On March 14, 1892, the first issue of the newspaper Patria, founded by José Martí, which was already fully immersed in the preparations for what he believed to be the only road to freedom for Cuba, a necessary and urgent war, saw the light of day New York, that it should also add the Cubans in exile and unite, above all unite, all the compatriots and raise the necessary resources for such an undertaking.
The immensity of this self-imposed task is still amazing. And right in the middle Patria showed up.
By then, El Maestro was already a renowned poet and brilliant chronicler, working as a correspondent in New York with important newspapers in Latin America and serving as Uruguayan consul in the north of the country.
But feeling above all a patriot, he put his enormous political and ideological wealth, including his humanistic heritage, in the first forge of the newspaper Patria, which on April 10 of the same year had specific missions to fulfill and more of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, unique and alone.
Martí never explicitly defined that Patria was the official organ of the party of the revolution. But this explanation was never necessary, because those who studied his career saw that in practice it would be the means or vehicle that he would use in the ideological, unifying and unifying work for the freedom not only of Cuba but also of the Sister Puertos would use Reich.
While there’s a lot of stuff to cut through for specialists when it comes to journalism, many consider “Patria” to be the finest representative of Marti’s creativity within the profession. Patriotism, sentiment, or the ties of closeness never outweighed his objectivity, political grandeur, depth, and analysis.
Everything corresponded to the ideals of freedom, truth, justice and common equality, values in which he deeply believed and aware that “Patria” had a lot to do, addressing Cubans inside and outside directly and calling them to fight. to unite and contribute to a sacred cause.
The youngster who took his first steps in journalism in 1869 with the founding of El diablo cojuelo and La Patria Libre, was also a capitalized correspondent for the newspapers La Nación in Buenos Aires from 1881; The National Opinion of Caracas; The Liberal Party of Mexico; as well as Chilean and Uruguayan newspapers.
But in the phase of “Patria” the mature and progressively developed Martí is present, just as he promised from his early years. Its size is impressive.
El Maestro was the founder and director of this political and patriotic publication that appeared every Saturday, circulated among the revolutionaries in exile and was secretly sent to Cuba. duty which he faithfully fulfilled unto death. And although writing was not his main task in view of the preparation and organization of the Necessary War, which was then the center of his existence, he always found time for his newspaper.
He had already stopped working with the sister countries’ media, but he understood that the fatherland and the party were essential and would help expand the revolution’s appeal.
This was the first time journalism was practiced that did not shy away from affiliating with ideologies, that was insulted by the mercantilist media of the time, but that was also not a pamphleteer because it spoke truth and reason and appealed to feelings at the right time.
It did not accept funds of dubious origin or issued by any person or entity unconnected with the Cuban cause at the time of its inception. Tobacco traders from Tampa and Key West donated 10 percent of their salaries to help pay for this publication, a show of love and sacrifice.
Its format responded to what is now known as the tabloid. It consisted of four pages in four columns, with an unusual size today (52 x 36 cm). Distribution was mainly by mail.
Some core. Reproduced from the first edition are the fundamentals of the Cuban Revolutionary Party and an article by Martí: Our Ideas, in which he explained that the Fatherland was born to unite and to love and to live in the passion of truth. In the text he also proclaims the urgent need to achieve independence and freedom through war.
“This newspaper was born in times of peril,” the apostle emphasized, “to watch over liberty, to make its forces invincible through unity, and to prevent the enemy from defeating us again because of our disorder”.
Close collaborators on the writing were Gonzalo de Quesada, a friend of Martí, and the Puerto Rican Sotero Figueroa, a typographer and good writer who was highly regarded by El Maestro for his concise style and whom he greatly admired for the sharpness of his pen. Also Manuel Sanguily, Francisco de Paula Coronado, Diego Vicente Tejera and Bonifacio Byrne.
A deep certainty encouraged Martí with Homeland: he considered it essential for the mobilization and education of Cuban patriots because he wanted to have a decisive impact and did so by forging a mindset that would establish the union as a concept to be preserved in their daily life as a sacred principle for all to avoid repeating the disastrous experience of the 1968 war.
As later revealed, he also secretly used it to warn or not allow possible influence or interference from the powerful northern nation in which he lived, which he knew “the guts” intimately. He recognized his imperial ambitions in time, but his death prevented him from fulfilling his purposes.
It was not only addressed to the good heart of the patriot, but also showed him what combat strategy could be the best to finally achieve the legitimate ideals of Cubans. This was the newspaper “Patria”, which was created under the aegis of the master, which, unfortunately, after his disappearance happened not so impeccably in numbers.
Only his death separated him from “Patria”. When he was finally able to march to fulfill his libertarian dream, he didn’t part with the newspaper, quite the opposite. His collaborators assured that he felt like his war correspondent from the Cuban land and continued to issue instructions through letters for better implementation. This, amidst the irregularities of the mail, in the midst of the campaign out of the Mambisa jungle.
Read here: Baraguá protest: affirmation of love of independence
After the fall of the master in battle, Enrique José Varona, an important intellectual, is appointed director from number 189 of the “Patria” (October 23, 1895). Later there were changes until the publication of the last issue on December 31, 1899, at that time already twice a week.
Since 1992, every March 14, the staff of the national press have celebrated their day as a tribute and homage to the beacon lit in Cuban journalism with the birth of the Patria newspaper, with a commitment to practicing the profession according to the principles learned by Martí and doing the constant improvement to a daily practice with unreserved allegiance to the land where they were born.