Documents found in a lodge in the city of Cienfuegos confirm the masonic affiliation of José Martí, who had the influence of his closest teachers such as José María de Mendive and was already active in that organization at the age of 18.
The incorporation of the National Hero of Cuba to this brotherhood was confirmed thanks to the findings made by the V. ·. H. ·. Samuel Sánchez Gálvez, master Mason of the R. ·. L. ·. Fernandina de Jagua and Cienfuegos researcher, who showed the file of Amelio of Luis Vela de los Reyes, where several sheets signed by Martí appear in a lodge in Spain.
The first of these, dated July 4, 1871, is a Master Mason diploma issued to Vela de los Reyes, where along with other firms -now in the process of investigation, highlights the well-known José Martí.
In addition, there is a letter addressed to that person where he announces his election to the entity, and is accompanied by the pseudonym of Anahuac, used by the Cuban patriot to stamp some of his articles, and that includes the rubric, that final stroke so used in other times.
Eduardo Torres Cuevas, Doctor in Historical Sciences confirmed categorically as conclusive the finding made by Samuel Sánchez Gálvez, his pupil, and warned about the new questions now open on this subject and on which future inquiries should focus.
Present at the activities in Cienfuegos of the XVI International Book Fair, Cuba 2007, Torres Cuevas and Sánchez Gálvez confirmed with specialists belonging to Martí the signature and the pseudonym.
Even the indigenous word of Anaguac, with which later it is awarded the articles in Mexico, was the name given by the first inhabitants to the continent, long before being called America.
The discovery took place in the Fernandina Lodge of Jagua, when Professor Gálvez, from the Carlos Rafael Rodríguez University, was conducting a search for his PhD thesis, related to Freemasonry in Cienfuegos.
Cuevas told the press that there was already information about Marti’s relationship with Freemasonry, since his own texts inferred it, in addition to the writings of his friend Fermín Valdés Domínguez, but, documentary evidence was always claimed to confirm it, without until now the minimum sheet has appeared.
He spoke about the importance of this discovery, which provides more light on Marti’s thought and gives elements to understand man in all its magnitude, and proposed to continue that track in countries like USA, Mexico, Venezuela.
He said that a large part of the Cuban patriots who initiated the independence struggles were Masons, since Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, he even mentioned the brothers Federico and Adolfo Fernández Cavada, from Cienfuegos himself, who contributed much to the revolutionary cause.