José Martí is rightly remembered as Cuba's National Hero, the great organizer of the Necessary War, the ideologue of a republic for all and for the good of all. Martí was also one of the greatest exponents of 19th-century Spanish-American poetry, a journalist of vibrant prose, a thinker of astonishing lucidity. His words were neither an ornament nor an escape route, but part of his libertarian arsenal. In him, literary creation and political action did not contradict each other; they empowered each other.

The Death of Martí or All the Silence of the Mountain

However, there have been those who have attempted to separate the poet from the revolutionary, the essayist from the conspirator, as if they were mutually exclusive roles or unconnected phases. It’s worth asking, then: did his political vocation limit the quality or scope of his literary work? In light of his texts—letters, articles, verses, speeches—the answer is clear: not only did it not limit it, but it enriched it. Martí made language an instrument for good, a tool to educate, move, and mobilize.

His work reveals a man who did not separate beauty from duty. Martí's style is not merely ornamental: it’s revelation, it’s commitment. In his prose and poetry, the urgency of one who knows he writes to transform. His journalism was not neutral, but charged with ethical intention. In him, aesthetics is not a mask, but a way to touch the soul and awaken consciences. And what’s admirable is that, even in the midst of the revolutionary turmoil, Martí remained faithful to the word as a form of resistance and construction.

The coherence between thought, word, and action defines his greatness. Martí was not a writer who occasionally devoted himself to politics, nor a politician who dabbled in literature. He was a well-rounded individual whose vocation for service was expressed both on the battlefield and in the pages of Patria newspaper. His work is not an annex to his political life, nor is his struggle a marginal episode of his writing. Everything comes together in him: love, justice, truth, beauty.

It's no coincidence that he is recognized as a classic of Spanish-American literature. His relevance rests not only on his historical role, but on the depth, originality, and universality of his thought. Martí has not aged. His ideas on education, racism, imperialism, culture, and ethics continue to speak powerfully to current generations. In times of uncertainty, his voice offers clarity; his example offers direction.

130 years after his death in combat, Martí remains a thinker for all times. His legacy does not admit reductionist segmentations. Cuba is privileged that its greatest figure in the field of politics is also one of the pinnacles of its literature. Reading Martí is not only an exercise in memory: it’s an act of spiritual renewal. You must read him, yes, but you must read him better. Because in his words there are keys to understanding the past… and building the future.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / Cubasi Translation Staff