(José Julián Martí Pérez, La Habana, 1853 - Two Rivers, Cuba, 1895) Political and Cuban writer, a prominent precursor of Spanish American literary modernism and one of the main leaders of the independence of their country. Born into a Spanish family with few economic resources, at the age of twelve José Martí began studying at the local college who led the poet Rafael María de Mendive, who noticed the intellectual qualities of the boy and decided to devote himself personally their education.In addition to prominent ideologue and politician, José Martí was one of the greatest American poets and leading figure in the transition to modernism in America marked the arrival of new artistic ideals. As a poet he is known by Free Verses (1878-1882, published posthumously); Ismaelillo (1882), the work can be considered an advance of modernist budgets for dominance of form over content; and Simple Verses (1891), a decidedly modernist poems in which autobiographical notes and popular character predominate.