The Cuban Literacy Campaign was a national effort to eradicate illiteracy in Cuba following the 1959 Revolution. Shortly after the Revolution, motivated by patriotism and sustained by political will, Fidel Castro declared that illiteracy would be eradicated within 1 year. Accordingly, during 1959 and 1960 the groundwork was laid for a mass literacy campaign, La Alfabetización. In the year leading up to the campaign, the FMC was charged with identifying illiterate women and convincing them to participate. During the campaign itself "figures indicate that more 91,000 women participated with the FMC in La Alfabetización. Thousands of women became teachers and other cared for the young boys and girls ages 11-16, who formed the Conrado Benitez Brigade." "On December 22, 1961, when Cuba was declared a "territory Free of Illiteracy" 55% of the 700,000 new literates were women.