Scouts of Cuba

Asociación de Scouts de Cuba
Scout Association of Cuba
Country	Cuba
Founded	1927
Defunct	1961
Membership	6,500

The Asociación de Scouts de Cuba (ASC, Scout Association of Cuba) was the national Scouting organization of Cuba from 1927 to 1961. Scouting in Cuba started in 1914, in 1927 the ASC was founded and became a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement the same year and was suspended from WOSM membership in 1961. At the end of the 1950s, the boys-only association had about 6,500 members. Cuba is now one of only four of the world's independent countries that do not have Scouting.

In 1914, the first Scout groups in Cuba were founded, and Carlos Alzugarai, Miguel Ángel Quevedo, Jules Loustalot and others wrote up the statutes and began Scout activities. The first troops of Boy Scouts in Cuba met under the sponsorship of the American Legion, the Mother's Club del Vedado and the electric generating plant of the Compañía Cubana de Electricidad. Angel Loustalot, the son of Jules Loustalot, was commissioner for other pioneers of the Scout Movement, Enrique Quintana, Dr. Moisés Boudé, Domingo Romeo Jaime and Oscar Poey Bonachea. In the following years more local groups emerged, but they were not coordinated through a national association until 1927 when the Asociación de Scouts de Cuba was founded. The Scouts of Cuba was declared an official institution by presidential decree no. 871 of June 22, 1927. In the same year the association became a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement. During its first years, Cuban Scouting followed the model of the Boy Scouts of America, using the uniform, Boy Scout Handbook and many of their practices.