As you travel uptown on the famous "Avenue of Americas" in Manhattan, you start to realize as you get to 58th Street, why this avenue was changed from 6th Avenue to its present name. As you reach 59th Street, you will also realize that you will no longer be able to continue straight on because Central Park will be in your way, but a proud feeling of freedom and hope will envelop your mind and soul, for you will see a beautiful bronze Statute of Jose Marti. If you are fortunate enough to get the red light and are positioned in the middle lane, you will be standing face to face with this tribute to a falling Cuban hero from the City of New York. I have seen it many times before but on May 21 of this year, I was curious but not surprised, because I knew I would see the flowers, I see every year. They have dwindled throughout the years just like the population of Cubans in the area has dwindled. Also, the yearly parade of Cuban Independence has been discontinued in New York for many years now because of the diminishing numbers. I was not fortunate to catch the red light, but it didn't bother me because I already had in mind to pull over right after the light turned green and take these pictures you see throughout this article. As I took my chances to receive a summons from the infamous Traffic Department of New York, I calmly walked over to the statue and proceeded to get the best position for my pictorial debut. The Statue is positioned in an excellent place and is heavily congested throughout the whole day. There is an entrance to the park for mostly tourist and for the office personnel on their lunch break. There is a small entrance for cars to the left of the statue where those who choose to take a drive around the park. This paved entrance is also the starting point for the famous Horse and Buggy tour around the park and the bike and buggy tour also. Everything converges right in front of the Statue, there is even a place designated where the horses can take a drink of water right there also. Oh yes! You see the tourist going up to the Statue all the times and these last few days, you see many with an odd look on their face because of the flowers positioned there, I guess in a "curious" way but also because of the enormity and beauty this Statue displays. As they look at the Statute, they walk towards the front of the statue and they carefully look at the flowers, as I did myself and read the cards attached to the floral arrangements. Very interesting, I must say, one was from a Doctor, one from La Farmacia La Fe and the other two, which I  really took much interest to. They were from "La Junta Patriotica Cubana" and the other was from "Alfa 66" . These organizations have been around for so long but are not so interested in too much publicity, maybe because the internet was not available for them to express themselves in words but they have made a big impact in the past and still are, in the form of action and this right here is a great example of their relentless support towards freedom in Cuba, we all can learn a lot from them. As I walked my way towards the side of the Statue and everybody slowly moved out of my path, especially after observing the smile on my face when I was reading the cards attached to the flowers, I stopped and took a close up of the inscription on the side of Statute and also where everybody stops to read with curiosity before entering the park. Because of the position of the sun my picture was distorted, I used Photoshop and improved it so it could be read and I placed it here, you have to click on it to enlarge it, just like you can enlarge all the other photos located in this article. Just in case you still can't read it correctly, I placed the words here:

    APOSTLE OF CUBAN INDEPENDENCE

    LEADER OF THE PEOPLES OF AMERICA

    AND DEFENDER OF HUMAN DIGNITY

     HIS LITERARY GENIUS VIED WITH HIS

     POLITICAL FORESIGHT  HE WAS BORN

 IN HAVANA JANUARY 28, 1853

FOR FIFTEEN YEARS OF HIS EXILE

       HE LIVED IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK

  HE DIED IN ACTION AT DOS RIOS

    IN ORIENTE PROVINCE ON MAY 19,1895

        The words basically sum up all this great man accomplished and how important he was in the violent past and is for the future of mankind. All Cubans fighting for liberty from the tyrannical rule of the Castro regime should pick up a book or get a hold of the many well documented websites out there, so they could understand the struggle behind gaining true freedom. I recommend Americans and other citizens from free democratic countries to jump on this "Freedom Band Wagon" so they could understand how much Cuban exiles here in America and around the world are determined to see liberty in Cuba and to also understand how important freedom of speech is to achieving human dignity.

    So I hope everyone reading and observing here has a chance, when visiting New York, to stop and take a picture in front of Jose Marti and when you do, please send me your picture and I will be more than happy to post it right here. I will definitely be adding more pictures and next year I will be placing flowers there also. 

                                                                                            Click to Enlarge all the Pictures