According to Enia Rosa Torres, an advisor to the Cuban Minister of
Education, 5.8 million people have already learned to read and write using
the ‘Yo si puedo’ method, while 723,900 others have benefited from a
similar Cuban methodology called ‘Yo si puedo seguir’ (Yes, I Can
Continue), which guarantees elementary instruction.

During a press conference offered in Havana on Wednesday, Enia Rosa Torres
said that there are currently more than 2,200 Cuban education specialists
making their contribution in 28 countries, with priority given to the
member nations of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of the Americas
(ALBA).

The official noted that, thanks to the efforts of the Cuban professionals
and the methodology, Venezuela, in 2002; Bolivia, in 2009; and Nicaragua,
in 2011, were declared territories free from illiteracy.

The Cuban ‘Yo si puedo’ method —which received two honorary mentions from
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) in 2002 and 2003— has 14 versions, eight of them in Spanish, one
in English, another one in Portuguese, and one in Creole for Haiti. There
are also versions in Aymara and Quechua for Bolivia, and in Tetum, for
East Timor.