Two prominent academics from Ciego de Ávila, Doctors of Science Raimundo Ojeda Luis and María Magdalena Hernández Morales, are representing the province at the First International Colloquium «Fidel: Legacy and Future», which is taking place in Havana and will run until the 13th, when it will close its sessions with a political-cultural gala.

The event, convened by the Fidel Castro Centre, brings together works distributed across commissions (panels) and 16 forums dedicated to various themes: youth, parliamentarians, foreign policy, health, art, science, religion, solidarity and sport, among others.

The thematic axes range from the analysis of Fidel as a revolutionary and statesman, his actions in the world and his humanist and internationalist legacy, to the relevance of his thought in the 21st century.

Also addressed are his mark on culture, his contributions as a military strategist, his anti-imperialist stance, his vision of the United States, his anti-fascist thinking and the fight against Zionist genocide.

Unity as a strategy, the role he gave to education, scientific innovation and the formation of human values are other guiding threads of the debates.

The agenda also includes book presentations, among them the Selected Works of the Commander-in-Chief, published by the Fidel Castro Centre.

The President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, attended the opening on Monday. In his opening remarks, he reflected on the enduring relevance of the Commander-in-Chief’s thought and stressed the need to study his legacy not as a set of ideas from the past, but as a living tool to confront the challenges of the present.

Trajectory of the Avilanian Representatives

Dr C. Raimundo Ojeda Luis (also Raymundo Adalberto Ojeda Luis) is a Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences and professor at the Máximo Gómez Báez University of Ciego de Ávila. Graduated in 1973 from the Camagüey Pedagogical University, he began his career at the Avilanian Pedagogical Branch and is a recognised researcher of the life and work of José Martí.

Among his awards are the Provincial Historical Research Prize (2026) and the «Federico Naranjo Moronta» Prize (2026) for his work «Notes for the History of the Ciego de Ávila-Morón Region in the Period 1925-1929», which analyses economic, social and cultural aspects of those five years. In 2024, he had already received the annual «Federico Naranjo Moronta» Prize for his study of the Avilanian municipal territories in the period 1935-1939.

Dr C. María Magdalena Hernández Morales is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at the same university. For 40 years she has dedicated her life to teaching Philosophy.

She holds the «Jewels of Pedagogy» Distinction, awarded by the Association of Pedagogues of Cuba, and was recognised as an outstanding pedagogue for her «Life’s Work» two years before receiving this distinction. She currently presides over an Honorary Chair and the Organising Committee of a workshop at her workplace.

The presence of the Avilanian academics at the First International Colloquium «Fidel: Legacy and Future» reaffirms the commitment of the province’s researchers to transmitting his legacy to new generations.