Pedro Luis Boitel: Interference in University Autonomy and Academic Freedom since the Beginning of the Revolution

Abstract

In September 1959, the University of Havana (UH) was entering its electoral process with a view to electing the president of the University Student Federation (FEU). The favorite candidate was Pedro Luis Boitel Abraham, a fifth-year student of Electrical Engineering and president of the Students' Association of the School of Engineering. Boitel was part of the Youth Section of the 26th of July Movement (M-26-7), a political-military formation at the forefront of the revolutionary government, and came from the confrontation against the overthrown dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. He had fought in the streets, went underground, and then into forced exile, only to return immediately after the triumph of the Revolution.