The emergence and life of “The Guayabos”: an important stage in the history of CUJAE

Abstract

The José Antonio Echeverría University Campus (CUJAE) was the dream of José Antonio Echeverría Bianchi, honorary president of the Cuban University Student Federation (FEU). CUJAE was inaugurated on December 2, 1964, with Fidel Castro in attendance, who realized José Antonio's dreams by leading a revolutionary and entrepreneurial government. However, what were the early days of CUJAE like? Who were its first residents? What did it mean for the young people beginning their university studies to study at this center? Many of these young people came from humble families who had never thought of having children attend university, but when they joined the nascent Revolution, their children decided to serve the country by training as engineers and architects in the service of the people. The research project "Conservation of University Cultural Heritage." Conpacul has promoted the study of the lives of prominent figures and the events that shape the history of what is now known as the José A. Echeverría Technological University of Havana, known as Cujae. The objective of this article is to describe the early years of the students who began their university studies there, known as Los Guayabos, through the personal testimony of one of them. For this reason, the work is narrated as a first-person account.