Jose Marti in Danger of Deportation
HAVANA TIMES – Jose Marti spent more than half his life outside of Cuba, including 15 years in the United States. He never accepted US citizenship. In fact, he admired that country for its democratic values but also criticized its expansionism and materialistic outlook on life. Imagine—today he would be in danger of deportation and accused of being anti-American by the current administration.
Marti, moreover, was a man of liberal and democratic ideas, but with a humanist spirit and a focus on the poor. He wasn’t at all a nationalist, which is why he said: “The homeland is humanity.”
I’m sure that these opportunistic “Cuban-oids” who make money off Cuba’s tragedy would accuse him of being a communist. Yes, the same ones who feel US American and who cheer for deportations and belittle other Cubans using a double standard.
But Martí would never divide Cubans by calling them “worms” or any of those ugly labels. He wasn’t an extremist. In his time, he befriended anarchists, Freemasons (he was one), socialists, annexationists, reformists, unionists, businessmen, religious believers, and independence fighters.
He was a humanist, someone who didn’t stay at the level of cheap talk about “Cuba’s freedom and blah blah blah.” He put his life on the line—he boarded a small boat with Maximo Gomez and landed in eastern Cuba to fight against Spanish colonialism.
He never demanded that any Cuban on the Island sacrifice themselves—he led by example. He wasn’t a hypocrite, nor an opportunist, nor a bootlicker for any dictator.
And he was a powerhouse—he mastered five languages, was a journalist, philosopher, lawyer, writer, and politician. He was a genius. He managed to unite Cubans around the cause of Cuba’s freedom. Considering how divided we’ve always been, that alone deserves a Nobel Prize.
And still there are some miserable people who dare to say he was a drunk. He was human, yes, but never vulgar—and what is sacred deserves respect. Martí is one of the few things that, at least for me, makes me proud to be Cuban.
But I can’t shake the thought… Today, Pepe would have been accused of being a communist—and he’d be in danger of deportation. Damn…
Read more from the diary of Pedro Pablo Morejon here on Havana Times.