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Since its founding in 2012, the Cuatrogatos Foundation has celebrated each year in Miami the birth anniversary of the Cuban writer and patriot José Martí. To commemorate the date of January 28, the organization has held a wide range of cultural events: theatrical productions, readings of Martí’s works, poetry and music recitals, lectures, and panels featuring scholars of the life and work of one of the great figures of nineteenth-century Ibero-American literature.

In 2026, Cuatrogatos will once again honor Martí with an event organized in collaboration with Imago x las artes, to be held on Friday, January 30, at 7:30 p.m. The event will feature as guest the writer, literary critic, and historian José Raúl Vidal y Franco, who will deliver the lecture La femme fatale: Another Archetype in Martí’ Poetics.

According to Vidal y Franco, his talk will address “the woman who represents a certain erotic prototype among many nineteenth-century creators.” He adds: “It is not surprising to find a gallery of women with alluring physical charms, beautiful and enigmatic, who captured Martí’s attention.”

José Raúl Vidal y Franco was born in Havana in 1968. From an early age he lived in the city of Camagüey, where his parents settled in 1971. There he grew up, studied, and founded his family, remaining in that city until his departure from the country at the end of 1998. He holds a degree in education (specializing in Spanish Language and Hispanic Literatures) and is a member of the Academy of the History of Cuba in Exile. His work as a researcher has resulted in the following books: José Martí: a la lumbre del zarzal, Los Versos libres de José Martí: notas de imágenes, Lo de Puerto Príncipe. José Martí entre armas, bandidos y traidores, and Polvo de alas de una gran mariposa. El último poemario de José Martí. He has also published articles such as “La narrativa cubana del exilio”, “El ritmo semántico como principio estructurador de los Versos libres”, “La naturaleza en Martí: motivo de una reflexión”, “Amor con amor se paga: un proverbio inmenso”, “En torno al 10 de octubre de 1868”, “A propósito de El Diablo Cojuelo”, “El Homagno de José Martí: unas notas al margen”, “José Martí: espectador y cronista de la sociedad norteamericana”, “Fernando Poo, 1869: Destino Final”, “El Grito ahistórico de Yara”, “El 24 de febrero de 1895”, and “Desencuentro: Martí, Gómez y Maceo (from La Mejorana to Dos Ríos).”

Many of his works have appeared in the Anuario Histórico Cubanoamericano (a publication of the Academy of the History of Cuba in Exile); Insularis Magazine, a quarterly journal of literature, art, and thought; Nagari, a literary creation magazine; and Curazao, a cultural magazine of the Reynaldo Bragado Bretaña Civic Libraries Network in Cuba.

For the promotion of Martí among us this year, we are featuring images of paintings by the Cuban artist Ismael Gómez-Peralta.

Martí en nosotros
Lecture: La femme fatale: Another Archetype in Martí' Poetics
Guest: José Raúl Vidal y Franco
Venue: Imago Art In Action
Date: Friday, January 30, 2026
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Free admission