Cubans and Vietnamese converged this January 28 in the central park-garden Tao Dan, in Hanoi.

Photo: Latin Press.

In Cuba and in various parts of the world today they honor José Martí, on the occasion of the 170th anniversary of his birth in Havana.

Cubans and Vietnamese converged this January 28 in the central park-garden Tao Dan, in Hanoi, to honor the Apostle, a man who knew how to fully fulfill his duty.

Twenty years ago, the bust of the National Hero and hero of independence was erected in that place to make good his maxim that "honor, honor," said Cuban ambassador Orlando Hernández Guillén, who reviewed the extensive revolutionary career of the author of

La Edad of Gold

.

For his part, First Colonel Tin Trung Pham, from the Truong Son-Ho Chi Minh Veterans Association, read a poem of his own creation dedicated to José Martí, whose ideology inspired the combatants led by Fidel Castro who began the last stage of the fight for the definitive independence of the nation.

Meeting José Martí in Uruguay

José Martí never visited Uruguay but it served him well, and for this reason his imprint is present in the streets, squares and sculptures on the 170th anniversary of his birth today.

José Martí street in Montevideo starts from the intersection with Libertad in the Pocitos neighborhood and ends at the Rambla overlooking the Río de la Plata, an estuary to the Atlantic Ocean that is fed by the Uruguay and Paraná rivers, roads that also join Argentina and Paraguayan.

José Martí street in Montevideo.

Photo: Latin Press.

Of those three South American republics, the most universal of Cubans served as consul in New York City, in that preparatory exile for his greatest feat.

In 1887, the Uruguayan president appointed him to the position to replace Martí's friend, Enrique Estrázulas, who recognized his values ​​in Spanish-American letters, his desire for liberation, and his gifts as a good man, proverbial integrity and modesty.

Martí was a worthy representative of Uruguay and Latin America at the Inter-American Monetary Conference in Washington, held from January to April 1891.

In 2008 the book

José Martí was published here.

Consul of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay

, the work of renowned Cuban researchers and compilers.

And it is among books that the poet and writer from the Antillean island is found on another Montevidean street, Tristán Narvaja, the one with the highest concentration of popular bookstores and the setting every Sunday for a fair that attracts thousands of people.

There, on a wall, a mural with the image of the Cuban looks out at the crowd and from the familiar face stands out the green mustache and the geography of his endearing island.

There are several Marti busts in this country.

Plaza Cuba has you in Montevideo;

also on Avenida de las Américas (Canelones department) and in the public school that bears his name in the Malvin neighborhood of the capital.

On October 17, 2008,

the Plaza José Martí with a bust of the Cuban hero

, the work of the Uruguayan sculptor José Ulises Falcone, was inaugurated in the department of Paysandú, in western Uruguay.

The image of Martí is reissued at the headquarters of the Latin American Integration Association (Aladi), where it stands among the busts of Latin American heroes;

his from the hand of the artist from his land, Alberto Lescay.

“If such sweet eyes shine on your face that the soul in love leaves in them, never cloud them with sad anger”, reads a verse of the poet.

And his sensitivity is contagious in Uruguay at the José Martí Eye Hospital, where a medical brigade of his compatriots restores vision in the land of José Artigas, with high social recognition, particularly among those most in need.

A brigade of Cuban doctors works at the José Martí Eye Hospital as part of Operation Miracle.

Photo: Latin Press.

Remember Martí in France

Cubans residing in France, diplomats and friends of the island remembered today in Paris the Apostle of Cuban independence.

The first of the homage acts took place in the Jardín de América Latina, next to the Champerret Gate in Paris, where the busts of some of the heroes of American independence are located, including Martí.

The floral offering was placed by the Cuban ambassador to France, Otto Vaillant, and the island's representative to UNESCO, Yahima Esquivel.

Vaillant highlighted before the audience the Marti legacy and the importance of his ideology to maintain the sovereignty of Cuba.

Children were also present at the commemoration.

One of the little members of the Cuban community in this city read a text, in which she revealed the importance that training in values ​​from childhood was also for Martí.

(With information from Prensa Latina)