Sancti Spiritus, Cuba - The First National Workshop on the thought and work of Jose Marti and Fidel Castro began in this central city of the country and will continue until next Friday.

Sponsored, among other institutions, by the Jose Marti Cultural Society, the Marti's Studies Center, the Ministry of Higher Education (MES) and the University of Sancti Spiritus Jose Marti Perez, the event will be developed in four commissions.

It is attended by academics and presidents of the Jose Marti Chairs of the country.

The inaugural conference 'Marti and Fidel in the necessary ideological unity of the Revolution' was in charge of Doctor in Economic Sciences Rafael Emilio Cervantes, who said that this meeting 'teaches us to think, therefore we express our thoughts and doubts'.

In statements to Prensa Latina, Cervantes said that so far two activities on Fidel's thought have been carried out in the country 'but this is the first workshop in which we bring together Fidel and Jose Marti's ideas.'

There are many common issues in both figures, he said and cited as examples anti-imperialism, the vision of universality, of thinking about the destinies of humanity, as well as economic and emancipatory thought, and the value of ethics.

He argued that in Marti and Fidel, the sentiment towards the Homeland, dignity and the construction of a new society also converge.

In both cases the national objectives go through an armed struggle and the two become great political-military strategists, he concluded.

This First Workshop includes a tour of the historic center of Sancti Spiritus and Trinidad with visits to referential places of Cuban history, monuments and scenes of transcendent events.

On Thursday, the closing ceremony will take place, while on Friday the participants in the event will tour the historical route Sancti Spiritus-Trinidad, the latter Cultural Heritage of Humanity.