Laritza Camacho: "There is nothing Martian in a power that does not listen to its people."

The Cuban broadcaster and actress Laritza Camacho published on Facebook a reflection on José Martí that turned into a direct criticism of the government, coinciding with the 131st anniversary of the hero's death in combat at Dos Ríos on May 19, 1895.

The text begins with a personal memory: on one occasion, her mother, Felicia Cabrera Cabrera, a teacher, went to the classroom early in the morning to fill the blackboard with the image of the apostle and his quotes before her students arrived. "There were no slogans, just Martí, Cuba, and Cubans," Laritza emphasized.

The publication includes a photograph of that chalkboard, featuring four quotes by Martí written in chalk: "Light is the supreme joy of men," "A grain of Poetry seasons a century," "Complaint is a prostitution of character," and "A just principle, from the depths of a cave, can be more powerful than an army."

Camacho recalls that when he was eight or nine years old, it became forbidden to refer to Martí as "apóstol," with the term being replaced by "National Hero," supposedly due to the religious connotation of the word.

"However, the command did not take hold: 'Apostle and master were words that remained deeply rooted in almost everyone, even to this day,' he clarified."

The artist precisely rejects the official argument: "apostle" is a word of Greek origin that, in civil terms, designates an ambassador, a messenger sent to fulfill a mission, and Martí's mission was always to unite Cubans.

"I want to continue calling Martí an apostle, as a reminder that his unifying mission is still incomplete (and it is a long way to go)," he wrote, pointing out the contradiction of those who declare themselves martianos: "We call ourselves martianos but attack others if they do not think like us, and even worse, we turn a blind eye or look the other way if the injustice towards others does not affect us directly."

The phrase that encapsulates the entire political weight of the text is striking: "There is nothing Martian in a power that does not listen to its people."

This is not the first time that Camacho has defended the Marti legacy against the way the regime uses it.

In January, she responded to the official journalist Arleen Rodríguez Derivet, who attempted to justify the blackouts by saying that "José Martí did not know electric light," with a powerful statement: "Keep playing around in the house of the top, but do not play with Martí where his people reside. Martí is, perhaps, the only light we have left. Respect him."

In April, she criticized the waste of resources at the official event celebrating the 65th anniversary of the proclamation of the socialist character of the revolution, held at 23 and 12, El Vedado, while people struggled to get to work due to a lack of transportation. "Shouting, slogans, and extravagance. What great character!" she summarized at the time.

The backdrop is a Cuba in structural crisis: Miguel Díaz-Canel himself acknowledged in April that "there is absolutely no fuel for almost everything," yet he reaffirmed socialism as "the only way out for Cuba."

Camacho's publication, issued precisely on the anniversary of Martí's death, thus takes on an additional symbolic dimension: in the face of a power that invokes the apostle in its actions and slogans, it reminds us that the true Martí legacy is to listen to the people, not to silence them.