Honors College donates José Martí statue

Photo credit: Roberto Jimenez

Daniel Uria/Staff Writer

It’s no secret to any Panther that FIU maintains a tight bond with Miami’s Latin-American community. This relationship was on display as the University recently donated a statue of national hero José Martí in honor of Cuban Independence Day.

The late Tony López sculpted the life-size statue of José Martí, an influential writer and champion of Cuban independence. López, also Cuban, was a renown artist responsible for a handful of other South Florida landmarks such as the Holocaust Memorial, the Torch of Friendship and St. Mary’s Cathedral, before passing away in 2011 at age 92.

On May 20, 2013, members of the FIU community, residents of Sweetwater and even López’s son, Marco Antonio López, gathered for the unveiling of the statue in celebration of Cuba’s 111th year of independence.

Following López’s passing, Honors College board member and friend of López, Leonor Anthony, requested that the statue be donated to the Honors College on behalf of his estate. López’s son obliged and the statue became property of the Honors College until it was donated to the city of Sweetwater.

The statue presently resides in front of the Jorge Mas Canosa Youth Center in Sweetwater. This location was chosen “because the Center has a large Cuban American constituency and they liked how it would look there,” said Luli Szeinblum, coordinator of student programs and arts education at the Honors College.

Sweetwater Mayor Manny Maroño told The Miami Herald, “to have it here is important because Jorge Mas Canosa is visited by many people…It really looks like José Martí is out there. It is an honor to have it here.”

The partnership between FIU’s Honors College and Sweetwater is longstanding.

“We have student interns placed at the Mayor’s office and volunteers at the elementary school, and the Li’l Abner Community Center. We have an annual day of service during which our student volunteers clean sections of the City. Additionally, we provide student volunteers for special events in the city, among them the Annual Thanksgiving Bash and last year’s fundraising 5K Halloween Run. We do workshops on topics such as immigration, financial literacy and naturalization, and we have an annual ‘Evening with the Arts’ where both our students and the elementary school showcase their talents in the visual and performing arts,” said Szeinblum.

The statue of José Martí is an exhibition of FIU’s active relationship with the city of Sweetwater, according to Honors Dean Lesley Northup.

daniel.uria@fiusm.com

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