Havana, Cuba.- Cuban President Raul Castro presided over the inauguration of a statue of Cuban Apostle José Martí, an exact replica of one erected in the United States 60 years ago.

Representatives from the City Hall of New York and members of the diplomatic corps accredited in Cuba, Americans and Cubans residing in the North American country participated in the activity.

The central words of the activity were in charge of the Historian of Havana, Eusebio Leal, who extolled the legacy and the life of the Cuban pro-independence hero.

In his speech, Leal recalled the words of the Apostle when he said that death is not true when the work of life has been well fulfilled.

At the foot of the equestrian effigy, the Cuban intellectual recently pointed out that it is a faithful, exact and unique reproduction of a work by the great American sculptor Anna Vaughn (1876-1973), completed in 1958 and placed in the Central Park of New York in 1965.