GERARDO HERNÁNDEZ
• Father Michael Lapsley, president of the Friends of Cuba Society (FOCUS) in South Africa, spent three and a half hours visiting one of the five Cuban political prisoners languishing in U.S. jails

BY MICHAEL LAPSLEY*

On May 3,the President of the Friends of Cuba Society in South Africa, Father Michael Lapsley, spent three and a half hours visiting one of the five Cuban political prisoners languishing in United States prisons. Gerardo Hernandez is serving two life sentences plus fifteen years and is incarcerated in Lompoc maximum-security federal penitentiary, 3 hours out of Los Angeles. The greatest irony of all is that Hernandez has been jailed for life in the U.S. for his own contribution to the fight against terrorism.

Ever since his detention, Hernandez has kept on his wall a small picture, cut from a magazine, of Comrade Fidel embracing Comrade Madiba. He asked me if he could send the photo to me to keep it safe for him. After the invasions of Iraq, the Cuban Five were, without warning, taken from their cells and placed in punishment cells with their personal documents and even their clothes taken from them, leaving them in their underwear.

It appears that the ultra-right in Miami were frustrated by the mounting international campaign to free the Five, and their friends in Washington obliged by victimizing and humiliating the Five until there was an international outcry.

In 1989, Hernandez participated in an internationalist mission in Anglola.

He told me with great pride that it was his greatest privilege to have contributed in the fight against apartheid in the minutest way. He mused that some of the most significant dates in his own life coincided with significant dates in South Africa's recent journey of transformation.

Gerardo Hernandez studied international relations in Cuba. A number of his classmates are now senior diplomats and ambassadors. Not long after marrying his wife, a chemical engineer in Havana, Gerardo was approached by Cuban intelligence for a different kind of diplomacy.  Since the triumph of the revolution in 1959, a small group of ultra rightists in Miami have carried out countless terrorist acts against Cuba including hijackings, bombing of Cuban hotels and over 600 attempts on the life of Fidel Castro. It was decided to infiltrate the U.S. based terrorist groups to try and prevent further bloodshed.

Gerardo was asked to participate in this highly dangerous project to protect his motherland. Not unaware of the risks Gerardo accepted.

After issuing formal diplomatic notes, the Cuban government indicated that any further violations of Cuban airspace by terrorist groups would bring a swift response from the Cuban airforce. In February 1996 the Cubans acted when their airspace was violated once more, and three people died. Gerardo Hernandez has been scapegoated for actions taken by the airforce to protect the civilian population of Cuba. He has been found guilty of espionage for supplying information, which was not secret and did not threaten the security of the United States. 

The anti-Castro sentiments are so strong in Miami that it was impossible to receive a fair trial in that city. The five are appealing for their sentences to be quashed or at least to have a new trial outside Miami.

Today Gerardo Hernandez (along with his four compatriots all kept in different prisons) has become an "ambassador" for his country, teaching his jailers by word and deeds the truth and nobility that Cuba has achieved.

Just as Madiba and his co-accused turned Robben Island into a “university”, Gerardo by the way he conducts himself is likely to create a "Cuban solidarity organization in prison”.

When Gerardo's wife tried to visit, not having seen her husband for five years, she was interrogated for many hours and sent back. He expressed deep pain at his separation from his wife, family and motherland. At the same time Gerardo asked me to say how much strength he experiences because of the support from the worldwide solidarity movement and from all that has been achieved by the people of South Africa. He expressed particular appreciation of a recent letter of support from Nadine Gordimer and many postcards from the Friends of Cuba Society in South Africa.

Any regrets, I asked.  "No, none...as I said in my trial, quoting Nathan Hale: "My only regret is that I have but one life to give for my country."

We promised each other to meet again, hopefully in Havana and not in a U.S. prison. After embracing him I turned to leave. As I looked back Gerardo stood to attention smiling at me with a clenched fist salute.  I felt privileged to have spent time with one of Cuba's finest sons.

(Granma) July 9, 2003