The president noted in his account on X, formerly Twitter, that the imprisonment of the five heroes made their families and all of Cuba suffer for 16 years; at the same time, he highlighted the battle of the leaders of the Revolution, Fidel and Raul Castro, of the people in general and the international solidarity to bring them home.

Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino, Fernando Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez were detained in the northern territory on September 12, 1998 for monitoring terrorist actions that threatened the security of the Cuban nation.

The Five, as the anti-terrorist fighters were known worldwide, were imprisoned and subjected to a judicial process with several irregularities, among them the trial was held in the city of Miami on June 8, 2001, a place historically hostile to Cuba and where it was impossible to be impartial.

As a result, they were all found guilty, even though the only crime truly proven was the use of false identities (three of them).

It could not be proven that they had access to information of national security risk, however, they were given long sentences that exceeded even two life sentences, as in the case of Gerardo Hernandez.

In 2001, the historic leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro, promised in a speech to the Cuban people that the heroes would return to their homeland and an international solidarity movement characterized the struggle for their return.

For more than 16 years they remained in U.S. prisons and suffered humiliations such as isolation in punishment cells for no reason and being deprived of communication with their families.

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