Four Cuban engineering professionals were honored with awards from the Pan American Union of Engineering Associations (UPADI) for 2025, during a ceremony held in San José, Costa Rica, in celebration of the International Day of Pan American Engineering and the organization’s anniversary.
The news was announced, communicated on the UPADI networks this week, and covered by the Cuban News Agency this Friday. The ACN collected statements from the National Union of Architects and Construction Engineers of Cuba (UNAICC), whose Board of Directors publicly expressed its recognition of the four award winners.
According to the UNAICC statement, the awards "recognize talent, professional excellence, leadership, and contributions that drive the development of the disciplines."
Since the award winners were unable to attend the ceremony in Costa Rica, Germán Pardo, acting president of the UNAICC, received the awards on behalf of the group, "with the commitment to deliver them to the country," as specified by the state agency.
The first of the recognitions was the Pan American Engineering Award «Jorge Spitalnik», awarded to the Doctor in Engineering Hugo Wainshtok Rivas, from Havana.
Wainshtok Rivas is a prominent figure in Cuban civil engineering with over five decades of experience: he graduated from the University of Havana in 1965, obtained a master's degree from the University of British Columbia in Canada in 1973, and later defended a doctorate in Technical Sciences at the Poznan University of Technology in Poland.
He is recognized as a pioneer in the use of ferrocement in Cuba. He began his teaching career at CUJAE in 1977, was declared Emeritus Professor in 2003, and received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa in 2014, in addition to being a full member of the Pan American Academy of Engineering.
The Pan American Award for Integration and Solidarity “Carlos López Rivera” was awarded to the engineer Antonia Amalia González Almeida, also from Havana.
The Engineering Education Award «Vector de Oro» was shared by two professionals: Dr. Engineer Luis Gerónimo García Faure from Santiago de Cuba, and Dr. Engineer María Onelia Urbina Reynaldo from Holguín.
In total, UPADI recognized 13 professionals in this edition, with the four Cubans representing nearly 31% of the total awardees. UNAICC emphasized this "strong representation" of the country and took the opportunity to extend its "congratulations to the group."
Among the other awardees at the same ceremony were Alexandra Arias Alvarado, who received the Sustainable Development Award "Luis Wannoni Lander"; Luis Fernando Andrés Jácome, who received the Golden Plumb Line Award; and Irene Campos Gómez from Costa Rica, who received a Special Recognition by agreement of the Assembly, the Board of Directors, and the Advisory Council of the organization.
Recognition comes at a time when Cuba is actively training engineers: CUJAE graduated more than 300 engineers and 33 higher-level technicians in its graduation ceremony for the 2025-2026 academic year, held on July 16, in specialties ranging from industrial and chemical engineering to biomedical, hydraulic, and telecommunications engineering.
However, this human capital faces severe pressure: low state salaries, an energy crisis that has even affected the educational system and a strong emigration of graduated professionals leaving the Island in search of better living conditions, a reality that contrasts with the achievements that these four engineers have just attained on a continental level.
The UPADI was founded on July 20, 1949 in Rio de Janeiro during the First Pan-American Congress of Engineering, and its awards are considered the highest hemispheric recognition in the discipline. In 2026, Costa Rica was designated as the host for the organization's General Assembly, which explains why the ceremony took place in San José.
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