By Carlos Aznarez on November 23, 2016
A Cuban Hero, Fernando González, is here amongst us revealing the character of what the men and women of Cuba are made of. Gonzalez along with his four comrades were arrested on September, 12 1998 and charged with espionage when actually they should have been awarded medals for their work exposing anti Cuban terrorism that was flourishing in Southern Florida.
Despite the long sentences the Cuban 5 beat the prison system because of their steadfast belief in their mission and knowing they had the love and support of their entire nation behind them.
The years in high-security prisons were difficult as they were subjected to all sorts of punishments including isolation and restrictions on family visits. All of that was an attempt to break them but with the perseverance of the leadership of Fidel, the massive support of the Cuban people and an impressive international solidarity movement not only did the Cuban 5 survive but they became global symbols of resistance against imperialism.
Now, as happened recently with Ramon, we had the possibility to dialogue with Fernando, and especially to hear Fernando speak of the collective part of the Revolution and the path being taken to strengthen Socialism in Cuba. He will be participating in upcoming events at the headquarters of the State Workers Union (ATE) in Buenos Aires. In these occasions Gonzalez, as Vice President of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) will be able to have discussions with hundreds of friends of Cuba.
This past Monday at a meeting in the Argentino-Cubana House he talked about things that kept them going. “One time we had been in isolation for a week and were completely cut off from any news with the outside world and when we came out we learned that Chavez had won the presidential election in Venezuela. It was a ray of light in the dark environment. Of course we did not have the vision of Fidel who had anticipated from an early encounter that Chavez had the potential of becoming a like thinking political leader that would have enormous influence on the continent and the world.”
Gonzalez went on to talk about what ensued next with the emergence of progressive governments that began to grow in Latin America. “We got to learn about the defeat of the FTAA in Mar del Plata and the historic visit of Fidel at the Law University here where he was surrounded by thousands of Argentineans. All of those things fed our soul when we were prison.”
Gonzalez, like all good Cuban internationalists, took advantage of this first activity in Argentina to pay tribute to another militant present at the event, the Ambassador of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and of the Polisario Front, Salem Bachir.
Fernando González is part of the contingent of new “Che s” who are born in Cuba and have no doubt that, despite the naysayers, the Revolution continues breathing socialism. Just to hear him retell the stories of Cuban heroism like the hundreds of thousands of Cubans in medical missions scattered all over the globe brings hope.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano