Vol. 79/No. 25      July 20, 2015

The Five — Cuban revolutionaries who spent many years unjustly imprisoned in the United States — were invited by the governing African National Congress, which organized their program together with the South African Communist Party, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the Society of Friendship with Cuba in South Africa and the National Association of Democratic Lawyers.

They paid tribute to Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo, historic leaders of the revolutionary movement that brought down the white supremacist system of apartheid, and visited Robben Island where Mandela and other leaders of the freedom struggle spent many years in prison.

“We feel a deep admiration for the freedom fighters in South Africa,” Gerardo Hernández said, speaking to hundreds at Tambo’s grave site, where they went directly after their arrival. “We spent many months in solitary confinement. The example of your warriors inspired us all the way through. We want to thank you for all your support for the Cuban Five and the Cuban people. And we want to let you know that the same way we were able to count on you, the people of South Africa, you can count on us, the Cuban Five and the Cuban people.”

Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González were jailed in Florida in 1998. Framed up on charges, including conspiracy to commit espionage, their sentences ranged from 15 years to double life imprisonment.

René and Fernando González served their sentences in full before returning to Cuba. In December the remaining three were released as part of the agreement to move toward re-establishing diplomatic relations between Washington and Havana, and the Five were reunited on Cuban soil. This victory for the people of Cuba, their government and the international campaign demanding their freedom was possible because of the Five’s dignity, courage, discipline and firm refusal to break under harsh prison conditions.

The visit to South Africa coincided with the 60-year anniversary of the adoption of the Freedom Charter, the programmatic platform for the revolutionary struggle that brought down the apartheid regime. Before taking part in the ceremony in Kliptown June 26 they met with President Jacob Zuma, the featured speaker at the event.

They visited five of the country’s nine provinces, attending a session in Parliament, speaking at several universities and meeting with national and provincial political leaders and diplomats from neighboring countries.

“What is it with the Cuban people that make them extend solidarity and volunteer for internationalist missions as doctors, technicians, soldiers?” asked a participant in a “Cuban Five Answer Questions” program on national TV.

“We had a real revolution,” René González responded. “When you have a real revolution and you defend that revolution, you change, you have to grow. We learned that our fate is linked to everyone else in the world. An injustice to anyone is an injustice to us.”

Their last stop was in South Africa’s northernmost province Limpopo, where they met Cuban medical volunteers. Hernández told them that many people had asked where the Five will work in the future. “We always say that we are soldiers of the revolution and we are waiting for the next order to serve wherever we are needed,” he said.

From South Africa the Five continued to Namibia and Angola. Hernández, Fernando González and René González were among the 375,000 Cuban volunteers who fought against South African military interventions in Angola from 1975 to 1991 along with Namibian and Angolan forces. Their victory helped bring about the independence of Namibia and the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa.
 
 
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Cuba helps push back Washington’s attacks on Venezuela
Build on revolutionary Cuba’s victory
 
 
 
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