José Marti came out of the marble, out of the pen with which he stands as a prize, and went to touch the soul, as only he does, of the journalist of Juventud Rebelde, of the Mesa Redonda, of the radio, of Guantanamo, of Cuba.
Yesterday, when Arleen Rodriguez Derivet was honored for her life's work in journalism, an award that bears the name of the Apostle of our independence, we journalists felt crowned.
"She is always criticizing me for good, moving my feelings and thoughts," said Díaz-Canel, after placing the award in her hands, and praising her, in a very personal compliment, several of her virtues.
Then, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic revealed that "I have a lot to thank her for: her contribution to the Revolution, to the Cuban press, to the work of the Party...".
Her colleagues also owe her gratitude, for her example, as a professional, as a woman, in leading journalists. But also for that maternal angel that comes to get you out of a hurry in a report, in the question you can't find for the interview, or in the predicament before the closing. She is the one who is able to tell her colleague, you are not going to be ugly like that on the Table, and take the make-up chair to, with her hands, give you a twist in the face and inspire you.
A chronicler like the Polish Kapunzinsky once said that you cannot be a good journalist if you are not a good person. This Thursday, at the José Martí Memorial, the Cuban President said that she is not only a good person, a good Cuban and Guantánamo woman, but that she is also "a complete revolutionary". A woman whose breathing oxygen is Marti's preaching, she is just that, a soldier, as the National Hero defined the journalist.
Under the premise of the Master: "He best serves the Homeland who tells the truth", Arleen, and her comrades honored with the Juan Gualberto Gómez award for the work of the year, were also accompanied by members of the Political Bureau, Roberto Morales Ojeda, Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee of the Party, and Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, Secretary General of the CTC; by Rogelio Polanco Fuentes, member of the Secretariat and head of its Ideological Department, and by the Deputy Prime Minister, Inés María Chapman Waugh.
