AT THE trial for his part in the failed 1953 attacks on the barracks at Moncada and Bayamo in Cuba, Fidel Castro took the opportunity of his defence speech to outline a political programme that became something of a manifesto for the 26 July movement.

What is perhaps less well known is that this programme included plans for the extension of education to the furthest corners of the island. By the time of the first formal manifesto issued by that movement in 1955, education was understood as a prelude to culture.

In the early days of 1959, army barracks were turned into schools and teaching budgets increased tenfold. Before long, attention started being paid to culture in the sense of the arts and literature, with a few early ideas coalescing that continue to determine cultural policy in Cuba to this day.