José Martí Pérez

José Martí Pérez

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publicado el 19/05/2022

José Martí: exceptional example of creator and humanist

The Apostle of Cuba was a man who exposed in letters, journalistic works, speeches, poems and other works core principles that continue to have great validity and that can contribute to the development of men and women, and of humanity as a whole.

When he gave his direct contribution to the development of the war for the independence of Cuba, which he managed to reorganize after many years of intense work, he died on May 19, 1895 in the Dos Ríos area, in the current province of Granma, in a confrontation with Spanish forces.

He alone was then 42 years old. He died just as he had proclaimed in one of his Versos Sencillos, a poem in which he specified:

don't put me in the dark

to die as a traitor

I am good and I eat good

I will die facing the sun.

Aspects related to life and death, and the commitment that human beings should have with the cause of their respective peoples, Martí dealt with them from the stage of his adolescence and during the development of his existence.

For example, in 1869 he wrote his drama in verse Abdala in which he highlighted the heroic attitude of a young man who went out to defend his homeland against the actions of some aggressors and died happy knowing that he had made that contribution.

Precisely in the final part of said work, Martí pointed out:

“Oh, how sweet it is to die when you die

fighting to defend the homeland!”

Also in a work about the American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, published in the National Opinion of Caracas on May 19, 1882, Martí expressed that death does not afflict or frighten those who have lived nobly and that only those who have reason to fear fear it. and that whoever deserves to be will be immortal.

In addition, when referring to death, José Martí came to assure with particular firmness: “Others lament the necessary death; I believe in her as the pillow and the yeast, and the triumph of life”.

Martí believed in necessary death and as such he put his life at the service of the cause of his people without caring about the risks that this entailed.

It should be noted that Martí went so far as to point out that each man should serve without anyone scolding him, the service he carries in himself faced the dangers that being in the places where the fighting was taking place, which could cause his death.

About this he also detailed in a letter dated May 18, 1895 that he began to write from Cuban territory to his Mexican friend Manuel Mercado and that would remain unfinished when he fell in combat the next day.

He specified to Mercado in the initial part of said letter: “My dearest brother: Every day I am already in danger of giving my life for my country and for my duty –since I understand it and I have the courage to do so- to prevent time with the independence of Cuba that the United States spread over the Antilles and fall, with even more force, on our lands in America.”

And then he assured: “Everything I have done until today, and will do, is for that. In silence it has had to be and as indirectly, because there are things that to achieve them have to be hidden, and to be proclaimed in what they are, they would raise difficulties too strong to reach the end on them.

On May 19, 1895, his physical disappearance occurred, but the significance of his life, the value and validity of his principles, his example, his love for Cuba and for its people, have transcended over time because they continue to be a source of teaching. and motivation for the Cuban people and for many human beings in different countries.

Fidel made reference to the meaning and validity that the life and work of José Martí has ​​and will have for Cuba and for the world in the speech he gave on January 29, 2003 in Havana at the closing of the International Conference for the balance of world that was celebrated on the occasion of the sesquicentennial of Martí's birth.

Fidel pointed out: “Beyond Cuba, what did the world receive from him? An exceptional example of a creator and humanist worth remembering throughout the centuries. By whom and why? For the same ones who are fighting today and those who will fight tomorrow for the same dreams and hopes of saving the world, and because chance willed that today humanity perceives itself and becomes aware of the risks that he foresaw and warned with his profound vision and his amazing talent.

The day he fell, May 19, 1895, Martí sacrificed himself for the right to life of all the inhabitants of the planet.”

 

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