From the time he was a student at the University of Havana, he joined the Orthodox Youth, a youth organization of the Cuban People's Party. In 1952 he graduated as a lawyer.  Years later he was one of the founders of the 26th of July Movement in Santiago de Cuba. He actively participated in the popular uprising of November 30, 1956 in that city. After the triumph of the Revolution he was appointed Minister of Education. He directed the Literacy Campaign, known as the largest and most effective campaign carried out in Latin America. Afterwards, he held responsibilities in the Communist Party and then became Minister of Culture. In 1998, when the Office of the Martiano Program was created, he directed it until his death in Havana on November 26, 2017.

Literacy Campaign

The National Literacy Campaign allowed Cuba to eradicate illiteracy and facilitate universal access to different levels of education free of charge. In this campaign,  in addition to teachers and other workers in the education sector participated in an essential way almost a hundred thousand young people who integrated the "Conrado Benítez" literacy brigades and taught to read, write to illiterate people even in very remote rural areas of the country. On December 22, 1961, in a symbolic act carried out in the "José Martí" Revolution Square in Havana, Cuba was proclaimed a territory free of illiteracy.

Office of the Martiano Program

The Martiano Program Office was created in Cuba in 1997. The office is responsible for promoting the study of the life and work of José Martí in relation to the roots and foundations of Cuban thought, and its links with the highest exponents of thought and creative actions in Latin America, the Caribbean and the world. It also has the following functions: to coordinate all the efforts made by the country in relation to the thought, life and work of José Martí.