Havana Province, Cuba. - There is no better way of being a man of all times than being a man of your own time. Jose Marti was himself a true example of this assertion. The Hero of Two Rivers is a guide for all times, because he knew how to live up to the demands of his time. 
 
Thus, Marti reaches us as political and ideological inheritance and his ideas are guidance for action. 
 
It is true that “the purest man of our race”, as Gabriela Mistral said, died more than one century ago. However, his deeds remain valid in the present battles for a better world. 
 
Marti died in the borderline of two historical stages. The monopolist phase of capitalism was emerging in those days. Its main representative was already spreading its looting eagle wings over the smaller peoples of the south. It meant to grow at the expense of subjugating and exploiting other peoples. 
 
The Teacher organized the necessary war under those circumstances. He wanted to stop, with Cuban independence, the United States from spreading their might over our American lands. The free Antilles, Marti said, would become a barrier to thwart those ambitions. Should they be enslaved, they would be a mere pontoon to be trampled by the triumphant legions of the “American Rome.” 

This is one of Marti’s greatest lessons, still valid as a mandate for today. It is part of our ideological strength, together with his principles of justice and freedom. 
 
Let us evoke today our Marti of everyday. Let us carry on in the quest for a better world. 

Translated by: Pedro A. Fanego

( 03.12.2009 10:13 AM )