Rev. Martin Añorga was born in Matanzas, Cuba.  Bachelor of Theology (Seminario Evangélico de Teología, Matanzas), Doctor of Pedagogy (University of Havana), Master in Theology (Princeton Theological Seminary in new Jersey), and Master of Education (University of Miami).

He started as a Pastor at a Presbyterian church in Cuba when he was in his 20s, until he left Cuba in the 1960s.  In Miami, he was a pastor of the First Prebyterian Hispanic Church from 1963 until his retirement in January 1992.  He founded La Progresiva Presbyterian School in Miami. The school was originally founded in Cardenas, Cuba in 1900 by Dr. Robert I. Wharton. In early 1981, he was one of the founders of a group of bilingual (English/Spanish) educational institutions of Dade County, Florida, who created the Council of Bilingual Schools (COBIS) in order to help maintain standards that would serve to guide, supervise, and improve the education of children, particularly those of Hispanic origin.