Guantánamo, Cuba.- Several Latin American scholars praised the close link established by Cuban universities with the community and the contributions of these institutions to local development in the territories where they are located.

After several days of exchange in the 4th Scientific Workshop on the Management of Projects with Sociocultural Impact on the Local Development, that took place in this province of Eastern Cuban, on June 8 to 10, some foreign delegates, before leaving for their countries, offered their considerations to Prensa Latina.

José Rafael Verdugo, a professor at the Autonomous University of Sinaloa, said that it is worthy to admire and follow the social commitment that Cuban universities have, the close link of these with the environment and the communication established by teachers and students with the community where they carry out their extension work.

This is something that all the university institutions of Latin America and especially of Mexico should achieve, but it is not achieved in most of them, some of them had that role, but it has been lost, he said.

The university must prepare people to be self-managing their own benefit and that is what Cuban universities do, Verdugo said.

The President of the Interuniversity Commission for Social Services of Mexico, Susana Angélica Pastrana, highlighted the results of the university project ‘Con Mochila al hombro’ from the University of Guantánamo and pointed out that the University of Sonora will continue working with this center and strengthening relations.

For its part, the Salvadoran delegation underlined the importance of the work carried out by Cuban universities with the application of projects for the insertion of former convicts in society after serving their sentences.