Page 52 - Olympism in Socialism

it was then that the National Institute of Sports,
Physical Education and Recreation (INDER) was
established in February 1961.
The INDER was set up under Law No. 9 to
plan, direct, rationalise, orient and carry out
sports activities, to develop a suitable system for
physical education and recreation, and to
facilitate mass participation in all sports events.
The INDER formed the Voluntary Sports
Councils, Centres of Technical Specialisation the
“Comandante Manuel Fajardo” High School of
Physical Education — a model institution
enjoying international prestige —, and built
stadia, swimming pools, sports grounds and
other facilities.
Today there are hundreds of thousands of
people who take part all over Cuba in baseball,
athletics, basketball, volleyball, weightlifting,
fencing, football, judo, chess, cycling, tennis and
many other sports. All the stadiums where the
competitions are held are filled to capacity, which
shows the Cuban people’s interest in sports.
The state budget allotted to physical
education and sports in 1958 was only one
million pesos. It must be pointed out that in that
year there were one thousand physical education
teachers who were jobless.
At present the revolutionary government
allots to physical education, sports and
recreation, through the INDER, the Ministry of
Education and mass organizations close to 50
million pesos. There are around 7,500 active
physical education teachers. Of these, about
three thousand work for the INDER.
Another point of interest is the development
of mass participation, which can be seen from the
following figures:

41