultural development efforts are
founded on the pillars of people’s participation
and equity, has begun to implement strategies
that will help convert information and
communication technologies into instruments
serving sociocultural transformation.
In all of the country's school, including those in remote
rural areas, audiovisual technology and
computers are used as part of the teaching and
learning process. A total of 30,000 students
are currently enrolled in programs for training
as programmers and in other fields of computer
sciences at the junior college level. The use
of the Internet and new information and
communication technologies is being handled
creatively so as to ensure the greatest possible
social benefit.
The late arrival of the Internet to Cuba owes to the fact
that up until May of 1994, Cuban access to
Internet websites was blocked by the United
States. The Torricelli Act, adopted in 1992 to
reinforce the blockade, identified
communications with Cuba as a means of weakening
the Cuban Revolution. (As a result of the
blockade, the Cuban telecommunications sector
has suffered millions of dollars in losses in
such areas as conventional and wireless
telephone communications, alarm systems,
electronic commerce and postal communications.
In the year 2002, losses totaled 21.7 million
dollars in the telephone sector alone)
In a world where access to the Internet is for only a small
minority, (The United States is clearly
predominant not only in the administration but
also in the use of the Internet, being home to
around 60% of the more than 43 million computers
in the world directly connected (hosts or
servers). North Americans, with 4,995 users per
10,000 inhabitants, constitute one third of all
Internet users in the world. The United States
and Canada alone account for 57% of the total of
users worldwide. Some specialists believe that
the technological gap between the United States
and the rest of the world is not demonstrated
anywhere else as clearly as it is in the area of
information and communication technologies, and
especially in the use of the Internet.)where
millions of people have never even seen a
telephone, and have no hope of ever being able
to use the Internet, because many of them cannot
read or write, the only possible path for the
underdeveloped countries, the most democratic
and wide-reaching under the conditions of the
blockade and the limited resources faced by
Cuba, is the path that we are following.
Through social, educational, cultural, academic,
artistic and other centers, in specialized
fields or in the community in general, access to
the Internet is provided for artists,
intellectuals, writers and other creators.
Despite the efforts made, Cuba's connection to the so-called
worldwide web does not offer the sufficient
bandwidth to meet the country's demand. The
U.S. blockade obliges Cuba to use a bandwidth
and satellite connection that is costly and
slow. The problem could be solved by a fiber
optic cable connecting Cuba and the state of
Florida, but the U.S. authorities prohibit this.
Cuba's ability to connect to the Internet with the speed it
would like, or with as many channels or
independent providers as it may choose, does not
depend on Cuba. Every time that Cuba attempts
to add a new channel to the Internet, the U.S.
counterpart must obtain the corresponding
license from the U.S. Treasury Department.
Likewise, if a U.S. company wants to open a new
channel to Cuba or decides to increase the speed
of connection, a license must be issued.
F.- Sports: the people's right
The guarantee of the enjoyment of sports as a right of all
Cuban citizens is one of the Cuban Revolution's
most significant achievements in the field of
human rights.
Sports and physical education have been made widely available
to the entire population, largely through the
work of 36,775 specialized instructors. This
breaks down to one physical education instructor
for every 83 inhabitants, as compared to one for
every 10,000 in 1959.
The concept of sports as the people's right has been made a
reality in the country's 169 municipalities,
where all citizens have the opportunity to
participate in sports activities at no cost.
Cuba is the only country in the world with
specialized physical education instructors for
grades one to four.
The sports and physical education system includes a
university-level School of Physical Education in
every province, a national Institute of Physical
Education, numerous junior college-level schools
for physical education instructors, and the
International School of Physical Education and
Sports.
The International School of Physical Education and Sports, a
concrete reflection of Cuba's selfless
solidarity with the peoples of the Third World,
was founded in 2001. There are currently 1,372
young people from 72 countries in Africa, Asia,
Latin America and the Caribbean enrolled in this
center of higher learning.
Over the last 10 years, more than 10,000 Cuban sports
specialists have provided their services in 97
countries. At the Sydney Olympic Games, to
offer just one example, there were 36 Cuban
trainers working with teams from other
countries.
Cuba has come to occupy a high standing internationally, with
outstanding performances at the Olympics and in
international and regional championships. It is
worth mentioning that during the 1990s, Cuba
maintained a spot among the top ten countries in
the Olympic Games. These results have placed
Cuba among the 30 countries that have won the
most Olympic medals per inhabitant in the entire
history of the Olympics.
G.- Cuban women: a leading role in the Revolutionary project
Cuba was the first country to sign and the second country to
ratify the Convention on the Elimination of all
Forms of Discrimination against Women (on March
6, 1980 and July 17, 1980, respectively). From
the very moment of the triumph of the
Revolution, policies have been developed and
programs implemented not only to eliminate
discrimination on the basis of gender, but also
to make women direct participants, on an equal
footing, in the project to transform Cuban
society.
The Republic of Cuba's National Action Plan for Follow-Up to
the Fourth World Conference on Women, adopted by
the Council of State in April of 1997, has
effectively and increasingly contributed to
fostering government policies aimed at the
support and promotion of women, guaranteeing
their participation in the development process
under the same conditions and with the same
opportunities as men.
Cuban legislation includes a number of provisions that
guarantee the rights of women, such as the right
to health care, particularly with regard to
sexual and reproductive rights; to education,
social security and assistance, housing,
employment, equal pay for work of equal value,
and access and promotion to management
positions, without discrimination.
Some indicators reflecting the results achieved:
The maternal mortality rate in Cuba has decreased from 70.4
per 100,000 live births in 1970 to 34.3 per
100,000 in October of 2003.
In the year 2003, women made up 44.9% of the workforce in the
civilian public sector. They represent 66.4% of
all junior college and university graduates, 72%
of the workforce in the educational sector, 67%
in the health care sector and 44.6% in the
scientific sector.
Women currently occupy 31% of management positions, which is
double the figure registered in 1975.
The participation of women in the bodies of the People’s
Power and in successive electoral processes has
gradually increased. There are currently 219
women deputies in the Cuban National Assembly.
Cuba is one of the top ten countries in the
world in terms of the percentage of women in
Parliament, with a rate of 35.94%
H.- Children and adolescents
In Cuba, children and adolescents are given special priority
by the family, community, civil society and the
state, including essential legal protection and
the guarantee of the necessary conditions for
the exercise of their rights.
The state regulates the rights of children and adolescents
through the Constitution of the Republic and
various codes, laws and decree-laws, including
the Child and Youth Code, the Family Code, the
Civil Code and the Penal Code.
The rights of Cuban children and adolescents are also
protected through a system of social policies,
programs and projects in the areas of health
care, education, social security, the
environment, and others. (See Annexes.)
Cuba was one of the first countries to ratify the Convention
on the Rights of the Child (on August 21, 1991)
and submitted its initial report to the
Committee in May of 1997.
The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the
Child on the sale of children, child
prostitution and child pornography was signed by
our country in October of 2000 and ratified in
September of 2001. Cuba has also signed the
Optional Protocol to this Convention on
involvement of children in armed conflicts
(October 13, 2000).
In Cuba, the implementation and monitoring of the Convention
and its Protocols are integrated in a
multisectoral and multidisciplinary system,
which involves government agencies,
non-governmental organizations and the general
public, including children and adolescents
themselves.
The Constitution of the Republic grants all Cuban citizens
the right to study until
16 years of age. The national education system is universal
and free of charge for all levels of education,
including university education. Child labor has
been eliminated throughout the country since the
1960s.
In response to the agreements adopted at the World Summit for
Children in 1990, Cuba formulated its National
Action Plan that very year. Every year Cuba
compiles a report on its fulfillment of the
goals of the World Summit for Children, at both
the provincial and national level. Reports are
regularly submitted to UNICEF on the fulfillment
of the National Action Plan; all of the goals
set have been surpassed by Cuba.
Following the UN General Assembly Special Session on
Children, held as a follow-up 10 years after the
Summit itself, a new revised National Action
plan was drafted in 2003.
Some of the results achieved:
Cuba’s infant mortality rate is the lowest in Latin America
(6.3 per 1000 live births)
Children are vaccinated against 13 diseases, through a
vaccination program that covers 99.5% of the
country’s children.
In Cuba there are no differences in levels of literacy within
the country. A full 100% of children complete
primary education.
CONCLUSIONS
The policy of hostility, blockade and aggression adopted by
successive U.S. administrations against the
self-determination and sovereignty of the Cuban
nation –a policy that includes the unjust
anti-Cuban campaign in the Commission on Human
Rights– did not begin with the triumph of the
Cuban Revolution in 1959, nor with the
proclamation of the socialist nature of the
Revolution in 1961. This hostility and
aggression have been consistent patterns of
conduct for over
200 years, the result of the imperialist appetites that have
determined policies towards the island from
within the power circles of the superpower. The
United States’ economic, commercial and
financial blockade against Cuba is one of the
most significant massive, flagrant and
systematic violations of the human rights of the
Cuban people generated by the policy of
hostility towards the Cuban nation, but it is
not the only one.
The Cuban people have been victims of mercenary invasions,
biological warfare, radio and television
aggression, outside encouragement of illegal and
violent emigration, assassination plots against
its top leaders, and acts of sabotage and
terrorism that have caused material damages
totalling 54 billion dollars, the deaths of
3,478 Cuban citizens, and permanent disability
for 2099 more.
The resolution against Cuba in the Commission on Human Rights
is a manipulative maneuver on the part of the
United States. It does not matter if
responsibility for authorship is publicly
assumed by some other government; the facts
demonstrate that the texts of successive
anti-Cuban draft resolutions have been conceived
in Washington, and the adoption of these
resolutions has only been made possible through
the pressures exerted directly by the
superpower.
The Bush Administration’s aggressive actions, hostile
measures, provocations and threatening
statements against Cuba over the last three
years have seriously intensified over the course
of 2003 and the first months of 2004. The
possibility of a military attack on the island
is very much a reality today; it has been
demonstrated in this report. Those who have
joined in the support of the anti-Cuban campaign
in the CHR are acting in complicity with the
unjust fabrication of pretexts to set the stage
for a military attack on Cuba.
The measures sovereignly adopted by Cuba in the trial and
sentencing of mercenaries in the service of the
superpower or of terrorists — measures
implemented for the legitimate defense of the
nation, with full respect for the law and as an
urgent requirement of national security — cannot
be judged without taking into account the
unprecedented rise in U.S. hostility towards the
Cuban people and the imminent threat of a
military attack that would end its very
existence as an independent nation.
The media campaign orchestrated by Washington to present the
sentenced mercenaries as alleged “journalists,
trade unionists and peaceful political
opponents” is an insult to the just cause of
human rights and outrageously untrue. No one
was sentenced for expressing opinions or ideas,
or for exercising any of the rights recognized
in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
All were tried with full respect for the
procedures of due process and all of those
sentenced were provided with evidence of the
serious charges that determined the decisions
adopted by the courts. They are now serving
their sentences in the conditions of dignity,
proper care and respect that are guaranteed to
all Cubans and foreigners sentenced to jail
terms in Cuba.
Cuba has fully cooperated and will continue to cooperate with
all of the non-discriminatory and universally
applied procedures and mechanisms of the United
Nations human rights machinery. However, it
cannot recognize or cooperate with the
implementation of the spurious anti-Cuban
resolutions imposed in the Commission by the
superpower, the basis for the mandate of the
so-called “Personal Representative” of the High
Commissioner for Cuba. As was the case in the
past with the so-called Special Rapporteur, this
new procedure will disappear one day when
justice is able to prevail once again, and the
person assigned this illegitimate mandate will
never exercise it on Cuban territory.
The Cuban people’s resistance and determination to fight
until victorious are continuously subjected to
arduous tests. Five young men who fought
terrorism and defended the human rights of the
Cuban people are being arbitrarily held in U.S.
prisons and subjected, along with their
families, to the cruellest forms of
psychological torture. The Cuban people, with
the solidarity of a great many honorable people
from around the world, including the United
States itself, are demanding their release and
their right to return to their homeland.
Despite the inherited conditions of underdevelopment and the
asphyxiating blockade imposed by the government
of the United States, the Cuban people have been
able to make significant advances in the
revolutionary transformations aimed at building
a society that is ever more just and equitable,
one that guarantees ample possibility for the
exercise of democratic participation by all
citizens. The institutions and components of a
state that recognizes the power of the masses of
workers, intellectuals, professionals and
artists work together with a large and active
civil society, giving every Cuban citizen
effective and systematic participation in the
decisions that affect their present and will
determine their future.
The Cuban people will continue to fight to defend their
rights to self-determination, development, peace
and a more just and equitable international
order, in which the goal of All Human Rights for
All can finally become a reality. To achieve
these just demands, they are willing to offer up
all of their talent, sweat and blood, if
necessary.
Some important statistics and information on the social,
cultural and economic development of Cuba in the
face of the restrictions of the tight and
illegal blockade imposed by the Government of
the United States of America.
EMPLOYMENT
A comparative table of unemployment rates in Cuba and in a
number of industrialized countries and Latin
America.
1995 2000 2001 2002* 2003*
CUBA 8.3 5.4 4.1 3.3 2.3***
Australia 8.2 6.3 6.7
6.6 6.1
Austria 3.9 4.7 3.6 5.6 6.3
Belgium 9.7 6.9 6.6
6.7 11.7
Canada 9.4 6.8 7.2 7.6 8.0
Denmark 6.8 4.4 4.3 4.3
6.2
Finland 15.2 9.8 9.1 9.4 9.9
France 11.4 9.4 8.6 9.2
Germany 8.2 7.5 7.9 7.8
12.0
Greece 10.5 11.2 7.6 10.3
Ireland 12.3 4.3 3.8 4.9
Iceland 1.4 2.3 2.5 4.0
Israel 6.9 8.3 10.3 10.5
Italy 11.5 10.7 9.5 9.1
Japan 3.1 4.7 5.1 5.8 5.3
Luxemburg 2.9 2.6 2.4 2.9
3.6
Netherlands 6.6 2.6 2.4 2.7
New Zealand 6.3 6.0 5.3 5.7
Norway 5.0 3.4 3.6 3.6
Portugal 7.3 4.0 4.1
4.4
Spain 22.7 11.4 13.0 10.7 11.7
Sweden 8.8 4.7 5.1 4.2 4.6
Switzerland 3.5 2.0 2.6 2.5
3.9
Turkey 6.4 10.9 9.2
United Kingdom 8.5 5.5 5.0 5.3
United States 5.6 4.0 4.8 5.6
6.0
European Union 10.5 7.8 7.4 7.6
Latin America 9.7 18.9 9.2
11.0
* Estimated figures ***End of
November 2003
** Second half 2003
Source: ILO Statistics
Jobs created through Social Programs:
Course 2001 2002 2003 Total
Social workers 1,079 6,881 6,885 14,845
Nursing 741 1,972 2,713
Health care technicians 1,055
1,055
Computer instructors 541 11,849 761 13,151
Physical education instructors
1,053 1,053
Trained primary teachers 1,000 5,325
2,028 8,353
Television and video theaters 1,231
1,911 3,142
Univ. of Information Sciences
250 250
Residences for teachers 685 685
TOTAL 2,620 26,027 16,600 45,247
CULTURE
1.- Special programs currently prioritized
Extension of the Havana International Book Fair to the entire
country. This program, one with an
extraordinary cultural, social and political
impact, allowed for this event to be extended to
19 cities throughout the country during the 11th
Book Fair and to 30 cities for the 12th Book
Fair. Attendance grew from 200,000 in the year
2000 to over 3.5 million in 2003, with a total
of 2,892,566 books sold.
Family Library Collection. This publishing program allows
the general public to acquire, at very
economical prices, a sampling of the best in
Cuban and international literature, in such
genres as short stories, plays, poetry, novels,
biographies, non-fiction, and children’s and
young people’s literature. The habit of reading
has been fostered and promoted, particularly
among the youngest generations. The first
collection was made up of 25 works of Cuban and
international literature, with a total of
100,000 sets published.
Libertad Publishing Program. This program has provided 6,789
public and school libraries with collections of
reference books including encyclopedias, atlases
and dictionaries, which have had a significant
social impact.
Training Schools for Art Instructors. The official
inauguration on February 18, 2000 of the 15 new
training schools for art instructors, one in
each of the country’s 14 provinces and another
in the special municipality of the Isle of
Youth, with a total annual intake of 4000
students, will provide the country with 30,000
new art instructors in a period of 10 years.
The first group of graduates, who will complete
their studies in 2004, will serve as an initial
response to the need for workers in this
specialized area in schools and the community,
as a means of promoting a higher degree of
comprehensive general culture in the population.
National Ballet School. The inauguration of the newly
remodeled headquarters of the National Ballet
School, with capacity for 300 students and new
facilities for the expansion of enrollment with
students from all of the country’s provinces,
has been a major advance. In addition, the
children’s vocational workshops being offered by
the school in the capital, with a total
enrollment of 4,050 children from all of the
city’s municipalities, are also having a
significant social impact.
Camagüey School of Ballet and Visual Arts. Repairs have now
been completed on this important teaching
center, with full remodeling of the facilities
and the installation of new equipment that will
allow for expanded enrollment.
New visual arts schools at the junior college level. New
schools of this kind have been created in
Guantánamo, Manzanillo, Bayamo, Ciego de Ávila,
Morón and Havana, while another in Matanzas is
in the process of construction. Repairs have
also been made to the existing schools in
Trinidad and San Alejandro, and there are now a
total of 17 in all throughout the country.
Numerous well-known artists have lent their
services as instructors at these schools.
Bayamo Basic and Junior college level School of Music, Dance
and Performing Arts. With an enrollment
capacity for 500 students, this new school,
along with the above-mentioned schools of visual
arts, will help to satisfy the previously unmet
need for arts education in the province of
Granma.
Animation studios. With the purpose of creating animated
productions for children and young people, new
facilities are being completed at the country’s
animation studios, which are also being equipped
with new, more modern technology, allowing for
the production of over 500 minutes of animated
film a year.
Cubanacán Art School Complex. The full reconstruction of the
national schools and Higher Institute of Arts
will mark the completion of an unfinished
project, which constitutes one of the most
outstanding and original examples of Cuban
architecture.
University for All Program. This program encompasses a
series of courses on a diverse range of subjects
taught by television. A large number of
well-known intellectuals and artists have
collaborated as instructors in this
unprecedented program, which has had a
remarkable cultural and social impact.
2.- Main aspects of the Cuban Computerization Program
All of the country’s general education schools are equipped
with a TV set in every classroom and VCRs for
the use of educational videotapes, acquired from
a network of municipal educational videotape
libraries established for this purpose.
2,368 schools in rural areas without electrical power have
been equipped with solar panels to permit the
use of TVs, VCRs and computers.
An Educational TV Channel has been created, reaching over 85%
of the country’s population and broadcasting
over 15 hours of programming a day on average.
The television program University for All offers courses in
four main subject areas: Sciences, Basic
Subjects, Languages and Art Appreciation.
By the beginning of the 2003-2004 school, a total of 46,290
computers had been distributed among the
country’s primary and secondary schools,
guaranteeing computers for every school,
including 93 attended by just one student.
32 new educational software products have been developed for
primary schools, along with 10 for the junior
secondary level.
13,805 new jobs have been created for computer instructors.
There are 301 Young Computer and Electronics Clubs
distributed among the country’s 169
municipalities.
Universities, scientific centers, press and media
organizations, and other medical, academic,
cultural, social and community institutions are
connected to the Internet.
Creation of the University of Information Sciences.
Development of a system to teach literacy by radio, with
materials in five languages: Creole,
Portuguese, French, English and Spanish. The
system is currently being used in a number of
countries.
Development of a Health Care Information Computer Network (Infomed),
which links together hospitals, polyclinics,
teaching centers, libraries and other
institutions in all of the country’s provinces,
through a system encompassing over 6000
computers.
There are more than 270,000 computers in the country, of
which 65% are hooked up to a network. Some
1,100 .cu domains have been created, along with
750 Internet websites and over 480,000 e-mail
accounts.
All of the local and national media have regularly updated
digital versions on the Internet. Numerous
radio stations broadcast over the Internet in
real time. The Cubavisión International TV
network also broadcasts over the Internet.
A Cuban IT industry is being promoted and developed.
Work is underway to extend the benefits of computerization to
services for the public. Some examples are the
simplification, streamlining and integration of
official paperwork and procedures through
computers designed for the public basically
under the concept of single window; the
establishment of e-mail access facilities and
computer rooms in libraries and other public
institutions; and specific programs for the
disabled (special telephone equipment,
educational materials, closed captioning, etc.).
SPORTS
1.- Development of the sports and physical education sector
in Cuba
Physical education, sports and recreation instructors
36,775
Graduates of physical education teacher training
programs 49,879
Students in physical education bachelor’s degree
programs 18,900
Physical education, sports and recreation instructors per
capita 1 per 249
Physical education teachers per student 1 per 83.3
High performance athletes per one million inhabitants
2,328
Olympic gold medals per one million inhabitants (Sydney
2000) 0.8
Participants in physical education programs for the
disabled Over 60,000
Enrollment in sports schools 55,500 students
Students who receive phys-ed classes in regular schools
1,950,000
Sports facilities Over 11,000
Enrollment in the International School of Physical Education
and Sports from 72 countries 1,372
CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
1.- Main programs
National Program for Mother and Child Health Care
Program for the Promotion of Breastfeeding
Program for the Reduction of Low Birth Weight
Program for the Development of Perinatology
Program to Combat Acute Diarrheic Diseases and Acute
Respiratory Infections
National Immunization Program
Program for the Prevention and Early Diagnosis of Genetic
Disorders
National Action P | 
