Judge Emiliano Jose (EJ) Salcines

The last three years of his life, Jose Marti came to Tampa 20 times. He loved Tampa. He called Tampa “el pueblo fiel” – the loyal people of Tampa. Tampa became a part of Marti and Marti became a part of Tampa. He said of Tampa – aqui ya todo esta hecho, meaning everything has already been done in Tampa. That’s why we have carefully selected tonight’s keynote speaker. He knows so much about Jose Marti in Tampa, where he went, who he saw, where he slept, where he ate, where he visited, where he gave his most famous speeches, where he drafted the fundamental principles of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, who were his most trusted confidants, how he was able to convince the cigar makers of Tampa to give one day’s salary to the cause of Cuban independence.

Our speaker is Retired Judge Emiliano Jose (EJ) Salcines of the District Court of Appeal. He is a native of Tampa and the son of immigrants from Spain that came to Tampa through Cuba. He is a lawyer by profession for more than 53 years and has had a multi-faceted career. He is a noted Tampa historian.

He was a career federal and state prosecuting attorney elected four times by the voters of Hillsborough County for a total of 16 years as the State (Prosecuting) Attorney and then serving on the Appellate Bench for 15 years.

Judge Salcines has two academic degrees including his law degree and has two honorary doctorate degrees, honoris causa. He has weekly television documentaries on Tampa history and has published many articles on Jose Marti and Tampa’s rich Latin history. He gave the keynote address some years back to the Florida Historical Society Convention here in Tampa titled “Jose Marti in Tampa.” Recently, when Dr. Eusebio Leal, the Historian of Habana, Cuba, came to Tampa it was Judge Emiliano Salcines who escorted Dr. Leal to all the Marti sights and introduced Dr. Leal for his address to the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce.

We know you will learn a side of Jose Marti that you never heard about before, as if our speaker was at the small railroad depot, not far from here, welcoming Marti to Tampa everyone of Jose Marti’s 20 visits.

Let’s welcome Judge E. J. Salcines.