Award-Winning Book on José Martí at Philatelic Exhibition in Colombia
The book El hombre de la Edad de Oro desde una perspectiva filatélica, co-authored by Cuban Juan Hernández Machado and Colombian Gilberto Gallo Martínez, was awarded at EXFILBO 2024 in Colombia.
The award, received at the recently concluded 24th edition of the philatelic and numismatic exhibition, consisted of a Large Vermeil Medal, an intermediate prize between silver and gold medals in philatelic exhibitions, explained Hernández Machado, executive officer of the Círculo Filatélico del Cerro and National Philately Award winner in 2012.
The book, written in an accessible and simple language, and complemented by stamps and other postal elements from Cuba and other countries, narrates the life and work of the National Hero of the Republic of Cuba, as well as his relations with Colombia, and how the patriot from the largest archipelago of the Antilles is honored and remembered in that country, closely identified with the thoughts and work of the Liberator of America, Simón Bolívar.
Hernández Machado explained that this volume is the result of close collaboration with Colombian philatelist friends, which has lasted for more than a decade. Through this collaboration, books and other materials related to Latin American education, culture, and history are made available to children and young people from both countries, free of charge in both print and digital versions, in line with the ideals of the most universal of Cubans, as reflected in the first issue of the magazine La Edad de Oro: «because children are the hope of the world.»
“We live in times of value loss, individualism, malice, excessive ambition… and this collaboration project is aimed at combating these evils and spreading the teachings of these two American heroes, Bolívar and Martí, to achieve a better world, which is indeed possible,” argued Professor Hernández Machado.
Gilberto Gallo Martínez, co-author of the awarded material, is a prominent philatelist and researcher from Colombia, a member of Clubfime in Medellín, a forward-thinking individual, a friend of Cuba, a Martí enthusiast, and an admirer of the Heroic Guerrilla Fighter, Ernesto “Che” Guevara.
Congratulations to the authors and encouragement to continue this beneficial collaboration, which, through philately, allows us to know each other better and walk closer together, as the brothers we are, from the Rio Grande to Patagonia, as Martí so aptly expressed: “[…] in tight ranks, like silver in the roots of the Andes.”
Download the book for free: https://www.mascoleccionismo.com/publicaciones/Otras/libroJoseMartiFilatelia.pdf
Translated by Luis E. Amador Dominguez
