The newspaper said her death has left a lot of grief, especially for Granma, bidding farewell to one of the founders and teachers who had always accompanied the newspaper over the past 56 years of development. (October 3, 1965-2021).
Her outstanding achievements are still bright, making it hard for many people to believe that they had to say goodbye to the veteran journalist.
Her life has been associated with the image of a courageous journalist who had not yielded to life-threatening dangers in dedicating herself to her career and taking firm steps on the path she had chosen. The female journalist was honoured with numerous noble awards including the José Martí National Journalism Award, the Alejo Carpentier Literary Award, and the title of National Labour Hero.
Cuba has lost an excellent citizen, journalist and writer with six famous literary works that were translated and published in many languages.
In addition to her literary works, her outstanding achievements were also recognised through her narratives of historical events, such as the attacks to Moncada and Manuel de Céspedes barracks, the trial against Fidel Castro. In particular, her book “Moncada Trial”, with the heading written by writer Alejo Carpentier, was highly appreciated for its journalistic value.
Female intellectual and National Labour Hero Marta Rojas was born in Santiago de Cuba and studied journalism at the University of Havana. After graduating the university, her first article on the attack on Moncada Barracks on July 26, 1953, was published following the success of the Cuban revolution in 1959 in Bohemia magazine, where she began her journalism career.
She then worked for Revolución (Revolution) Newspaper and joined the daily newspaper Granma when it was founded in 1965. During her career, Marta wrote articles in all genres, mainly chronicles and reportages.
The veteran journalist accompanied leader Fidel Castro in many his visits to several Latin American countries and was the first Cuban and Latin American war correspondent in the resistance war against American imperialists of Vietnamese people for four months.
By 1975, she came to Vietnam annually as a journalist, the Vice President of Cuban Committee for Solidarity with South Vietnam (later called the Cuba-Vietnam Friendship Association), and a witness at Russell Tribunal where justice was demanded for Vietnamese Agent Orange victims.
The Cuban female journalist interviewed President Ho Chi Minh two months before the great leader of Vietnamese revolution passed away.
Marta Rojas was also a member of the Jury for the Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the most important award in Spanish literature.
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Leader Fidel Castro and journalist Marta Rojas. (Photo: Cortesia de Marta Rojas)
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Leader Fidel Castro and Marta Rojas. (Photo: Granma Daily)
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Two revolutionary heroines Haydee Santamaría and Melba Hernández and journalist Marta Rojas (Photo: Granma Daily)
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Ballerina Alicia Alonso, writer Mirta Aguirre and journalist Marta Rojas talking at the headquarters of the Cuban Union of Writers and Artists in April 1980. (Photo: Cortesia de Marta Rojas)
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Cuban Journalists' Association Marta Rojas attends the third plenary session of the National Committee of the Union of Cuban Journalists July 2000. (Photo: Juvenal Balán)
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Journalist Marta Rojas. (Photo: Jorge Luis González)
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Granma Daily and the central political organisations held a meeting in honour of Gabriel Molina, the newspaper’s co-founder, with the participation of Marta Rojas. (Photo: Juvenal Balán)
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Journalist Arleen Rodríguez (left) and two colleagues who won the José Martí National Journalism Award, Marta Rojas (middle) and Susana Lee (right), sharing ideas during a special programme organised by the Union of Cuban Journalists on the occasion of the 90th birthday of Fidel Castro. (Photo: Juvenal Balán)
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Journalist Marta Rojas (middle) receives the Youth Master Prize in 2017.
