Cubans Pay Tribute To 'Hero 5' Anti-terrorist Fight
Telesur | Thursday, 13 September 2018 | Click here for original article
"They asked us to betray our values and our ideas and that we move to the other side. But what we did, we didn't do it on a whim, or just for the sake of an adventure (...) We were protecting our people," Hernandez said.
On Wednesday, in Cienfuegos, the people of Cuba paid tribute to the five anti-terrorist heroes, on the 20th anniversary of their incarceration in Miami. The 'Cuban Five' were imprisoned, in the United States, for the "crime" of fighting against U.S.-backed terrorism against Cuba.
The five men - Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez - were imprisoned on September 12, 1998, in Miami. Their fate was key in the history of the Cuba-U.S. relations.
Remembering the years of imprisonment, Gerardo Hernandez said: "Twenty years ago at this time they interrogated us in FBI cells."
Twenty years later, Hernandez remembers that the U.S. government "asked us to betray our values and our ideas and that we move to the other side. But what we did, we didn't do it on a whim, or just for the sake of an adventure. Every Cuban knows, by name and last name, who are the victims of the terrorism. We were protecting our people," EFE reported.
Ramon Labañino accepts that it is a "complicated" anniversary, as it commemorates the imprisonment, but said: "we celebrate it as an anniversary of victory," adding that, in their everyday life, they still perform a lot of duties for the Cuban Revolution.
The 'Five' were accused of committing espionage against the United States, though they indicated they were a Cuban mission to Miami to monitor the actions of terrorist groups, that were suspected of planning attacks in Cuba.
