Speech of H.E. Inés Fors Fernández on the occasion of the 43rd Founders Day Anniversary and Awards Ceremony, Jose Marti Technical High School, 10 January 2020.
Good morning:
It is a privilege to be here this morning to celebrate the 43rd anniversary of the foundation of this beautiful and loved school.
Today we celebrate another big day and big occasion for Jose Marti Technical High School.
This institution represents an historic and symbolic landmark of friendship between Jamaica and Cuba.
43 years ago, 560 Jamaican young students were selected from different regions of the country to attend this school donated by Cuba and its Leader to the Jamaican people, in a time when the friendship between Fidel Castro and Michael Manley was translated into different social projects like this educational institution.
Dear professors and students,
This ceremony takes place just a few days before of the celebration of the birth anniversary of the Cuban National Independence Hero José Martí.
Martí is more valid today than ever after 167 years of his birth.
He continues to surprise us with ideas as eloquent and relevant as this:
"It is the hour of the recount, and of the united march, when we have to walk in a tight box, like the silver in the roots of the Andes".
One of Martí’s most famous pieces of writing is “La Edad de Oro” (“The Golden Age”), which he wrote especially for “the children of Latin America and the Caribbean”. As he put it:
"We write for children because they know how to love; they are the hope of the world".
Dear all,
Cuban Revolution is a dream maker. Since January 1959, the words solidarity, cooperation and exchange took on special meanings. This school is a clear example of those values.
Forty-three years have passed, and what started as a solidarity and cooperation gesture of Cuba to the Government and people of Jamaica was transformed into what is today, the Jose Marti Technical High School that proudly celebrates its anniversary, with an enrolment of near 2000 students in the secondary education with specialization in technical areas.
There are many issues that turn this educational institution into a unique one and well-known all over Jamaica. Schools’ architecture, combination of study and work as part of the teaching-learning process, level of proficiency in Spanish language as well as knowledge on our Apostle and Cuban history shown by students.
Jamaica is grateful to Cuba for the gift but also Cuba is proud and thankful for the work carried out for educational authorities, school’s students, professors, workers and community as a whole along these years.
They all have honoured school’s name.
Allow me to take this opportunity to thank deeply school’s principal, its staff, and students.
Dear students,
José Martí, whom school is named after, once said “to pay tribute, no voice is weak” and that is precisely what we are doing today: paying tribute to history, to brotherhood, to friendship between our peoples, to solidarity between our governments and to the great sympathy that united leaders like Michael Manley and Fidel Castro.
We have done that and will continue to doing so convinced that a better world is indeed possible.
Thank you very much.