Cuban literacy method for Nicaragua disabled
The Cuban literacy method "Yes I Can" (Yo Si Puedo) will be used to teach nearly 500,000 blind, deaf and disabled Nicaraguans to read and write in the literacy campaign beginning March 23.

Orlando Pineda, coordinator of the literacy crusade begun in 2006 that today spans 100 of the 153 Nicaraguan municipalities, said Nicaragua has more than 120 delegations of disabled who asked for support to teach illiterate blind members Braille.

Nicaragua successfully introduced the Cuban literacy program following arrangements by the Carlos Fonseca National Teachers Association with support from Sandinista Councils that Pineda leads.

After the Sandinistas won the November elections, President Daniel Ortega renewed the drive to declare Nicaragua illiteracy free by August 2008, with logistic support from Cuba and Venezuela.

This time it will include indigenous communities on the Atlantic Coast (to be taught in their mother tongues Misquito and Mayangna).

The previous Sandinista government ran the first National Literacy Crusade in 1980 and reduced the illiteracy rate to 12 percent.

Today, after the neoliberal governments, 35 percent of the 5.1 million populace over 16 years cannot read or write.