Cuba remembers the centenary of Cintio Vitier's birth

September 25, 2021

On Saturday, September 25th, we will commemorate the centennial of the birth that occurred in Key West of this outstanding writer and scholar of Cuban culture. Encompassing the wide range and large number of his publications is a task that demands the concerted effort of a group of scholars of different subjects from various disciplines. Vitier's active bibliography contains a high quantity of titles, articles, poems and books, in addition to interviews in different Cuban and foreign media.

Vitier was a man who combined rigor and imagination, without contradicting himself or the expression of his thoughts, feelings and ideas. This occurs not only because of his explicit analytical intention (learning or inheritance from his father?) but also because he always allowed his spirit to flow through all his writings. From a poem to an article; from the essay, the substantive study to the academically-styled book, Vitier joined style, will and feelings. In my view, therein lies the key to the taste and appreciation with which so many of us read him, even though on occasions we disagreed with some of his judgments, a matter that never clouded his personal relationships with those who disagreed with him, to whom in more than one case he thanked for their different perspectives.

Very rarely could I feel him bothered: only if he considered that someone was attacking without reason Fina, his wife, or if someone was disrespecting his homeland. I cannot help but marvel now when it comes to mind how, in a text of fine courtesy, he returned to the French authorities a decoration that had been sent to him because the Gallic government of that moment issued opinions and carried out anti-Cuban actions following scripts of the American empire.

"Cinto Vitier was, is and will be a moral force of Cuba and its culture, of the best of the Cuban soul". Photo: Taken from Twitter

He was a tireless, dedicated worker who put talent, honesty, and ethics into examining Cuba and its culture, not only artistic and literary culture, but also its spirituality. He did not let himself be trapped by the vulgar sociologism that has prevailed in some schools of thought, including Marxism; nor in the nihilistic currents manifested during the twentieth century; much less in the pseudo-intellectual fashions that from time to time intoxicate some.

He was a true patriot, without false patriotism; an intellectual of depth without cheap intellectualism; a modest poet; an essayist of analytical weight and sensitivity worn on his sleeve and in the depths of his heart. His true religion was taught to him by José Martí: he worked to help create the Superhuman that the Master fought for; he was one of the most gifted among his many disciples: he dedicated his passage through life to serving by following his example and his mandate, and he assumed from him his God as a sense of Good that exists in each person. He was a sincere Christian, so much so that once he told me: "Don't let yourself be called an atheist; your religion is, and should always be Martí, as is mine. Churches respond to the times and habits. Faith in human beings, working for it, as Martí teaches us, brings together what is important about all and each of the churches and religions."

Cinto Vitier was, is and will be a moral force of Cuba and its culture, of the best of the Cuban soul. That is why he neither abandoned nor betrayed his religiosity, his ideas, his dreams, his devotion to Martí, when some—sincerely mistaken, but also extremists and opportunists—wanted to close the paths to Cintio and Fina, and he and she—without flinching, without hatred, without allowing themselves to be trapped by rancor, "because rancor destroys you" —as he would tell me—, continued delivering their work of love that now, in difficult days for the Martian homeland, we must thank both of them for and continue with the same sense of duty and creative eagerness.