Volunteers came from all over the country to participate in the project. There were two types of volunteers in the project, those who could not leave for the countryside such as: housewives, government employees and workers; thus, they worked in urban neighborhoods as "Citizens’ Literacy Promoters" (AP). The second and most important groups of volunteers under the "Popular Literacy Army" (EPA) were the youth that worked full-time in the rural and mountainous areas. The groups of influential youth who mostly came from secondary schools or universities, were named after the brigadistas that contributed to the Cuban Literacy Campaign. Like their Cuban mentors, the brigadistas did not only teach the rural peasants to read and write; but they were also integrated into the families, bridging the gap between the rural and urban citizens of the nation. Because the young volunteers were as young as 12 years of age, many parents speculated on the idea of allowing them to participate.