CUBAN TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR LDC YOUTH

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91B00135R000500820068-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 6, 2008
• Sequence Number: 68
• Publication Date: April 29, 1983
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2008/05/06 :CIA-RDP91 B00135R000500820068-4 .
Secret
3.5 percent of Cuban university enrollment. The total
number of LDC students account for about 1 percent
of the entire Cuban school population. Africans have
assumed increased importance in the foreign student
body. In the mid-1970s, Cuba began to accept sGVeral
thousand elementary and high school students from
the "fraternal" countries of Angola, Ethiopia, Mo-
zambique, and Namibia. Students from African coun-
tries now represent 70 percent of the foreign student
body. ~~ .
The Sebools
In addition to 23 primary and secondary schools
currer:tly set aside exclusively for foreign students,
Cuba has more than 70 educational facilities that
could train foreigners. LDC students in posuecondary
schools are concentrated~at five of the Communist
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2 Ni? ~ 1:x::.3
Summary
for LDC Youth
Cuban Training, Programs
.The education of Third World students in Cuba over the past 20 years has
been an important element of Cuban foreign policy and of Cuban
penetration of developing countries. Havana has actively sought a leading.
role in the Third World (through the Nonaligned Movement, for example)
and has publicly stated that training assistance is a major means to project
its influence. By teaching thousands of LDC perspnnel, at levels ranging
from primary to graduate school, Cuban leaders apparently hope to lay the, . .
groundwork for a proliferation of Marxist ideology and, by extension,
Cuban foreign policy aims. Both the-low relative cost of.such-education aid ~
and the personal interest of Fidel Castro--who, 25X1
~,
it likely that this type of assistance will flourish in the future. 25X1;
makes aIi final decisions on educational programs-make 5X1
Growtb of the Program
More than 50,000 LDC nationals from 80 countries
have traveled to Cuba for all types of schooling:
Beginning in the early 1960s, Havana invited a few
hundred students each year from friendly regimes and
leftist insurgent groups in less deve]oped countries to
study in Cuban university programs or in cadre and
technical training programs. Until the mid-1970s,
studenu came from only some 15 to 20 countries,
mostly in Latin America, and foreign university stu-
dents never numbered more- than 1,500~~
Since then, an activist Cuban foreign policy toward
Sub?Saharan LDCs, new education programs tailored
for foreign students, and the addition of new physical
facilities have together attracted many more foreign
students. VVe estimate, based on multiple open and
classified sources, that about 26,000 LDC students
from some 70 countries now attend educational insti-
tutions in Cuba. More than. 7,000 LDC students. are
enrolled in Cuba's expanding university system, about
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Secret a
Table l
Cuba: LDC Students on the Isle of Youth, 1982
T`umbcr of
Persons
Total
13,720
\or:h Af,-ica
570
VI'ester-~ Sahara (Poiisario)
570
Sub-Sa'rar:r Africa
]0,760
Angola -
2.400
Congo ~
600 ,
Ethio,ia
3.400
Ghana
600
Guinea-Bissau
I20
~iozambiGue
2.400
Namibia _
1,195?
Sao Tone and Principe _
25
South Africa fAfrican'~ational Congress).
20
Lztin America
1,790
\iczra;ua
1,790
~liddlc East
600
South 1~emen
600
Party scbools, the four major Cuban university cam-
puses (especially the University of Havana), and a
number of vocational institutes run by functional
.ministries, such as Dublic Health and Construction.
The Isle of Youth. Cuba has pioneered youth training
for foreigners at iu Isle of Youth facility, originally
set up to train Cuban students. No other national aid
program offers such extensive scholarships to LDC
students at the primary and secondary levels. Through
generous budget allotments and the efforts of its most"
highly si:illed teachers, Havana during the past l0
years has turned an island 50 kilometers south of the
Cuban mainland into a showcase for its educational
system. There are now 23 schools for foreigners on Lhe
Isle of Youth, training nearly 14,000 primary and
secondan school students from 12 LDCs (table 1 , as
?t?ell as 36 schools for 18,000 Cuban children.
The Communist Parry Schools. l'i'e estimate
that about 500 LDC personnel
are curreml~~ recei~~ng comprehensive schooling in '
2ctive measures-prop2ganda, political agitation, in-
telligence, and co~?ert action. About 100 of the cadre
students are enrolled at the Cuban Communist Par-
ty's highest let?el training institute, the Nico Lopez
National Party School. These students spend tWo to
four years at the school: those attending several less
prestigious cadre facilities' may be in programs as
brief as six weeks.~~
All cadre schooling is tightly controlled by the Cuban -
Communist Party and is geared specifically toward
producing Third World political acti~?ists ~?ith Marx-
ist motivations. these
scholarships are granted by the party to LDC Com-
munist or leftist organizations. Occasional funding is
arranged through the Council for A4utual Economic
Assistance (CEMA). Usually an LDC trainee in this
.program is already associated with a leftist political
movement and has demonstrated intellectual and
leadership abilities.~~ -
The Universities. Some 7,000 LDC students were ?
enrolled in Cuban universities in 1983. Foreigner.
attend all of Cuba's four major uni~~ersities. but more
than three-fourths are enrolled at the Lniversity of
Havana. Most of the students are from A4arxist LDCs
such as Angola, Ethiopia, Mozambique; and ?~ricara-
gua (table 2). Aside from indoctrination and require-
ments for physical labor, the courses of study in Cuba
resemble those in the same fields at universities in
other countries. Cu'oa offers university scholarships in .
more than 190 specialties. Courses run for four to six
years, including 2 year of preparatory and language
studies to provide a uniform educational base for
studenu from divergent backgrounds and to integrate
them into Cuban university life. To graduate, a
university student spends 4,000 to 5,000 hours in
classes and participates in 1,000 hours of physical
labor at factories, farms, or other productiv fa~;l;ties
directly associated with Cuban universities.
The Niceto Perez Nztiona) Cadre School. the Julio Antonio Mella
lational Cadre School. the. Lazaro Pera Labor School. the Fe de!
25X1.
- ~~:-.
25X1...
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Table 2
Cuba: LDC Academic and Technical
Students in Cuba, 1982 a
Bolivia
Brazil
Numbcr of
Persons
= Excludes students in Cuba attending courses with durations of less
than six months.
~5
Dominicz
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Haiti
Honduras
Jamaica
Mexico
h'icaragt:a
Panama
Uruguay
Venezuela
Middle East
Jordan
Lebanon
A'onh Ycmcn
'PLO
South Ycmen
Syria
South Asia
Afghanistan_
Bangladesh
India
Secret
330
S
? 10
190
20
4,020
So
20
S
30
20
25
I15
85
5
IO
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Because the Cuban uni~~ersity s}'stem is geared to fill
Cuba's economic de~?elopment needs, it generally pro-
duces personnel ~~ho possess skills that can be put to
immediate use on their return home. This is reflected
in the distribution of foreign students b~? field, which
is similar to thzt found in the Cuban university system
as a v.~'role:
The Technical Schools. Cuba's technical schools also
accept thousands of LDC students every year for both ,
short- and long-term training. The comprehensive
courses are four years in duration, and the most
popular-ones for foreign personnel are in construction,
engineering, fishing. and sugar production and other
agricultural subjects. Like Cuban universities, these
schools require a high school diploma for entiy. Some
LDC trainees continue on into technical cadre train-
ing. If a student h2s shown above-average potential;
he ma}' enroll in 2n industrial cadre school, where he