page_title: Instituto Técnico Militar
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Instituto Técnico Militar / History
context_page_description: The Instituto Técnico Militar, originally designed as the Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, is located at 45th and 66th streets in Marianao, Havana, Cuba.
context_section_description: Her Majesty Isabella II, Queen of Spain, issued a royal charter in the year 1854 founding the Colegio de Belén (Belen School) in Havana, Cuba. Belen School began its educational work in the building formerly occupied by the convent and convalescent hospital of Our Lady of Belen, hence the name of the school. A meteorological observatory was established in 1857. A facility was built in 1896.
  In 1961 the government of Fidel Castro (himself a graduate of Belen) confiscated all private and religious schools in Cuba. Castro expelled the Jesuits and declared the government of Cuba an atheist government. Castro's government nationalized businesses and banks, confiscating more than $1 billion in American-owned property. Thousands of those dubbed “enemies of the revolution” were executed or imprisoned, and the school curriculum was reshaped by communist doctrine. Free speech was not an option, and the Cuban socialist press was an extension of the government.
caption: Colegio de Belén (1854-1925)
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