A Cuban graduate in Social Communication missed the opportunity to apply for a scholarship from the Chilean government to pursue a graduate program at the University of Austral of Chile, after the Chilean Embassy in Cuba closed the application period a month earlier than the other participating countries, without having publicly announced it.
Arismeilyn Reyes Peraza, a graduate of the Central University "Marta Abreu" of Las Villas in 2025, reported on Facebook that the embassy's management was "deficient" and prevented her from applying for the Republic of Chile Scholarship, administered by the Chilean Agency for International Development Cooperation (AGCID).
On September 24, Reyes Peraza submitted his application for admission to the Master's in Communication at the Universidad Austral with the intention of funding his studies through that scholarship. On October 15, he received the official acceptance letter from the program, with the start date scheduled for the first semester of 2027.
Five days later, he contacted Addys Santos Acosta, Cooperation Assistant at the embassy, to begin the application process for the scholarship. The response arrived on October 22 and it was clear: the deadline in Cuba had closed on September 30, a month before the official AGCID deadline, set for October 30.
"On October 22, she replied that the application in Cuba closed on September 30, which means I missed the opportunity," wrote the affected person in her post.
The student points out that the University Austral itself states that applications for the master's program must be submitted 30 days before the scholarship deadline, so her application on September 24 was within the university's timeframe.
The problem is that the acceptance letter —an essential document for applying for the scholarship— did not arrive until October 15, by which time the embassy's internal deadline had already passed.
Reyes Peraza also questions why other focal points around the world close five to ten days before October 30, not a month in advance. "Why does it close a month before the deadline when the other focal points close 10 or 5 days before October 30?" he asked.
Official Santos Acosta acknowledged in her email that those who contacted the embassy before September 30 received assistance to expedite the issuance of their university acceptance letter, and that other documents were provisionally accepted. This raised another question for the affected individual: "How is it possible to accept other documents without the acceptance letter for the master's program, if it is a fundamental requirement?"
The official focal point for Cuba at AGCID is MINCEX, located in Havana, although the Embassy of Chile also participates in supporting the process. The scholarship does not accept direct individual applications: everything must be channeled through the focal point in the country of origin.
This case adds to a pattern of difficulties faced by Cubans in accessing services at foreign embassies on the Island, including queues and chaos at the Spanish consulate reported in recent days.
"It is evident that the Chilean Embassy in Cuba has handled this process poorly," concluded Reyes Peraza, who anticipates that he will receive neither a response nor a solution to his situation.
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