GUATEMALA CITY, July 7, 2007.- El Naranjo, in the department of Escuintla, is the first Guatemalan community free of illiteracy thanks to the application of the Cuban teaching method "Yo Si Puedo" (Yes I can), reported Prensa Latina. Five hundred people attended the graduation ceremony in that village on Friday, where 63 people, ranging from 10 to 78 years of age, received their diplomas attesting they have learned to read and write by means of this novel program. Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa Mayor Julio Paz handed El Naranjo authorities a flag as a sign their community is completely literate, and Cuban Embassy political advisor Sanitago Felix remarked that this achievement shows illiteracy can be eliminated where there is a will to do so. The two-month literacy program, which includes the use of television classes, was directed by Professors Noel Rodriguez and Enrique Marbot, of the Latin American and Caribbean Pedagogic Institute in Havana, and had the support of six facilitators. The quick and effective method, which combines letters and numbers, will now be extended to the entire municipality of Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa and its 86,000 inhabitants. "Yo Si Puedo" has thus far been used successfully to teach more than two million people to read and write in 15 Latin American countries and 22 around the world. (Cubaminrex-Granma)
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