“To educate is to give man the keys to the world, which are independence and love, and to give him strength to journey on his own, light of step, a spontaneous and free being.”
Josè Martí was a prominent leader for Cuban independence and an influential poet; journalist, and newspaper founder, philosopher and professor during the 1800s. Killed in action during the Cuban War of Independence against Spain (Battle of Dos Rios, 1895), one of his poems was adapted and became the patriotic song of Cuba itself, “Guantanamera”.