Distinguished members of the Diplomatic Corps of Latin American and the Caribbean,
Austrian solidary friends,
Compatriots,
The historical memory and the Latin American duty bring us once again to pay tribute to one of the most universal men, poets, thinkers, and revolutionaries: José Martí. In this occasion, we do it at the forthcoming 165th anniversary of his birth this 28 January.
Cubans deeply admire José Martí. He was an indefatigable thinker regarding art and politics. The Apostle of the Cuban Liberty who dedicated all his life and ideals to reach unity of all Cubans and to whom the most important anxiety was to established a free and independent republic.
He was the founder of the Cuban Revolutionary Party and the Patria newspaper. He was also the leader and organizer of the War of Independence of 1895, a struggle which was baptized by him as a necessary war. Some decades after that, Martí´s ideals inspired a group of young Cubans led by Fidel Castro the so-called Centenary Generation to carry out the most profound Revolution of the history of our homeland and achieve the real and definitive independence.
Martí transcends the Cuban island. He was a son of America and he belonged to it. His fight for the independence of Cuba was complemented with the struggle for the union of all Latin American peoples. He was a fervent advocate of the identity of the region and the wealth of the Hispanic America and, for him, this falls on the interculturality of our mixed race, indigenous, and Afro-American peoples.
His deep love towards “Our America” was increased through his experiences in various countries of the region. During his stay in Mexico, he worked as a journalist and he carried out a crucial political and cultural activity. It was in the Aztec land that he met Carmen Zayas-Bazán from Camagüey*, his spouse and the mother of his son José Francisco nicknamed Ismaelillo.
The second Latin American nation of the trip of his life was Guatemala, a land that improved his sensitivity as a poet and inspired him to write the famous verses: La niña de Guatemala (the Guatemalan girl).
After that, he traveled to Venezuela where “he didn't bother to shake the road dust off” to pay homage to Bolívar´s statue. In Caracas, he founded the Revista Venezolana (Venezuela magazine). Once he had to depart, as an example of love and passion, he wrote: “Venezuela, assign me with a task to serve you, I am your son”.
Martí´s diplomatic work on behalf of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, as the Consul of this country in New York, and also representing Argentina and Paraguay is also underlined. He was appointed Uruguay´s delegate during the Monetary Conference of the Republics of America.
*Camagüey: one of the 16 provinces of Cuba.
The preparation of the Guerra Necesaria (Necessary War) led him to visit Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic where he signed together with Máximo Gómez the Manifiesto de Montecristi (Manifesto of Montecristi)
José Martí knew how to recognize the most urgent needs of the continent. Firstly, to remove from America the last remains of the Spanish colonialism and secondly, to consolidate the union of all young Hispanic American republics to stop the imperialist drive of the United States. Judiciously, he drew early the attention to the concerted action of all the Latin America: “Implant in our republics the world, but the trunk should be our republics”.
The current Latin American scenario the validity of Martí´s ideals for Our America should be present because it continues to be”…the time of mobilization, of marching together in close ranks like the veins of silver at the roots of the Andes…”.This is Martí´s doctrine of union and integration for the continent in the rich diversity that we share. It has seen its outcomes nowadays in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC by its Spanish initials).
José Martí´s figure grows while time goes by. All of us should come back to his work, go deep into his ideas in that inexhaustible source of political, revolutionary, and human wisdom. We are and we will be Martí´s followers as we are and we will be Fidelistas, Latin Americans and anti-imperialists.
I thank all of you for accompanying us this morning where we have remembered Martí of the Americas.
(EmbacubaAustria / Cubaminrex)