“Happy birthday, dear Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo, Hero of dignity and resistance!” the organization wrote on its Instagram account. In its message, the solidarity group stated that “we join with immense joy in the jubilation of the Cuban people.”

It noted that “the Hero’s fortitude in the face of imperial hatred, your unwavering loyalty to Fidel and your homeland, make you a beacon of courage.”

Hernandez Nordelo was one of the Cuban Five unjustly convicted in the United States for defending the Cuban people against terrorist threats promoted and organized from that nation.

In a rigged and flawed trial in Miami, Florida, as described by Cuban authorities, he was sentenced to two life sentences plus 15 years, of which he served 16 in a maximum-security federal prison.

His imprisonment, like that of his four comrades, sparked a global campaign of condemnation and solidarity, including in Venezuela, where people took to the streets demanding his release.

The current National Coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, a mass organization founded by the historic leader Fidel Castro in 1960, was released on December 17, 2014, as a result of a bilateral agreement between Cuba and the United States.

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