1961. The first major sports parade in the country was held in the Plaza de la Revolución “José Martí”, in Havana. 70 thousand young students participate and most of them linked to sports activities in different places of the Cuban territory.

Several months earlier, on February 21, 1961, the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER) had been created and this great parade would be one of the first and most significant activities organized by said institution.

Through all these years, one of the most important and distinctive elements of the Cuban sports movement, and in particular of INDER, is part of a large specialized technical force, physical education teachers, sports trainers, trainers, recreation promoters and others to attend to the entire population.

1991. Commander in Chief Fidel Castro inaugurates the Pan American Village and other works built in Havana to guarantee the successful celebration of the Pan American Games in Cuba

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He points out: “A few days ago we delivered the flag to our delegation. Today we gather here in this simple act for an event that is actually very important: the symbolic inauguration - and I say symbolic because the installations are distributed in many places - of the Pan American works.”

It also highlights the presence in that act of the prominent South African fighter and leader Nelson Mandela.

He expresses: “As luck would have it in this case, because no one planned it, that the visit of this extraordinary personality, this prestigious and world-renowned fighter who is Nelson Mandela, would finally take place these days. He is making a quick tour of Latin America and the Caribbean, and it coincided with this date and also with the anniversary of July 26, so it has been a great honor for us and a great pleasure to have him here.”