Cuba on Saturday pays tribute to National Hero José Martí (1853-1895) on the occasion of his 170th birth anniversary.

Cultural institutions, work places, schools, youth organizations nationwide honor José Martí through initiatives to promote and disseminate his legacy.

Among the tribute activities, the traditional March of the Torches and pilgrimage of thousands of Cuban students were held on Friday, attended by the leader of the Cuban Revolution Raúl Castro and the Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

The mass walk takes place from the steps of the University of Havana to the Martí Forge, place where Martí spent several months after being sentenced to hard labor by the Spanish colonial regime in 1870.

The 5th International Conference For the World Balance, a conclave hosting several debate forums where the magnitude of Martí´s work and his concerns for the future of humanity was also held at the Havana International Conference Center (HICC).

According to Eduardo Torres, director of Martí Program Office, the event reaffirms Martí´s anti-imperialist thought.

He recalled that Martí “saw the birth of the empire, but he also saw the problems of the Third World peoples, particularly those of Latin America, and above all, he understood that in Cuba’s independence lay in the world balance”.