Cuban apostle José Martí immortalized by Costa Rica's philately

June 14, 2019

The regional director of the Central Pacific of Correos de Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Ugalde, stated today that José Martí's visit to Puntarenas 125 years ago will be immortalized in the philatelic history of this country.

'Correos de Costa Rica cannot let this opportunity pass without being immortalized in our philatelic history and that is why today we officially present the postmark dedicated to the legacy of this great man titled 125th Anniversary of José Martí's Visit to Puntarenas', Ugalde pointed out at an event held in Plaza del Pacífico in this city.

After noting that for Correos de Costa Rica it is an honor to pay homage to a man who inspired the Costa Rican people with his ideals of freedom and great example of love for the homeland, Ugalde recalled that on two occasions Martí set foot on Costa Rican soil in search of support from his compatriots residing here for Cuba's cause of independence from Spain.

The second and last visit he made to our country was in 1894, when he arrived at this beautiful port of Puntarenas, he said and went on to note that during his stay, Martí won over the Costa Rican people with his fervor and patriotism, which more than a century later continues to perpetuate his legacy.

He commented that 'the postmark carries an illustration of Martí looking at the Puntarenas lighthouse, that beautiful luminous tower so representative not only for sailors, but for all port dwellers and people who visit us'.

He indicated that this postmark, which will circulate from today through Friday, will be stamped on a postcard provided by the Asociación Porteña Convergencia Martiana, whose president, Dulce Umanzor, noted that precisely, the Cuban National Hero arrived in Puntarenas on June 12, 1894, exactly 125 years ago, stayed here for six days and departed for Panama.

Umanzor thanked Correos de Costa Rica for accepting the group's request to hold an activity in honor of the Cuban National Hero and now requested that it not only be a postmark and that in the future they can count on a stamp that further immortalizes the fact that Puntarenas received José Martí with open arms.

'Today we pay homage to the most universal of Cubans, one of the famous figures of Cuba's independence, great as the great thinkers of Latin America, who ennobled these port lands with his visit in 1894', she stressed.

She highlighted the significance of José Martí's visit to Puntarenas, to the point that in 1942 a High School bearing his name was founded, the city's greatest cultural achievement and declared a meritorious institution of Costa Rican education in 2011.

'Puntarenas remembers with great admiration and affection the Apostle of Liberty, whose heritage is interwoven in the present and is alive, because Martí speaks to us in the present more than a century after his death and his ideas retain their relevance, because his work, where he presented the great problems of America: racism, inequality, poverty, lack of opportunities and freedom are the same problems that afflict us today', said Umanzor.

The former mayor of Puntarenas and scholar of José Martí's work, Juan Luis Bolaños, assured that this act constitutes an excellent occasion for Martí to continue walking through our towns and our lands, that is the great mission we have: to follow up on that beautiful chapter in Costa Rica's history.

'To speak about the work of José Martí is to speak about the good José Martí, profoundly human, revolutionary in search of freedom and of the most sacred of his loves, love for the homeland, who in each poem, each verse, each discourse, each movement or each action reminds us that there is an extraordinary love, which is love for the homeland', he stressed.

Bolaños acknowledged 'to the heritage of our grandparents the enthusiasm with which José Martí's presence was lived in our beloved Puntarenas in times past. May our sand, may our sun, may our sea breathe the work of José Martí and thus together we build a better Puntarenas'.

The representative of the Cátedra José Martí, from the University of Costa Rica, Pacific campus, Gerardo Hernández, asserted that 'the literary, political and cultural legacy and Latin American critical thinking that Martí created and transferred to the world is an indelible contribution to the history of world culture'.

'The balance of the world and universal harmony are key points in his ideology and constitute the engine of struggle that we as Latin Americans must wage in order to emancipate ourselves and pursue a second and real independence for the American subcontinent', he added.

For his part, the Cuban ambassador to Costa Rica, Danilo Sánchez, extended profound thanks and a huge embrace on behalf of the people and government of Cuba to all the authorities who have made possible this excellent tribute to Martí, an illustrious figure of our array of patriots.

He maintained that Martí's visits and the founding of the agricultural colony La Mansión de Nicoya by the lieutenant general of the Liberating Army (Mambí), Antonio Maceo, and another 100 families of Cuban independence fighters are just some examples that unite the history of the peoples of Costa Rica and Cuba.

Before this, one cannot help but state the pressing need that we continue to build initiatives that bring us even closer together. 'The challenge we have is to see how we make the efforts of all converge to bring to the present and put into effect the thinking of Martí, which is more than Cuban, it is of universal stature', he estimated.

He emphasized that the fundamental commitment of Cuba's embassy in Costa Rica lies in strengthening friendship, cordiality and fraternity between our peoples, which are historic, and today more than ever must walk united as Martí said: peoples must walk united like silver in the roots of the Andes.