Manuel Isidro Méndez Rodríguez

Historian. His historiographical work stands out for being the first Biographer of José Martí and one of the initial disseminators of the Martian work, both in Cuba and abroad.

An Asturian by birth, he lived in Cuba, and particularly in the city of Artemisa for more than 20 years and was declared an "Adopted Son of that city".

He was born in Navia, Asturias, Spain. Son of a ship merchant. His father had been in Cuba as a Volunteer in the Spanish army.

He had self-taught training, which included knowledge of several languages. He arrived in Havana on December 7, 1896, the day General of the Cuban Liberation Army Antonio Maceo fell. Subsequently he settled in Santiago de Cuba. Later he moved to Artemisa, then a province of Pinar del Río, where he resided from 1901 until 1923, and worked in the hardware sector, while also dedicating himself to his cultural improvement. In 1918 he delivered his first speech about José Martí at the Worker's Center of that town.

Between 1923 and 1936 he settled in Spain, where he actively participated in the literary gatherings of the Ateneo de Madrid, with Miguel de Unamuno, Antonio Machado, Ramón María del Valle Inclán, Azorín and Pío Baroja, among other prominent representatives of Iberian culture, while also intervening in public forums and collaborating with different media outlets. During that time he participated in numerous literary meetings, such as the gatherings of El Gato Negro, in Madrid itself, where he permanently promoted the figure of José Martí, valuing him as a precursor of Modernism, through the reading of his verses, as well as highlighting his patriotism, the acuity of his criticism, his eloquence and the brilliance of his speeches.

When the Spanish Civil War broke out, and as a result of his work supporting the Popular Front, he was forced into exile, for which reason he returned to Cuba in 1936.

He died in Havana on April 18, 1972.

Work
In 1924 he received the prize granted by the Real Consistorio del Gay Saber of Madrid, for his biographical study on José Martí, the first Biography of the Cuban independence leader and his universal revolutionary thought in the nineteenth century, which would be published the following year. During this time, he collaborated with different Asturian media outlets, such as Vida Galante, El Correo Español, El Cojo Ilustrado, Crónicas de Asturias, El Noroeste de Gijón, El Porvenir Asturiano, El Río Navia, El Romance de Navia, La Semana Naviense, among others.

In 1938, back in Cuba, he wrote his work titled "Martí. Critical-biographical Study", with which he obtained second place in the Inter-American Literary Contest of the Central Commission Pro-monument to Martí, held in Havana the following year, and published in 1941.

He collaborated in various publications such as: La Libertad and El Ideal, from Artemisa; Orto, from Manzanillo, Oriente; as well as Bohemia, Carteles, Revista Bimestre Cubana, Diario de la Marina, El País, Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional, Fragua Martiana and La Rosa Blanca, from Havana. He compiled El Ideario de Martí, published in Havana by Cultural during 1930, as well as was in charge of the coordination, prologue and biographical synthesis of the Complete Works of Martí, in two volumes, published by Editorial Lex, also from Havana, in 1946.

He authored the first "History of Artemisa".

He remained linked to intellectual work and production until an advanced age.

Distinctions
He was declared an Adopted Son of Artemisa, in a public ceremony held on July 28, 1940, which was attended by personalities of the caliber of Fernando Ortiz and Emilio Roig de Leuschenring among others. That same year, on June 25, the Cuban Society of Historical and International Studies was established in Havana, to whose board he belonged from its inception, and presented important works in most of the 13 congresses held between 1942 and 1960.

In 1944 he was awarded the decoration Order of Merit, on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the birth of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada. He presided over the Congress of Martian Writers, held in 1953. He was part of the board of directors of the Hispano-American Institution of Culture, as well as the Academy of History of Cuba.