Victor Sablon Figueredo, a freshman studying mechanical engineering at the Jose Antonio Echeverría Technological University (Ciudad Universitaria José Antonio Echeverría, CUJAE) in Havana, is passionate about his studies. Unfortunately, this exciting chapter of his life has come during post-revolutionary Cuba’s worst economic crisis. In January of this year, the United States imposed a series of broad sanctions against any country exporting petroleum to Cuba, amounting to an oil blockade. Living conditions already made difficult by decades of U.S. economic warfare have dramatically worsened. Like schools across the island, CUJAE suspended in-person learning due to the fuel shortages, and finished out the school year on Whatsapp and Telegram.
This has taken a toll. Victor pointed out that with the country’s unstable internet access and unaffordable data plans, it is arduous to stay on track in classes and complete assignments. “In a practical trade like ours, which requires a workshop and laboratory, this very much limits our training,” he lamented. In a country that takes pride in its universal education system, the current crisis has forced sacrifices previously unprecedented in post-revolutionary Cuba.
Indeed, education has always been central to the revolutionary government’s mission. In his famous “History Will Absolve Me Speech” in 1953, given while on trial for leading an uprising against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, Fidel Castro proclaimed “An educated country will always be strong and free.” After the Cuban Revolution succeeded in 1959, education became a central part of post-revolutionary Cuba’s self-invention. In 1961, the island launched a literacy campaign to eliminate illiteracy and, in turn, fight poverty in previously neglected parts of the island. At a celebration commemorating the campaign, the crowd broke into a chant “Fidel, Fidel, tell us what else we can do?” His reply was “study, study, study.”
Now, much of the excitement Cubans felt half a century ago has been replaced by despair. Young people born more than 50 years removed from revolutionary triumph only know a Cuba with regular blackouts and crumbling infrastructure. While they have heard stories of Cuba’s literacy campaign, they now don’t have enough textbooks or reliable internet access to honor its legacy through continual study.
Yet echoes of Castro’s message can still be heard on the island. “Education is essential for an independent and prosperous Cuba,” said Dr. Reynaldo Jiménez Guethón, a professor and academic coordinator for FLACSO at the University of Havana. Scores of students echoed this message, doubling down on the importance of their education while bemoaning the obstacles set in the way of their future.
A Tradition of Student-Led Struggle
Cuba’s prioritization of education cannot be understood outside of its national context. The island has a rich anti-imperialist history, with Cubans first earning their independence from Spain in 1898 before resisting U.S. occupation and subsequent military interventions during the first half of the twentieth-century. As was common in twentieth-century national liberation struggles, the heart of Cuban resistance to occupation and exploitation was often found in its universities.
As was common in twentieth-century national liberation struggles, the heart of Cuban resistance to occupation and exploitation was often found in its universities.
The University Student Federation (Federación Estudiantil Universitaria, FEU), founded at the University of Havana in the early 1920s, was emblematic of the leading role played by students in the anti-imperialist struggle. First as the FEU—and years later, after it was banned, the University Student Directory (Directorio Estudiantil Universitario, DEU)—students played a key role in the fight against Gerardo Machado’s dictatorship, allying with military officials like Batista to carry out the Revolution of 1933. Later, they would play a key role in overthrowing Batista himself.
By the end of his reign, Batista repressed public universities with intense ferocity, understanding the role students and teachers played in radicalizing the country against his rule. In 1956, he shut down the University of Havana. Batista also sought to privatize schooling to make education less accessible and eliminate radical thought.
Nevertheless, his efforts were not successful. In the face of relentless attacks, the FEU grew more militant under the leadership of José Antonio Echeverría, culminating in an attack on the Presidential Palace in 1957. Echeverría and other participating students were shot by Batista’s men following the plan’s failure. The state’s crackdown on the FEU eliminated a leading part of the revolutionary coalition, urban students, contributing to the eventual dominance of Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement (M-26-7)—an ally of the FEU that swept across the Cuban countryside.
Revolutionary Gains
Fidel Castro’s July 26th Movement triumphed on January 1st, 1959, framing itself as an explicitly anti-imperialist revolution. At the core of its revolutionary vision was expanding access to education, as Cuban sovereignty relied upon raising generations of Cuban thinkers, artists, and innovators. In this goal, the revolution undoubtedly succeeded.
In pre-revolutionary Cuba, unequal access to education for Black and rural Cubans correlated with drastic wealth inequality. In 1953, only 56 percent of Cubans ages 6-12 were enrolled in school. By mid-1986, that number was nearly 100 percent. Castro’s government built 360 primary schools and increased the number of secondary schools from 80 to 1,900.
After teaching more than 700,000 previously illiterate Cubans to read at a first grade level as part of the aforementioned literacy campaign, Cuba launched the Seguimiento (“Follow-up”) program to build on the literacy campaign’s success. The goal was to give every willing adult a sixth grade education, and more than half a million went on to do so by 1973.
Even following the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the early 1990s and Cuba’s subsequent economic collapse, the country continued to outperform much wealthier countries in metrics like literacy rate and graduation rate. In the early 2000s, it launched the “Yo, Sí Puedo” (“Yes, I can”) adult education program to export its pedagogical successes. Between 2002 and 2016, Cuban teachers taught nearly ten million adults to read at a basic level in 30 countries.
Unprecedented Hardship
This year is different. Cuban schools, typically running into July, closed a couple of weeks early due to fuel and energy shortages. In February, when the U.S.-imposed oil blockade took effect, Cuba implemented half-days for primary and secondary schools, and returned to COVID-19 era online schooling protocols for higher education. Already unreliable school buses have become inoperative, the internet constantly goes out, and a climate of fear makes it harder for kids to engage with learning material. Back in May, Cuba’s Ministry of Education also announced that university entrance exams will not be held this year, citing the exhaustion felt by students and teachers alike. Instead, college placement will be determined by their pre-university cumulative academic index.
His time living in Gaza, which has been under blockade by Israel since 2007, prepared him for the difficult living conditions in Cuba
The current crisis has strained Cuba’s schooling system. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuban education has struggled with supply and personnel shortages. Still, prior to the post-COVID economic recession, the island had a near 100 percent completion rate of primary school and early secondary school. That is no longer the case, with retention rates becoming a cause for concern among Cuban educators. Many young people have to pursue jobs in the informal economy to help keep their families afloat, unable to focus on their education. Teacher shortages have also increasingly become a problem. In Camagüey, a municipality in central Cuba, over 1,000 teachers have reportedly left the island in recent years.. Education Minister Naima Trujillo claimed Cuba began the 2025-26 school year with a shortage of some 24,000 teachers.
Maintaining a free, high-quality education system amidst the current crisis is a frustrating experience for educators, as Lisandra Quirós Izquierdo, made clear. A teacher, writer, and the vice president of Asociación Hermanos Saiz—a cultural association in Havana that seeks to promote youth involvement in the arts and literature—she knows intimately the multifaceted disastrous effects caused by the U.S. blockade.
Access to basic learning materials has become increasingly difficult. As she pointed out, Cuba does not require students to purchase textbooks, notebooks, and other supplies, but the cost of importing such materials continues to rise. The island has developed shortages of paper and raw materials, which along with its shortage of hard currency and the refusal of many international carriers to ship to Cuba, has resulted in wide scale shortages for primary students, according to Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Disadvantaged groups feel these shortages the hardest, noted Quirós: there has been an immense scarcity of special needs equipment like hearing aid batteries and Braille machines.
Dr. Jiménez made similar observations to Quirós: “The shortage of necessary teaching materials represents a step backwards for teaching methods in present-day Cuba.” For students in the sciences, laboratory access for experiments has been suspended due to shortages of reagents and inputs. In a country that is exceptional in the fields of biotechnology, medical research, and neuroscience, and boasts achievements like developing a lung cancer vaccine and eliminating mother-to-child HIV transmissions, classroom shortages pose a threat to the continued success of Cuban public health programs.
U.S. Threats, Resilient Students
Students like Victor also have had to navigate a complex political moment. The threat of U.S. invasion, once seemingly a distant geopolitical issue, has become a tangible possibility in the wake of the Trump administration’s invasion of Venezuela and ongoing attacks on Cuba’s leaders. According to Victor, this reality “generates an environment of constant stress.” Along with the tangible effects of the blockade like food insecurity and fuel shortages, fear of U.S. attacks represents yet another disruption from his learning.
Another student, who asked to be referred to as “L,” was less optimistic, her outlook tinged with envy for students in the United States. “They have a bright future after completing their studies,” she explained. “Here, there is no future after [studying]. She also mentioned the “constant uncertainty and anxiety” she feels traversing this moment in Cuban history. Despite being a medical student nearing the completion of her degree at the University of Medical Sciences – Dr. Serafín Ruiz de Zárate Ruiz, she is worried about her post-graduation prospects. She pointed out that rising costs for basic goods affect students especially hard given they are often unable to work. Grocery shopping is an every-day activity because without electricity, food spoils quickly. Lack of power also means she sleeps without as much as a box fan in a country known for its extreme heat. The debilitating stress and inability to access assignments and instruction had led “L” to consider dropping out to focus on the more immediate concern for many in Cuba right now: survival.
Hazem Rabah Albaleshi is also receiving his degree this year from the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) in Havana. ELAM is the largest public medical school in the world, offering fully free education to students from underserved communities from more than fifty countries. More than seventy Palestinians graduated from ELAM on July 23rd. Hazem was awarded a scholarship for his good grades while back home in Rafah. His time living in Gaza, which has been under blockade by Israel since 2007, prepared him for the difficult living conditions in Cuba. Since he “grew up knowing what it means to live with restrictions, shortages, and uncertainty,” he has had an easier time adapting to the current crisis. Even so, he notes how the blockade in Cuba has been more disruptive to daily life than the blockade in Gaza. He still feels a need to keep pushing because “studying medicine is not only about our personal future, but also about helping others.”
Nevertheless, Victor was confident the majority of Cuban students would persevere through the current moment. “We have love for what we study,” he said proudly. “Our dignity does not come from how much is in our pockets, but what is in our heads.”
Nathan Sommer is a Binghamton University graduate with a research focus on Cuban internationalism and diplomacy. He is currently based out of New York City.