During the first months of 1940 some exiled teachers founded a number of schools in several towns outside Mexico, D.F., all with the common name of Colegio Cervantes. The initiative came from the Cervantes Board, an aid organization created by the Servicio de Evacuación de los Republicanos Españoles that provided funds to cover the initial installation costs. Thus, schools were established in Veracruz, Cordoba, Tampico, Torreón, Xalapa, and Tapachula, on the border with Guatemala. Except from the school in Xalapa, all the centers did well.  For decades they offered a high quality educational training, which was based on the application of modern methods and good teachers. All the communities in which they were located praised the Cervantes schools. Today, the only active Cervantes schools are the one in Torreón, and the Grupo Escolar Cervantes in Veracruz. The rest could not overcome the process of retirement of the founding teachers and were forced to close their doors.