It has been 66 years since San Juan y Martínez and Cuba all mourned the death of the Saíz brothers at the hands of a hitman of the Batista tyranny.
Since last Monday, the artistic vanguard of the country has been the protagonist of a group of activities related to the August 13 Day. Aimed at promoting the study of the work of Sergio and Luis, their program includes book presentations, concerts, exhibitions, and they have visited cultural and social institutions.
With guests from various provinces, most of the festivities in honor of the Saíz brothers take place in their homeland and in remote and rural communities of the San Juan municipality.
The residents of Pueblo Mocho in Boca de Galafre and Vivero enjoyed a trova download on Tuesday and Wednesday, while this Friday on Francisco Rivera street in San Juan and Martínez will be the groups The Heat Transfer and Them.
Tomorrow the opera company Ernesto Lecuona and the performing arts groups Alas Teatro and Titirivida will perform. At night there will be alternative music with the groups Café con Leche, Los Compinches and Clave de Rumba.
On Sunday, at 8:30 am, there will be an act at the monument to the Saíz brothers, in San Juan y Martínez, and in that same place, at 10:00 pm, the closing concert of the Day will take place with the Iris duo.
The Presencias space deserves a separate place, a luxurious moment in which they talked about the life and work of Sergio and Luis, their sociopolitical thought, the scope of their revolutionary vision and their literary work, which turned them into a fruitful quarry for the new generations of artists.
The professor and researcher of his work, and winner of the Maestro de Juventudes award, Luis Alberto Figueroa Pagés, presented his book Juventudes, a compilation of sociopolitical documents, poems, and text annotations.
The professor pointed out that the Saíz brothers not only thought of freeing Cuba from tyranny, but also imagined their future and responsibility in it.
With a wide general culture, supported by deep readings channeled by their parents from an early age, Sergio and Luis made extensive annotations in the books they read. In his reflections, a critical appropriation of each volume can be appreciated.
“It is also interesting how these boys dedicated themselves, in addition to poetry, to the sociocultural and political world of the Americas that they defended so much, that they evoked so much,” he said.
Youth corresponds to the name of one of the articles written by Luis. In the opinion of the researcher, one of the most complete: “’What does it mean to be young in countries that are now experiencing their greatest crisis and where moral values have been killed by outdated and corrupt generations?’. Where did this opening paragraph lose its validity? It seems written today.”
Presencias also had the participation of a professor from the University of Pinar del Río, Luis Pérez, who referred to the literary work of these young people and their relationship with José Martí: “We are also analyzing them as artists, as creators, and in his ideological formation Martí is there. Martí’s work was part of his bedside readings, the bust of Martí is still on the nightstand that mediated between the two beds.
“The boys said that The Apostle was the guide of their dreams and their thoughts, and he was also the guide in poetic matters. Without analytical behaviorism, in case there is any skeptic of what I have just stated, I will say two stanzas. The first, by Sergio: A verse is very much mine/ it’s a bit of my life/ it’s something that I tear from the black secret of my conscience. And Martí says: I want to see you friend/because when I feel my chest/already very heavy and undone/I part the load with you. It gives for a literary criticism article the parallelism between the verses of Sergio and José Martí”.
The August 13 Conference also has the purpose of promoting the dissemination of the work of Luis and Sergio; a debt that this society still owes to them and their legacy.
See also:
Luis and Sergio Saíz Montes de Oca, living memory
San Juan y Martínez: The brothers murdered across the street
