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Jose Marti was
born in Havana in 1853. At seventeen he was exiled to Spain for his
opposition to colonial rule. There he published a pamphlet exposing
the horrors of political imprisonment in Cuba, which he himself had
experienced. Upon graduating from the University of Saragossa, he
established himself in Mexico City, where he began his literary
career. His objection to a regime installed by a military coup led
him to depart for Guatemala, but government abuses forced him to
abandon that country as well. In 1878 he returned to Cuba under a
general amnesty, but he conspired against the Spanish authorities
and again was banished. He fled exile in Spain and came to the
United States. After a year in New York he left for Venezuela, where
he hoped to settle, but yet another dictatorship forced him to
depart. Marti went back to New York where he lived from 1881 to
1895. In that year, he left to join the war for Cuban independence
which he had so painstakingly organized. There he died in one of its
first skirmishes.
Jose Marti is considered one of the
great writers of the Hispanic world. His significance for the
American Reader, however, stems from the universality and
timelessness of his thought. Marti devoted his life to ending
colonial rule in Cuba and to preventing the island from falling
under the control of any country (including the United States) whose
political ideologies were inimical to the principles he held. With
those goals, and with the conviction that the freedom of the
Caribbean was crucial to Latin American security and to the balance
of power in the world, he devoted his talents to the forging of a
nation. Thus, the scope of his work: he was a revolutionary, a
guide, and more importantly, a mentor. His vast experience and
education enabled him to move comfortably in the most diverse
fields, which is what makes his teachings so rich to us indeed.
Insofar as Marti believed that freedom
and justice should be the cornerstones of any government, one has
only to read his work and learn of the struggle that he took up
freely. He could never accept the curtailment of the natural
expansiveness of the human spirit, for truly he believed that man's
redemption would come through love and unfettered reason. Therefore,
his doctrines are, and must be, at odds with the totalitarian dogma
that has existed in Cuba since its unfortunate demise.
All of Marti's teachings contradict
that political system which never fails to demonstrate its
intolerance towards individual freedom and it's love of its own
materialistic empowerment. His writings condemn all despotic regimes
and the abridgment of human rights. Furthermore, he goes on to
denounce the lack of spirituality and type of arrogance that we find
in the current dictatorship. For this reason, the publication of
Marti's thoughts, in all its force, is of the greatest importance
today. His beliefs, which can guide democracies and if heeded, offer
them greater security, speak more eloquently against the Cuban
apostasy than all the accusations that others might make.
.
Cultivo Una Rosa Blanca
Por Jose Marti
Cultivo una rosa blanca
En julio como en
enero,
Para el amigo sincero
Que me da su mano franca.
Y para el cruel que me arranca
El corazon con
que vivo,
Cardo ni ortiga cultivo,
Cultivo una rosa
blanca.
I Cultivate a White Rose
By Jose Marti
I cultivate a white rose
In July as in
January
For the sincere friend
Who gives me his hand
frankly.
And for the cruel person who tears out
the heart
with which I live,
I cultivate neither nettles nor thorns:
I
cultivate a white rose.
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