- Jose Marti center has been receiving American university students for 5 years
- "lo mas importante que Marti nos enseno es que la amistad es puro amor" (the most important thing that Marti taught us is that friendship is pure love)
- Jose Marti's son lived in the house that currently houses the CEM
- the house shows typical Cuban architecture with Spanish colonial touches
- Jose Marti is known as the "Rostro de Cuba"
- Marti era una mina que no se acaba

El Conquisto Espanol
-there were thousands of indigenous people living on the island when C. Columbus arrived
- the Spanish came to Cuba understanding its geopolitical position as the "key to the gulf"

Padre Bartolome de las Casas
+ known as "el defensor do los indigenas"
+ a misguided attempt to save the indigenous people from slave labor, he suggested bringing slaves from Africa--> introducing slave market to the island

The Birth of Cuban Nationality
+ el mestizaje - africano, indigena, y espanol
+ first framework of national identity was "el criollo" followed by "el cubano"
+ En 1608, Silvestre de Balboa es el primer poeta que escribe sobre la identidad cubana
+ Siglo XVI - los espanoles tienen control de todo el comerico
+ Siglo XVII - ;a sociedad criolla se logra consolidar
+ Dia de Reyes (January 6th) - only day the enslaved population and free Afro-Cubans are allowed to celebrate their music and culture
+Pepe Antonio y Los Ingleses - primera ves que los criollos se juntan en defensa de su isla acompanados con africanos

Reflection:
Our first morning in Havana and at the Centro de Estudios Martianos. Although the lecture was a bit repetitive of all the early history on the island, it was nice to hear it from the Cuban perspective. The overall feeling I got was that there is a great sense of national identity that surrounds revolutionary people--starting with Jose Marti and now the Castros. Both of theses historical figures have been able to unite the Cuban people under one ideology further unifying their national identity. The other major takeaway is that the Cuban people are resilient, they fight for what they believe in. New external pressures from globalization might start to push the Cuban national identity in many different directions. How will the Cuban national identity change in light of all the changes happening on the island?