Just like a man who discovers in poetry the friend with whom to share, the verses written by Cuban antiterrorist fighter and member of the Cuban Five, Antonio Guerrero, moved the members of the Literary Wednesday Club, students of the Mixed Secondary School Anténor Firmin, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

On World Poetry Day, Guerrero's poems, in their French version, were read here by Carmen Maury, third secretary of the Cuban Embassy.

Such compositions, which show the unfathomable sensibility and great talent that converge in one of the Cuban Five, unjustly held in U.S. prisons, emerged as one of the most moving moments at the Haiti-Cuba Colloquium on Poetic Expressions.

Guerrero, together with Fernando Gonzalez, Ramón Labañino, Gerardo Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez, was arrested in 1998 in Miami, where after an irregular trial they were sentenced long prison terms in 2001.

World-renowned personalities and organizations have defended the Cuban Five, as they are internationally known. These antiterrorist fighters monitored the extremist activities by violent anti-Cuba groups in Florida to alert their country about terrorist actions.

The literary event began with the national anthems of Haiti and Cuba, followed by a review and the reading in French and Spanish of that Cuban national symbol.

Afterwards, Michelet Joseph, Pierry Joseph, Nelio Thenelus, Daniel Gregoire and Luxon Julien, members of the Club, gave a synthesis of the genesis and development of literature in Haiti, highlighting the impact of historical events, particularly in the work of writers after the country's independence from France in 1804.

The intervention of the young club members was compemented by the reading of a poem by Haitian poet Antoine Dupré, a true love song to freedom and the homeland.

In a new expression of respect for, recognition of and interest in Cuba's presence, the presenters alluded to the development of letters in Cuba, elaborated later by the Cuban diplomat.

Maury offered examples of works and authors who have marked Cuban literature, particularly in the poetic environment, from Silvestre de Balboa in the 16th century, to National Poet Nicolás Guillén.

Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Juan Clemente Zenea, José María Heredia and National Hero José Martí with his poem Abdala, are also symbols.

The exhibition of all these elements along with the poems by Antonio Guerrero gave way to a lively exchange of questions and answers aimed at satiating the audience's curiosity about Cuba and to enrich the wealth of future men and women of letters in Haiti.