Also present in the inauguration were the Vice President of the Council of Ministers, Jose Ramon Fernandez, and Olga Lidia Tapia, a member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of Cuba’s Communist Party (PCC), as well as several Cuban ministers.

Cuba’s Minister of Education Dr. Ena Elsa Velazquez offered the inaugural lecture of the event entitled “The Challenge of Education: the Future of Caribbean and Latin American Nations.”

In her speech, Velazquez noted that people expect the meeting to address important topics and to hold discussions on the essence of a type of education based on the roots of Latin America as a guarantee for the nations of the region.

She pointed out that, in accordance with Cuba’s spirit of solidarity, Cuban pedagogues began in 1998 to conceive audiovisual programs to facilitate mass access to education.

“Thus, the education methods ‘Yo sí puedo’ (Yes, I Can) and ‘Yo sí puedo seguir’ (Yes, I Can Continue) were born,” she added and noted that thanks to them more that five million people from 28 countries have learned to read and write.

In her speech, the minister invited the over 3,000 foreign and 600 local participants to know more about the complexity of today’s society and education in Cuba.

Pedagogía 2011 takes place until Friday, January 28, at Havana’s Convention Center.