The Hague, January 28, 2026. In an emotional gathering held in the early hours of today, the staff of the Cuban Embassy in the Netherlands commemorated the 173rd anniversary of the birth of National Hero José Martí.
During the meeting, the relevance of Martí's ideology was highlighted, his anti-imperialism, anti-annexationism, independence movement, and his foresight regarding the dangers that the imperial ambitions of the United States represented for Cuba and all the lands of America.
Cuban Ambassador Eva Yelina Silva Walker referred to the hostility of the US government, which has revived the Monroe Doctrine and is ramping up its fascist and anti-Cuban rhetoric. In this context, she evoked the value of Martí's work and recalled how much it influenced the thinking and political practice of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz.
The Cuban diplomat said that José Martí has been and continues to be an inspiration for generations of Cubans, for whom love and loyalty to the homeland, humanism, compassion for the suffering of others, as well as faith in human improvement and the usefulness of virtue, are at the very essence of the nation's identity.
The young Julio Romero recalled the unfinished letter that Martí wrote to his Mexican brother Manuel Mercado at the Dos Ríos camp on May 18, 1895, considered his political testament:
"[...] every day I am in danger of giving my life for my country and for my duty [...] to prevent, in time, with the independence of Cuba, the United States from spreading throughout the Antilles and falling, with that added strength, upon our lands in America. Everything I have done until today, and will do, is for that purpose. It has had to be done quietly and indirectly, because there are things that must be hidden in order to be achieved, and if they were proclaimed for what they are, they would raise difficulties too great to overcome in order to achieve the end."
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