«The earth, when she dies, opens up underfoot.»
Martí once said that the mother is «Something that guides and protects us while she does not die. The earth, when she dies, opens up under our feet». But the existence of this mother who survived 12 years after the death of her son was hard.
Everyone comments on the man that Martí was and how his ideology contributed to the struggle of the peoples of Latin America, but few stop to think about Leonor Antonia de la Concepción Pérez Cabrera, the woman who brought him into the world, the one in charge of forging each one of his moral virtues.
Doña Leonor founded a family with the Valencian Don Mariano Martí Navarro and dedicated herself to the care and protection of their numerous offspring, persecuted at all times by economic hardship.
In spite of this, Leonor always ensured the education of her children, especially that of José Martí, even when the restless adolescent full of patriotic devotion began to take part in actions against Spanish colonial rule.
Martí once said: «Something guides and protects us while she does not die. The earth, when she dies, opens up under our feet». But the existence of this mother who survived twelve years after the death of her son was hard.
Scholars say that on June 19th, 1907, the mother of the most universal Cuban died in Havana, at the age of 78, accompanied by her daughter Amelia.
There was nothing of value in her belongings, except for a sheet of paper kept all her life as a great treasure, the poem that at the tender age of 15 years old José Julián dedicated to her for her birthday.
Written by Regla Yasira de León Reyes.
