Two Indispensible Cubans: Marti and Fidel

During these days of August I am used to reflect on the coincidence of two indispensable Cubans' thoughts, whose lives were spent separated by nearly a century, the one of our national history, Jose Marti and Fidel Castro

Both of them showed their admiration for the men and women born in their homeland, they were characterized by faith in their countrymen and were optimistic about Cuban future.

They demonstrated the essence of their characters in important moments of their lives.

In his allegation History Will Absolve Me, Fidel said that to be Cuban implies a duty, and if it is not fulfilled, it is a crime and betrayal. And Marti wrote in the very month of his death in combat, on May 2, 1895 to the editor of The New York Herald, that the Cubans recognize the urgent duty imposed on them with the world, its geographical position and the present time of the universal gestation; and that are fully capable due to the vigor of their intelligence and the force of their arms to fulfill it, and they want to fulfill it.

I remember that in his speech at the trial for the Moncada (One of the garrisons for the Army from Batista's tyranny) attack in 1953, Fidel told the judges and soldiers around him that: "We were born in a free country inherited from our parents, and the island will first sink in the sea before we consent to be slaves to anyone."

Meanwhile, Marti wrote in Patria newspaper on April 1, 1893: "The Cuban is independent, moderate and proud. He does not want an owner but himself. Whoever pretends to saddle him up, will be shaken. "

Commitment to martyrs

In front of the masses, in the full didactic exercise that lasted over half a century, our top leader endorsed the eternal commitment to our glorious dead to carry out the revolution and be always worthy of their example. We devote the eternal commitment "to the Cubans from the past and present that had been ready to fight and die with dignity in defense of justice."

The national hero had stated in a letter written in October 1885, every Cuban who dies is another song, and every Cuban who lives must be a temple to honor him.

And when the U.S. government, either during its initial phase capitalist in the late 19th century, as in imperialist booming of the 21st century, pretends to yield the Cubans, the powerful voices of Jose Marti and Fidel Castro have raised their historical milestones to respond with courage and patriotism:

Fidel warned the US president in his Proclamation to an adversary, 2004, that “This people can be exterminated -it’s as well you know this- or wiped off the face of the earth but it cannot be subjugated nor put once again into the humiliating position of a United States neo-colony.”

And Marti, in a speech at the Cuban Lyceum in Tampa, November 26, 1891 he said "Those who think that the Cubans lack courage and ability to live by themselves on the land created by their courage, we tell them: You lie!"

Validity of the principles

The validity of Marti's and Fidel's principles are witnessed in their homeland every day, and other countries of Our America and the world.  Our National Hero said, “The Cuban revolution, crown and guarantee of that from our America, will timely find the large follows open. It won´t get lost for the land. It will not fall into the sea. It will be loved by a continent…!”

Marti said it, and Fidel has turned it into reality…