Cuban Ambassador Gisela Garcia (second left) and Opposition Spokesperson on Information, Lisa Hanna (left), speak with some of Cuban scholarship winners during the Jamaica/Cuba Friendship Association annual general meeting at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in St Andrew yesterday. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

Less than three decades ago, Jamaicans with degrees from Cuban universities were scorned and labelled 'brigadistas' by sections of the society.

Fast-forward to 2009 and Jamaicans are queuing up to get scholarships to study in the communist island.

According to the Cuban Embassy in Kingston, 1,200 Jamaicans have applied for scholarships to study in Cuba. The embassy says 824 applications have been processed with 253 scholarships awarded.

"The process of selection is really tough and sometimes we are not able to please everybody. We would really like to have the capacity to give more scholarships to all those meeting the criteria, but today it is not possible," Jorge Crespo, chief of collaboration and cooperative programmes at the Cuban Embassy, declared yesterday.

Great opportunities

"But I tell you one thing, no superpower in this world, no developed country ... offers (better) opportunities to study to children of the poor than Cuba," Crespo added.

He was speaking yesterday at the annual general meeting of Jamaica/Cuba Friendship Association, where 26 more full scholarships were awarded to Jamaicans to study at Cuban universities.

This will increase the number of Jamaicans studying in Cuba to 282.

The scholarships will cover tuition and boarding for the Jamaicans, who are scheduled to leave the island in September.

Among the scholarship winners announced yesterday are 20 people who will study medicine and one person who will read for a degree in humanities and education.

The others include persons studying sports, and one person studying to become an architect. Another is moving to answer the Govern-ment's call for more trained pharmacists.

The students will receive a monthly stipend of US$125 from the Jamaican Government after Prime Minister Bruce Golding made a commitment to them when he visited Cuba last year.

arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com