Battle of Ideas: a fundamental pillar of contemporary Cuba.

Those trenches of ideas that José Martí exalted over those of stones shone at the dawn of December 1999 when the claim of a father for the return of his son brought together a whole country and laid the foundations to raise one of the most significant pages of our patriotic history.

The kidnapping of little Elian Gonzalez, who miraculously arrived in northern waters after the shipwreck of the boat where he was illegally traveling, gave way to seven months of frenzy and political tensions, massive marches and revolutionary quarrels, until he was finally able to return to the nation.

The Battle of Ideas germinated then in the largest of the Antilles, the longest and most multitudinous popular movement orchestrated since the triumph of 1959, which became the cradle of more than a hundred socioeconomic programs aimed at education, culture, civic participation and community development of the Island at the gates of the new century.

Guided by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, the new generations were to demand the return of the Guantanamo Naval Base, world peace and the safeguarding of the environment, and to confront the manifestations of the Cuban Adjustment, Torricelli and Helms-Burton laws, as well as economic warfare, subversion and terrorism.

And projects such as the University for All, the Schools of Art Instructors, open tribunes, the television space Mesa Redonda, the proliferation of libraries and educational institutions, as well as the increase of audiovisual media, among other options, were promoted by the Historic Leader and continue to grow 24 years later, to make the Battle of Ideas a bridge towards the culturization of society and a stimulus to our national identity, independence, sovereignty, prosperity and empowerment.

Written by Yadiel Barbón Salgado.