Pretoria, July 22, 2022.- As part of the activities commemorating the assault on the Moncada barracks on July 26, a bust of the Cuban National Hero José Martí was unveiled today at the Embassy of Cuba in South Africa.
The event was attended by a representation of the Cuban collaboration brigades in South Africa from the health, education, construction and hydraulic resources sectors, Cubans residing in the country, former South African students who studied in Cuba and members of the diplomatic headquarters, headed by the Ambassador, Enrique Orta González.
Xiomara Pedroso Gómez, deputy president of the Association of Cuban Residents in South Africa, expressed during the act that Cubans residing in South Africa see a dream come true that makes it possible for the community to have a physical place to pay tribute to the Apostle of Cuba.
She also recalled that José Martí knew how to cunningly unite all Cubans for the necessary war for independence, and that this legacy must be defended today more than ever among Cubans residing inside or outside the Cuban nation, in the face of the escalation of manipulations and hatred that is woven against Cuba, especially from the United States, with the supreme and already well-known desire to take over the Island.
In his speech, the Cuban ambassador highlighted that South Africa hosts for the first time a bust of the most universal of Cubans, whose emancipatory thoughts and ideals remain fully valid today. He highlighted Martí's contribution to Cuba's independence struggle and the significance of this monument.
The Cuban diplomat also stressed that Fidel Castro Ruz was a great disciple of José Martí, and that precisely inspired by his ideas, he led the heroic deed of the assault on the Moncada barracks on July 26, 1953, the driving force that led to the Cuban Revolution to its triumph on January 1, 1959.