The Cuban regime inaugurated a childcare center named "13 de Agosto" in the community of San Miguel, in the municipality of Nuevitas, north of Camagüey, in homage to the centenary of Fidel Castro's birth. According to the state-run Cuban News Agency (ACN), the facility will begin offering services starting in the upcoming 2026-2027 school year.
The name leaves no doubt about the purpose of the act: on August 13, 1926, the dictator who would rule Cuba for almost five decades was born in Birán. And what better way to celebrate this than by naming a nursery after that date, in a country where the cult of personality—while not officially recognized—has no expiration date.
According to the state-run media, the facility has the capacity for 35 children and has a staff of 12 workers, as well as areas for educational activities, an outdoor sleeping room, an amusement park, and administrative offices. To build it, the municipality allocated more than two million pesos from the one percent fund of the Local Development Projects Contribution.
The opening ceremony featured, as expected, the presence of the main political, governmental, and educational authorities of the region. Luis Manuel Bernal, the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba in Nuevitas, spoke and, according to ACN, "expressed the pride of being there at such a special moment when all of Cuba remembers the Commander in Chief on his centenary." The leader also "urged the care and preservation of the institution, which has the appropriate conditions for the proper development of girls and boys, and congratulated everyone who participated and contributed to the construction of the center."
The pride of the official contrasts with the reality faced by Cuban families. The island's educational system is undergoing one of its worst crises: the country is sinking while tributes to Fidel continue, with a deficit of thousands of teachers, schools in a state of disrepair, and blackouts that in March of this year forced the suspension of classes at all levels in Havana, including preschool centers.
The 2025-2026 school year was moved forward in its closure due to the energy crisis, fuel shortages, and transportation issues. The regime also canceled the entrance exams for university for the 2026-2027 academic year, citing an inability to ensure minimum conditions. Meanwhile, Cuban children are facing a bleak outlook characterized by boredom, lack of options, and precariousness.
Nuevitas, the municipality where the small house was inaugurated, is not exempt from this scenario. It is unlikely that the new facility will resolve the structural issues affecting the municipality, although it certainly fulfills its propaganda function.
The inauguration is part of the official campaign that the regime launched in 2026, proclaimed as the "Year of the Centennial of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz," with acts, events, exhibitions, and multiple inaugurations of works under the centennial theme. One of the most notable moments was the public reappearance of Raúl Castro, aged 95, at the Karl Marx Theater in Havana, to lead the political-cultural event that concluded the international colloquium on the legacy of his brother.
The regime also carried out structural improvements to Fidel's birthplace in Birán —drainage, access roads, and new parking— while schools across the rest of the country are falling apart.
The official program of tributes will run until December 4, 2026, the tenth anniversary of Castro's interment in the cemetery of Santa Ifigenia in Santiago de Cuba. Without a doubt, there will be more inaugurations with names referencing the "Comandante en Jefe" before the year ends.
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