Public Defender Bennett H. Brummer Receives Top Civic Award

First Non-Cuban American Recipient From Group With Ties To Jose Marti

(Left to right) Ada Pozo-Revilla, Carlos Martinez, Sonia Slaughter, Bertila Pozo, Public Defender Bennett Brummer, Liceo Cubano’s President Miriam Campos, Founder – Miami Cuban Lions Club Ramon Dominguez.

Liceo Cubano, an organization dedicated to preserving the memory of Jose Marti and his fight for Cuban independence has named Miami-Dade Public Defender Bennett H. Brummer as the first non-Cuban recipient of its annual "Gran Orden Martiana" award.

The honor, bestowed each year as part of the celebrations of Marti’s birth in Havana on January 28, 1853, acknowledges an individual who has contributed significantly to causes, such as liberty, democracy, education and human rights, for which the lawyer and writer, revered by Cubans as "The Apostle", gave his life.

The award has been presented for the past 30 years by the Miami civic organization that takes its name from the social club made famous by Marti and founded in 1896 in Ybor City outside Tampa.

Marti rallied freedom fighters at the club, originally built to house a cigar-making plant, and it was there that he drafted the resolutions that became the program of the United Cuban Revolutionary Party.

In presenting the award to Bennett Brummer, the organization cited the recruitment practices he has used to employ and train dozens of Cuban-American attorneys during 27 years as the county’s elected Public Defender, as well as his early and continued support for CABA (the Cuban American Bar Association).

Just days after receiving this prestigious award, Brummer was honored by Lincoln-Marti Schools for his efforts to commemorate the 151st anniversary of Jose Marti's birth.

Bennett Brummer, who learned to speak fluent Spanish during two years with the Peace Corps in Venezuela, is widely known for working with justice system and government officials to improve legal systems throughout Latin America.