Santiago de Cuba will pay homage to National Hero

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba, May 19 (ACN) The people of the eastern Cuban city of Santiago will pay this Wednesday homage to the National Hero Jose Marti, on the 126th anniversary of his death in combat.

The ceremony at the Santa Ifigenia cemetery will start with the laying of floral offerings on behalf of Army General Raúl Castro and the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel.

Lázaro Expósito and Beatriz Johnson, president and vice-president of the Provincial Defense Council, respectively, will lead the tribute of the children of the Santiago to the National Hero, accompanied by leaders of political, social and mass organizations, and will lay flowers in front of the tombs of the founding fathers of the Cuban Revolution.

In the patrimonial cemetery, sacred altar of the homeland, artists of the city will interpret "A Martí" by singer-songwriter Sindo Garay, "A plomo y flor" by René Urquijo and "Yugo y estrella", one of Marti's free verses.

José Martí developed a commendable work in pursuit of unity, inside and outside the island, to achieve the independence of the nation from the Spanish metropolis, hence the founding of the Cuban Revolutionary Party and the preparation of the War of 95, as the only way to end colonialism.

Hours before his fall, on May 18, 1895, he wrote to his friend Manuel Mercado a letter considered his political testament, in which he warned of the danger of the United States on the lands of the continent and how the freedom of Cuba was necessary to prevent such expansion.

Marti fell against the Spanish colonial armies shortly after the beginning of the Necessary War, organized by him, on February 24, 1895. Every May 19, Cuba remembers the National Hero on the anniversary of his death.