The second activity for the celebration of the Day for March 14, Cuban Press Day, took place this Sunday the 5th in Havana, with the traditional pilgrimage to the tomb of Juan Gualberto Gómez, in the Colón cemetery, when They celebrate the 90th anniversary of the death of the patriot and journalist, a ceremony attended by Rogelio Polanco Fuentes, member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party and head of its Ideological Department, as well as Vice Prime Minister Inés María Chapman Waugh.
A heartfelt tribute was paid by professionals and workers from the national and provincial media to José Martí’s friend, at the event which was also attended by Luis Antonio Torres Iribar, member of the Central Committee and First Secretary of the Party in the capital, Reinaldo García Zapata, Governor of the city, Reinaldo Ronquillo Bello, national president of the Union of Cuban Journalists (UPEC) and Jorge Luis Aneiros, national president of the Union of Historians of Cuba.
The sun rose above the colonial chapel of the Colón Necropolis, when workers, press professionals and directors of various political and mass organizations marched silently through its streets in the morning, to the tomb of the mulatto born in 1854, fiber journalist, high intellectual, who founded the newspapers La Fraternidad and La Igualdad in Havana.
The speakers recalled that Martí, in the eulogy he dedicated to Juan Gualberto in the Patria newspaper, on June 11, 1892, wrote: “He knows how to love and forgive, in a society where forgiveness is very necessary. He loves Cuba with that love of life and death, and that heroic spark, with which he has to love her in these days of trial, whoever truly loves her”.
Similar words came from the somewhat old, but strong and Creole voice of Mercedes Ibarra Ibáñez, Gómez’s great-granddaughter, who in a pleasant and colloquial way referred to the man who, a descendant of Congos and Carabalíes, was born a free black and received benefits by having a teacher , which allowed him to excel at an early age and stand out with emancipatory thoughts and opposed to the tyranny of Gerardo Machado.
She recounted family anecdotes, stories that speak of how her great-grandfather’s character and wisdom were forged, and her close ties to the National Hero, who wrote: “He has the tenacity of a journalist, the energy of an organizer, and the vision distant from the statesman.
In addition, he thanked UPEC for making this pilgrimage to his grave every March 5, on the anniversary of his physical departure, as a sign of the continuity of libertarian ideas.
In the ceremony, in which the cry of Eternal Glory for Commander Hugo Chávez resounded, on the tenth anniversary of his departure to immortality, Jorge Luis Aneiros, remembered the death of Juan Gualberto Gómez on March 5, 1933.
He noted that he previously became involved with the independence movement while studying in Paris and served as a translator for patriots who were raising funds for the fight.
He said that at the end of 1878 he met José Martí and elaborated on the extensive journalistic work of Juan Gualberto, especially with newspapers that defended the rights of blacks, mulattoes and the desire for independence of the people, with fruitful patriotic work.
He recalled how in 1892 he called an assembly of all societies, for a unified action based on social demands, among which were total social, political and cultural equality; the right of black children to attend municipal schools, education in common for blacks and whites in the same classrooms and by the same teacher, entry with equal rights to shows and public services, the right to travel in cars first-class railways and the elimination of books for whites and blacks in the Civil Registry.
With the homage to the man that Martí appointed as the representative of the Revolutionary Party on the Island for the preparations for the Necessary War and who received Martí’s order for the armed uprising, a day begins in which the professionals of the press are summoned to defend Cuba, like never before, with the pen at the ready.
Cover photo: Jorge Luis Aneiro Alonso, president of the Union of Historians of Cuba (UNHIC), was in charge of the words of remembrance. Photo: Yuri Diaz Caballero/ACN.