Cuban and Guatemalan artists begin a cultural event in Guatemala’s capital today, dedicated to music and the 160th anniversary of the birth of Cuba’s national hero, José Martí.

The organizing committee of the 9th Meeting of Cuban and Guatemalan Artists consists of the National Association of Cuban Writers and Artists and the island’s embassy in this country.

Martí, born on January 28, 1853, lived in Guatemala between 1877 and 1878. He knew and deeply admired the traditional roots of the people living in those days.

Here, he taught French, English, Italian and German literature, and History of Philosophy at the Central Normal School, directed in 1877 by Cuban exile José María Izaguirre.

Martí also gave lectures at the University of San Carlos and met María Granados, who was immortalized in the famous poem “La niña de Guatemala” (The Girl from Guatemala), who “died for love.”

Image: José Martí en Wifredo Lam by Pedro Ramon Lopez.