Cuban Five to Fidel: You are Our Inspiration and Our Force

Ramon Labañino, one of the Cuban anti-terrorists still held in US prisons, sent Fidel Castro a happy birthday message on behalf of his four compatriots, all known as the Cuban Five.

On your 88th birthday we want to express to you all our affection and admiration, on behalf of the Cuban Five, our relatives and the Cuban people, reads the message.

Labañino, along Rene Gonzalez, Fernando Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez and Antonio Guerrero were given unfair and extremely long prison sentences by a Miami court in 2001 after they monitored Florida-based ultra-right organizations that planned terrorist actions against the Cuban people.

You know well that you are our inspiration and our force in our difficult days and in our routine of this political imprisonment, says Labañino in his message.

And it is our best wish to be able to embrace you and share the honor of listening to your advice so important for the revolutionaries of all times, he finished with a Happy Birthday Comandante.

The Cuban Five were arrested in 1998 in the United States and after all these years, only Rene Gonzalez and Fernando Gonzalez have returned to Cuba after they fully met their prison sentences. Meanwhile, Labañino, Hernandez and Guerrero remained held in US jails despite the huge claim around the world for their release.