A group of Cuban writers, journalists and actors, recently created a committee for the independence of Puerto Rico in the city of Manzanillo, to the eastern province of Granma.

The association aims at encouraging the solidarity movement with the brother country of Puerto Rico, said the organizers.

One of the most immediate tasks is to promote the history of that country, which in 1898 stopped being a colony of Spain, only to be seized later by the U.S.

The committee was organized by the Cuban Union of Writers and Artists in the municipalities of Granma, and the Jose Marti Cultural Society.

It was named after the Puerto Rican revolutionary, Modesto Tirado Aviles (1866-1952), who was a personal friend of the Cuban national hero, Jose Marti. Aviles fought during the 1895-1898 Cuban independence war against Spain, he was a commander in the Liberation Army.

He became the first mayor elected by the people of Manzanillo and the first historian of the city.

The Committee for the Independence of Puerto Rico was started to meet one of the criteria of the Cuban Revolutionary Party created by Jose Marti back in 1892, which was to achieve the absolute independence of Cuba and encourage and contribute to the same for Puerto Rico.