Alarcón: The World Needs José Martí to Save Itself from Threats

Havana, Jan 29. – The world needs Cuban national hero Jose Marti (1853-1895) to save itself from the threats against mankind, parliament president Ricardo Alarcon said.

In an interview Friday on the 15th anniversary of the Jose Marti Memorial in Havana, visited by more than one million people since it opened in 1996, Alarcon said humanity needs to fight back against the greed and selfishness of the "superpowers".

Cuba's national hero is needed now more than ever by his people, who need his patriotism and his limitless devotion to his homeland, the head of the Cuban Parliament told the National Information Agency.

On the 158th birthday of the national independence hero, the Memorial at the Revolution Square hosted a ceremony to present commemorative coins to a group of prominent personalities and institutions.

The coin was presented to the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro; President Raul Castro; Armando Hart, director of the Marti Program; Marti scholar Pedro Pablo Rodriguez, and the five Cuban anti-terrorists held in U.S. prisons for the last 12 years.

The National Assembly of the People's Power, the Office of the Marti Program, and the Centre for the Study of Jose Martiwere among the institutions presented with the coin.(Prensa Latina)