Blake Pontchartrain: A Mid-City statue honors Cuban independence leader José Martí | Blake Pontchartrain | Gambit Weekly
Hey Blake,
A social media post from the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization asked for volunteers to help clean and restore the José Martí statue on Norman C. Francis Parkway. What is its history and did he have any connection to New Orleans?
Dear reader,
José Martí, born in Havana in 1853, is a revered leader of Cuba’s struggle for independence from Spain in the 19th century. At age 16, he was imprisoned and exiled to Spain after writing a letter exposing political imprisonment in Cuba. After earning a law degree, he began a literary career in Mexico City.
According to The Times-Picayune, he traveled frequently to New Orleans and Florida to raise money to overthrow the Spanish government in Cuba. He lived in New York from 1881 until 1895, when he left to join the war for Cuban independence. He died in 1895 during one of the war’s first skirmishes.
In the 1960s, there was an effort to honor Martí with a monument in New Orleans. “(Organizer) Dr. Adrian Mesa points out that several statues in New Orleans have been dedicated to South American heroes — Simon Bolivar, Benito Juarez, etc. — but none to the memory of José Martí, Cuban national hero,” reported the States-Item on Dec. 1, 1969. A festival was planned to raise money, and Cuban sculptor Mario Santi was leading the effort.
It would be another two decades before a statue would be unveiled in the city, after local Cuban-Americans restarted plans to locate a statue near the Simon Bolivar monument on Basin Street. “The José Martí monument is a long-awaited dream for the Cuban community in New Orleans,” said José “Papa” Vazquez.
It was another nine years before a monument was created, after locals raised $50,000 and commissioned Miami sculptor Tony Lopez to create an 8-foot-tall statue of the revolutionary hero. Located on the neutral ground at Banks Street and Norman C. Francis Parkway, the statue was dedicated on Jan. 28, 1996 — the anniversary of Marti’s birth.