At the end of the 19th century, during the rise and development of imperialism, José Martí recognized the changes this new reality entailed for international relations. In 1883, Martí began contributing to La América, a monthly magazine aimed at promoting U.S. exports to Latin America. Its pages featured a collection of Martí's writings that have been described as a veritable development program for Our America. Ultimately, under Martí's leadership, the publication shifted its focus, becoming a wake-up call to Latin American consciences, alerting them to the dangerous excesses of the United States.

By proposing a new horizon for the economic and political future of our peoples, Martí has ​​joined the ranks of the contemporary struggle for a better world. It is worth recalling that his unwavering vigilance regarding imperialism led him to denounce in 1885 what he considered the set of measures that would bring about the most serious and consequential change in the United States in recent decades: "It is nothing less," Martí said, "than preparing, through a system of trade treaties or agreements of another kind, for the peaceful and decisive occupation of Central America and adjacent islands by the United States." This incipient neocolonialism was a precursor to the current Free Trade Area of ​​the Americas.

Four years later, in 1889, with the International American Conference, North America launched "the open proposal of the era of the predominance of the United States over the peoples of America" ​​and, according to Martí, already viewed "freedom, which is a universal and perennial aspiration of man, as its privilege, and invoked it to deprive the peoples of it."

In response to this "blatant proposal," Martí countered with an initial formulation of his revolutionary continental strategy. The Maestro then called upon Spanish America to declare its "second independence," a concept he accompanied with another equally central one in his strategy: "the balance of the world."

This last term, used universally by Martí to designate a correlation of forces encompassing the entire system of international relations at the end of the 19th century, is linked to his political will, aimed at preventing at all costs the predominance of the United States in America and the world. For Our America, the search for equilibrium, under those conditions, stumbled upon the inescapable contradiction between independent development and a new economic and political domination. This is why Martí rescues the Bolivarian principle of inter-American unity or alliance, to the exclusion of any other coalition. He seeks a union of Our America that is more real than formal, "to stop, with the strength of a unified spirit, the common adversary."

But Martí does not preach an intangible unity, but rather the one that is needed to achieve the second independence and whose purpose lies not only in the fight against imperialism, but against the social order in force in Latin America.

Thus, the significance of the war to be waged in Cuba would not be limited to simply achieving an independence that, in fact, might be born under threat. While Martí's immediate objective was to liberate Cuba and Puerto Rico from Spanish rule, his "great work" was to preserve the independence of Latin America against Yankee expansionism. But Martí knew that the mere political independence of the Antilles was not enough to contain the northern empire, since the United States had not hesitated to conquer territories of a sovereign state like Mexico in the first half of the 19th century. To prevent the fulfillment of "manifest destiny," two essential conditions were necessary: ​​the awakening of consciousness among the peoples of Cuba and the other countries of Our America, and the union of these peoples in a common anti-imperialist front. The first of these conditions entailed a gigantic ideological undertaking that he had already begun and which he left us in his revolutionary articles and speeches; The second one was to be the result of the development of national and continental consciousness, the first stage of which would be the armed struggle against the domination of Spanish colonialism.

Both of these conditions remain absolutely relevant today. The increasingly globalized existence of the planet and the emergence, along with the growing hegemony of US imperialism, of serious global problems such as the arms race, the danger of preemptive wars, the ecological crisis, and the loss of identities, demand enlightening approaches and strategies and alternatives that are in accordance with the needs and interests of our peoples.

From a multilateral perspective, the independence and sovereignty of underdeveloped peoples demands the unity of very broad social sectors worldwide, something impossible to achieve without a prior stage of awareness, since it seems unlikely that, at least under current conditions, sustainable socio-economic and political transformations can occur in isolated countries and regions.

Martí contributes at least three fundamental strategic principles in the current battle against neoliberal globalization, which attempts to absorb our cultures and impose the hegemony of a universal thought whose paradigm is the North American model of society:

1. The articulation of a counter-hegemonic vocation, taking into consideration the various factors and interests assumed by the emancipatory movement of each country.

2. The internationalization of our cultural values ​​as an action to defend our sovereignty and independence.

3. The assimilation of external cultures taking into consideration Martí's maxim of grafting the world onto our republics, but without damaging the trunk that must always be ours.

José Martí's political and ideological practice within the Cuban revolutionary movement makes him a leader of exceptional importance, establishing an essential cultural precedent in the development of revolutionary leadership in his country. The time elapsed since his heroic death in combat in 1895 allows us to fully appreciate Martí's role in the Cuban revolutionary movement, and although he never held political power, his path as an organizer, ideologue, and spiritual leader of his people left a profound mark on his actions.

The idea of ​​establishing a working group within CLACSO focused on the theme "José Martí: Thought and Action" has the primary objective of creating an academic space that serves as a meeting place for scholars from diverse disciplines (History, Philosophy, Sociology, Political Science, Economics, Anthropology, Linguistic and Literary Studies). This group will work to develop critical thinking on aspects, approaches, and perspectives of contemporary Latin American history, based on an essential consideration of the contributions of the literary, political, cultural, and critical thought legacy that José Martí created and transmitted to the world. As an indelible contribution to world history and culture, Martí's work encompasses a vast array of themes and original approaches in an era of social change, as is the case today, that demands individuals committed to creating and being as original as José Martí's work and actions.

The lesson that the Latin American hero gives us is indelible and challenging: "Let the world be grafted onto our republics, but the trunk must be that of our republics"; an expression that summarizes in many ways the articulation and interconnection that Martí seeks for Latin America and the world.

Martí's project of a democratic and popular revolution arrived at a time when North American imperialism burst onto the scene, accompanied by an unbridled expansionist appetite for the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean, as a prelude to its hemispheric penetration and domination. Drawing on the unparalleled experience of direct contact with the reality and history of North America during the last fifteen years of his life, Martí grasped what eluded many renowned Latin American intellectuals: the existence of two Americas, distinct not only because they stemmed from two different systems of colonialism and two different levels of development, but also because of the ambitions of our powerful northern neighbor toward our disunited and weak peoples. Therein lies the enduring relevance of José Martí's vision.

At the end of the 19th century, during the rise and development of imperialism, José Martí recognized the changes this new condition entailed for international relations. He revealed that the existence of a unifying will on a global scale, governed by principles and conditions, necessitated considering the unity and integration of the countries of Latin America as the foundation of continental and universal equilibrium. It is worth recalling that his constant vigilance regarding imperialism led him to denounce the system of trade treaties and other agreements that would facilitate the peaceful and decisive occupation of Central America and adjacent islands by the United States.

Latin American unity is, therefore, a logical consequence of Martí's anti-imperialism, due to the close interdependence of both aspects of his thought, which is evident in the chronicles he wrote during the International Conference of Washington, his combative participation as a delegate, representing the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, in the International Monetary Conference of 1891 and his pronouncements in the essay "Our America".

A staunch critic from his earliest youth of the mercantilist spirit of American society, the Apostle of Cuban independence dedicated his stay in New York to studying that country in depth, capturing in the North American Scenes and other journalistic texts, in his innovative poetry, in his essays and fiery speeches, his integrative vision about the United States of America.

It is essential to revisit the thought of José Martí to reinterpret today's globalized world, starting from the unique conditions of our America, and to denounce all forms of colonization, including that of our cultures. Let us remember that a year before he fell in battle, Martí stated in the newspaper Patria that "neither peoples nor men respect those who do not command respect."

After more than fifty years of resistance, and as a result of negotiations with the government of the United States of America, Cuba has begun the process of re-establishing diplomatic relations with that country, although the anachronistic and inhumane laws of the blockade remain in place. The agreements announced on December 17, 2014, were achieved without concessions to our sovereignty and without abandoning our political and social project. But this moment, so significant for Cubans and for our brothers and sisters around the world who fought tirelessly for the release of our five heroes and the lifting of the blockade, undoubtedly opens a new chapter of challenges.

Precisely, based on these premises, and at the initiative of Dr. Armando Hart Dávalos, director of the Martí Program Office, the interdisciplinary working group José Martí: his vision about the United States of America was established at the Center for Martí Studies, responsible for continuing the teaching, research, publishing and dissemination work carried out by the Center for Martí Studies since its founding, and which were inherited from an extensive and militant historiographical tradition dating back to the beginning of the 20th century.

Martí institutions and other academic entities and personalities from Cuba and abroad, interested in promoting the work that this group undertakes with a current, broad and integrative approach, which essentially consists of academic exchanges, publication of books, audiovisual exhibitions, international workshops, courses and lecture series, are incorporated into this Group.

Mission

To promote studies and dissemination related to Martí's vision of the United States of America with an integrative approach, emphasizing its relevance today and legacy.

General Objective

To value Martí's vision of the United States of America, through actions that reveal its relevance as an ideological weapon to face the challenges of the war of ideas being waged against us.

Specific objectives

? To promote spaces for reflection on the topic through Martí institutions.

? Coordinate with the Martí Youth Movement mechanisms that guarantee that the seminars promote from the grassroots level the themes related to the mission and general objective of the interdisciplinary group.

? Schedule academic exchanges on the third Thursday of each month in the "Bolívar" Room of the CEM, alternating with the presentation of scientific results and contributions of our researchers in other fields of Martí's thought.

? Working meetings of the Scientific Council in order to contribute to the exchange and promote the development of research.

? To value the reissue by the Editorial of the Center for Martí Studies of some titles that are already out of print, and almost nonexistent in bookstores of old texts, such as, for example, the first volume of The Anti-Imperialist Struggle in Cuba, published, in 1960, by the Editora de Cuba y del Caribe, the Three Martí Studies, by Emilio Roig de Leuchsenring, contained in a text published by our publishing house jointly with that of Social Sciences in 1983, and The Cuba-United States Dispute (1994) of the Editorial Verde Olivo of the MINFAR.

? Request the CEM Specialized Library to compile a bibliography related to the topic, including not only works published in the country, but also those that have appeared abroad.

? Creation of a commission to monitor what is published about the topic in the press and the publishing world abroad, as well as to investigate and disseminate studies on the validity and reception of Martí's thought, linking it with the most current events of the contemporary world, fundamentally in Latin America and the Caribbean.

? To organize book presentations jointly with the provincial directorates of Culture and the branches of the SCJM in which, along with the promotion and marketing of our books, panels related to the political work of the Apostle and its relevance will be carried out, as well as exhibitions of audiovisual samples and cultural activities (music and plastic arts) related to the Martí theme.

? To coordinate an International Symposium that reissues the one held in 1983 by the CEM on the political thought and anti-imperialism of José Martí.

? To disseminate, through the CEM Yearbook, the scientific results presented at the symposium on the political thought and anti-imperialism of José Martí, as well as those of other events organized for similar purposes.

? Increase the participation of our specialists in scientific, educational and cultural events abroad, as well as in international events held in the country about Martí's early anti-imperialism and his end-of-century vision of North American society.

? To have a permanent section on the José Martí Portal under the title of "Cuba and the United States" (the same title that Martí gave to a pamphlet that with