José Miguel Miyar Barruecos

Cuban politician and researcher. Doctor Honoris Causa in Biological Sciences, Professor Emeritus of the Faculty of Medicine "Victoria de Girón" and of the University of La Habana. He served as Secretary of the State Council of the Republic of Cuba between 1980 and 2009. Subsequently he was Minister of Science, Technology and Environment between 2009 and March 2012.

He was born in Siboney, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. He was part of the Rebel Army. He was a member of the Commission for the Establishment of the Rural Medical Service in Cuba, of which he was later its director.

He provided medical services in the Imías area, participated in the Bay of Pigs. He held different responsibilities in the health sector, education and production. In 1976 he became head of the offices of the presidency of the State Council and was elected deputy to the National Assembly of People's Power.

He was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba until June 2013. He was assigned responsibilities related to the development of biotechnology, the creation and operation of the Latin American School of Medical Sciences and the International School of Physical Education and Sports. Professor Emeritus of the Faculty of Medicine Victoria de Girón. He is Deputy for the municipality Diez de Octubre.

The "era of Chomy" at the University of La Habana was decisive in the realization of the profound revolution in higher education that the times demanded. But Miyar Barrueco never left the University; through his work in the direction of the country and by personal will he was intimately linked with the direction of the UH and the rest of the island's university institutions. Rector of rectors, he knew, with enormous brilliance and effectiveness, how to fully interpret Fidel's ideas about the university in revolutionary and socialist Cuba. His work transcends the walls of the University of La Habana and impacts the work of all these decades of transcendental changes.

On November 15, 2007 in the Aula Magna of his University he was invested as Doctor Honoris Causa.

Recognition and Decorations
On June 14, 2018 he was nominated as an Honorary member of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba

Doctor José Miguel Miyar treasures a life of active
and conscientious dedication to the Revolution. While still a
student of the Medical Career at this University of La Habana,
he participated in mobilizations and student protests. He
joined the 26th of July Movement and participated in the
Strike of April 9. He transported and kept weapons after the
uprising in Cienfuegos. He collaborated with the incorporation
of revolutionary doctors to the Sierra Maestra, sent by the 26th
of July Movement and in December 1958 he joined the ranks
of the Rebel Army.

After the triumph of January 1st he had a prominent role in the creation of the Rural Social Medical service,
which made possible the permanent presence of doctors in
areas of the country that never had these services and which
constituted an unprecedented fact in the American continent.

He worked as a rural doctor in Imías and Cajobabo and in
the mountainous area of the Sierra, Sagua Baracoa. At this
stage he participated in military operations in the Baracoa
area in confrontation with the first counterrevolutionary
landing from Florida, as well as in actions against the uprising of a counterrevolutionary group in the Imías area.

In 1960 he was appointed national director of the
Rural Social Medical Service, a responsibility of which he
speaks with pride and which marked him for life, even, with
his usual attire of the honorable uniform of gray kaki fabric
of this medical contingent.

In 1961 he participated in the organization of the National
Literacy Campaign, a heroic educational epic that eliminated
illiteracy throughout Cuba in less than a year and which
today is still a beautiful paradigm for many peoples of the
world.

He fulfilled important missions in combat scenarios during
the mercenary landing at the Bay of Pigs and in the search
and capture of remaining enemies in that area.

In 1963 he was appointed Vice Minister of Medical
Assistance and performed functions of first vice minister of
MINSAP. He worked in the organization and selection of the
first medical brigades that went to perform permanent collaboration in Algeria and other African countries. His participation stands out in this stage in the implementation of profound transformations, derived from the conceptions of the Commander in Chief, regarding the mass training of doctors and dentists and the national coverage of the Health system, sustained in social and revolutionary practice, in opposition to the traditional and reactionary forms of the private practice of medicine.

In 1966 he was appointed rector of the University of La
Habana. Because of his student trajectory, because of his
university vocation, because of recognition of the enormous
historical burden of this Hill and its significance in the social,
political and cultural life of the country, it is obvious that this
was a very special moment in the life of a man like Dr. Miyar;
but I would like to emphasize that it was also a very special
and significant moment for this institution.

As rector he played a crucial role in the revolutionary
changes that took place, and which responded to the ideas
directly promoted by the Commander in Chief, about the
social function of the University in the historical battle of
the revolution.

Unquestionably, it was a fertile period, with an accelerated
pace, in which the socialist university was built: scientific
research began to be essential to our social mission; afternoon/evening courses were designed and implemented, which
allowed massive access of workers to university careers; the
study and work system was implemented, based on Martí
and Fidel's conceptions about the education of young people; several important university research centers were founded that were responsible for tasks and results of the first order for development; university headquarters were organized
in Pinar del Río, Matanzas and Isle of Youth, which became
the seeds of important centers; the participation of students,
teachers and cadres in the country's major programs was
achieved; and the Party was constituted in the University,
as a vanguard organization that brought together the comrades of greatest merit.

If something characterized those times it was the fact that,
almost daily, we had news of some project or some new decision that augured much more work and at the same time, much
more satisfaction for the possibility of contributing to the
improvement of Cuban society; from the creation of brigades
to promote art and culture in rural areas, the project of a
National Botanical Garden with more than 600 hectares of
extension, to a center to produce a Cuban computer and another that would investigate the artificial cultivation of shrimp. Many other examples and activities could be mentioned,
but it would be too lengthy because, certainly, I did not exaggerate in the least when I said that these decisions reached
us almost daily.

Even today, and for a long time now, and beyond the affection and recognition of his human values, at the University
we speak of the "era of Chomy" as a reference to creativity,
to development, to the realization and implementation of
ideas that, in one way or another, involved us all in the finding of a new university work, which produced an essential
qualitative change in our lives and in the life of the institution.

If we stop to analyze current university scientific research, in which student contribution stands out, the growing synergy between graduate studies and research, the unity between teaching and research and the increase in the impact of results—which indicates that universities have become research centers—and on the other hand, we verify that the process of universalization of higher education has allowed the university to be present in all municipalities of the country, with levels of massification never before achieved, it is obligatory to recognize the causal relationship with those precedents.

To put into practice the ideas of a genius is a very important and difficult task, but if that genius is Fidel Castro the fact reaches enormous dimensions; and I say this with the greatest and most intimate respect for the proverbial modesty and absolute absence of vanity of Dr. Miyar.

Personally, I would like to tell you that the first time I saw
Dr. Miyar was on an afternoon, almost evening, when, still
being a student of the Biological Sciences Career I found myself in a class in the Felipe Poey building and upon hearing
the news that the Commander in Chief was on the Hill, we all
went down to Plaza Cadenas to greet him and listen to him.
There, on that occasion, the Commander told us: and you do
not know Chomy?, and at that moment he introduced us to
our new rector.

In 1972 he went on to direct prioritized agricultural
programs, work that he carried out until 1976 when he was
appointed head of the offices of the president of the State
Council. That same year he was elected deputy to the National Assembly. He has maintained the status of member of
the Central Committee of the Party since its second congress. In January 1980 he was appointed member and secretary of the State Council, from this high state responsibility he
has fulfilled countless tasks of the utmost importance, among
which stands out that he was part of official delegations chaired
by the Commander in Chief in dozens of international missions, in meetings at the United Nations, summit meetings
of the Non-Aligned Movement and others.

Dr. Miyar has been a key driving force and coordinator
in the development of biotechnology in Cuba and was also
assigned responsibility for the Latin American School of
Medicine and the International School of Physical Education
and Sports.

Cuban biotechnology today exhibits undisputed achievements and sustained progress, in keeping with the idea expressed by the Commander in Chief on February 10, 1993, at the inauguration ceremony of the Center of Medical Biophysics in Santiago de Cuba, when he affirmed that our place in the world depends on the development of the productions of intelligence, which derive from the effort we make in research and in research products.

The products of biotechnology have real impact on health.
Of the thirteen vaccines with which our entire child population
is protected—with which the eradication of nine diseases and
the notable reduction of others has been achieved—eight
antigens are produced in Cuba. Examples of this have been
the control of the meningococcal meningitis epidemic and the
near disappearance of hepatitis B. The institutions of the biotechnology sector supply the MINSAP with 165 medicines,
vaccines and other supplies.

Similarly, results linked to food production have been obtained, such as the vaccine against classical swine fever, the
vaccine against cattle tick and the growth stimulator for
aquaculture. In plant production we can highlight that the control of nematodes in cultivation houses with the Bionematicide "Hebernem" is being generalized and, for the first time in
the world, an antibody produced in plants was registered for
self-immunopurification of the Cuban hepatitis B vaccine.

I draw attention to the breadth and diversity of this sector,
consisting of 25 scientific institutions belonging to various
state agencies, 58 production plants, 8 commercial companies
in Cuba, 8 representation offices abroad, 14 economic associations in operation abroad, 5 production plants abroad, 9,300
workers, of which 4,200 are university graduates, 181 patented
invention objects and 1,554 patents deposited abroad, 32
registered products, as well as more than 40 diagnostic equipment and systems and 66 advanced generic medicines.

In his multifaceted activity as a manager and promoter of
development, Dr. Miyar has participated, attended and collaborated, in recent years, in various health programs, including pre- and postgraduate teaching, scientific research in
pathologies of high impact and, in general, in the application
of science and technology as an integral part of the great system of health services in the country.

His attention to universities and centers of higher education has been and is a constant in his actions, very especially regarding the University of La Habana.