Our National Hero’s reflection José Martí in the Cuban philately acquires great presence starting from the victory of the Revolution. Important moments of his life and his revolutionary work have been reflected, but today, when we are commemorating the 167th Anniversary of his birthday we will see some of the published stamps that in some way they make reference to that event.
When being commemorated in the 2003 the 150 years of his birth, Correos de Cuba make a commemorative emission and in one of their stamps we already see the image of the Apostle’s native house transformed into museum.
In the year 2004 the first of the series that I lower José Martí’s title take place: Universal man travels his life, the places where they happened important facts of his life and his patriotic work. In this we find stamps with images linked to their birthday.
In this stamp we see his mother’s figure, Mrs. Leonor Pérez, and the native house yard of Paula’s street in Havana.
Another stamp shows to the father Don Mariano Martí, locating it in Valencia, Spain, to where they traveled in 1857 and Tapinería resided in the street Nº 16. Martí was then 4 years old.
Student of the School San Pablo, directed by Rafael María Mendive, the boy José Julián Martí y Pérez shows the medal received when finishing the primary teaching. Although the stamp shows the date of 1862, maybe the year of entrance to this school, the medal is supposed it was given him in 1864, with 11 years of age.
That boy, had born for 167 years, became in the visionary one that knew how to trace the road to reach the independence, guiding in his Centennial to the youths that next to Fidel Castro assaulted the Moncada Garrison and they didn’t rest until reaching the definitive independence.
Their patriotism, their ethics, their doctrine and their antimperialismo today it follows us lighting the road.