Piedra Pescuezo, Guardalavaca, damaged by the action of time

Guardalavaca Beach is the largest natural resort in Holguin province and one of the most important in Cuba. It is located on the northern coast of the municipality of Banes, about 30 kilometers from the capital city of the same name. Piedra Pescuezo (Stone Neck) was a symbol on this beach in the 40's, 50's and early 60's and was in itself one of the key attractions for vacationers who came to this beach to enjoy a healthy life. From this stone swimmers used to dive into the warm waters of the Atlantic. It was ideal for the way it was located, as it was used as a natural springboard to launch into the sea. It had the shape of a human neck (hence the name) which emerged from the shore of the beach and jutted out several meters into the sea with its large size.

Today, vacationers visiting Guardalavaca cannot really appreciate this natural element that a long time ago was one of the natural beauties of this beach. The passage of time has allowed the north coast beach to gradually emerge, until it left behind the huge rock buried in the sand. Only photos taken in the 40's show the full extent of the majesty of Piedra Pescuezo. Current images show the changing appearance of the beach. With Information from www.radiobanes.icrt.cu

Key address by army general Raul Castro Ruz at the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the attacks on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes

Dear friends, Do not be surprise if along with this olive green uniform and the ranks of Army General I’m carrying a ‘mambí’ hat (Applauses), since this army was born from the ‘mambí’ army; and dark glasses although I like to look my interlocutors clearly in the eyes. Distinguished guests, Men and women from Santiago, People from Oriente, Cuban people, We have listened attentively to the generous and fraternal words of the heads of State and Government of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America, and also the President of Uruguay, who is in Cuba. Actually, José Mujica had been here in the 1960s, when this fortress was turned into a school. He was then a young dreamer, just like today but without rheumatism. (Applauses and laughs). We’d also like to express our appreciation to outstanding personalities from other countries that are here with us today. We salute the members of the 24th Caravan of U.S.-Cuba Friendship (Applauses) organized by the interreligious group Pastors for Peace (Applauses), which has persevered in the solidarity effort of the unforgettable Reverend Lucius Walker. The presence of all of these friends in this commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the attacks on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Barracks is a clear expression of support to and solidarity with the Cuban Revolution showing the changes Our America has gone through since the challenging and bleak days of 1953. At that time we, but mostly Fidel, had read about Bolívar’s exploits and those of other national heroes of the struggle for independence in our region, and we all realized the importance of a united and independent Latin American and Caribbean region. In his transcendental court appeal known as “History Will Absolve Me”, Fidel anticipated, and I quote: “[...] the Cuban policy for the Americas would be one of deep solidarity with the democratic peoples of the continent, and those subjected to political persecution by the bloody tyrannies that oppress our sister nations would find in Martí’s homeland not persecution, hunger and treason but generous asylum, brotherhood and bread. Cuba should be a beacon of freedom and not a disgraceful link to despotism.” Martí’s premature death in combat had thwarted his yearnings, expressed in an unfinished letter to his Mexican friend Manuel Mercado, “[...] to opportunely prevent with the independence of Cuba that the United States expand throughout the Antilles and fall, with that additional force, on our lands of America.” The Cuban Revolution has been faithful to that legacy and offered its solidarity, even during the hardest times, despite attempts at isolating it and starving it into submission with a criminal blockade that has been in place for over half a century, and efforts to destroy it through all kinds of aggressions. We shall never forget that after our release from prison Mexico gave us shelter, and after the victory its government was the only one in Latin America that refused to turn its back on us. The support and solidarity of the peoples of every continent has never failed us, particularly of the peoples in this region, which have always perceived Cuba as an inseparable part of Our America, the same that united in its diversity moves forward with determination towards its second and final independence. Twenty years after the triumph of January 1st, the Sandinista Revolution attained its own victory. Just last week, Nicaragua, always youthful, celebrated that event under the leadership of Commander Daniel Ortega. (Applauses) Two more decades would pass before our dearest brother Hugo Chávez embodied Bolívar’s ideals, and today, multiplied in his people he moves along with his Revolution under the steady guidance of comrade President Nicolás Maduro. (Applauses) The unstoppable processes of Bolivia’s Democratic and Cultural Revolution advance headed by Evo Morales, a symbol of the vindication of the original peoples (Applauses); like the victorious Citizens’ Revolution in Ecuador led by President Rafael Correa (Applauses), represented here by his Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño, with wide popular support, and the great social progress experienced in Uruguay under the leadership of comrade José Mujica (Applauses), a Tupamaro guerrilla incarcerated for fourteen years. Similar processes take place in the Caribbean region, where nations strive for sustainable development, justice and sovereign equality, and whose prominent leaders, Prime Ministers Roosevelt Skerrit of Dominique, Baldwin Spencer of Antigua and Barbuda, Ralph Gonsalves of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Kenny Anthony of Saint Lucia are also here with us today. (Applauses) Despite attempts at causing divisions that facilitate plundering, the integration of our nations keeps strengthening through such mechanisms as Alba, Caricom, Mercosur, Unasur, and others. Likewise, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, Celac, which Cuba is honored to preside, moves onward with its consolidation. I avail myself of this opportunity and, on behalf of all Cubans and particularly of the victims of hurricane Sandy in the provinces of Guantánamo, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba, express our deepest gratitude to all the governments and peoples that have generously supported, and are still supporting, our reconstruction works. (Applauses) Nine months ago that hurricane hit land in this city, and for five hours fierce winds of approximately 125 miles/hour lashed the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Holguín and Guantánamo causing the death of eleven people. The effects of that meteorological phenomenon also impacted on the central provinces with intensive rains and floods. After a thorough study it was determined that total economic losses amounted to nearly seven billion pesos, most of these due to devastation of houses and public buildings although farming and crucial infrastructure like utilities, communication and roads sustained considerable damages. The trajectory of hurricane Sandy brought the greatest damage to the province of Santiago de Cuba, particularly to its capital, where 50 percent of houses were smashed and the power grids and telephone lines collapsed. For days the trees fell by the winds and the debris stood in the way of traffic in the streets of the second largest city in the country, with one and a half million people. In the province of Holguín, the northeastern municipalities were the most severely damaged by Sandy’s assault. Coincidentally, these same areas had endured the ravaging of the powerful hurricane Ike as it made landfall in Cuba four years before, on September 2008. There, 19.3 percent of the houses sustained damages as well as a large part of the crops, including sugarcane. Up until the present, 52 percent of the housing problems have been solved. The western municipalities of the Guantánamo province were also impacted by the same hurricane but less severely, and have since then recovered. In the case of Santiago de Cuba, first of all with the efforts of its own people and with the resolute support of the rest of the country, including the contribution of the combatants from the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior, as well as brigades of electricians and telephone workers from every province, minimal living conditions were reestablished in a few days. The largest contribution to palliate the situation in Santiago, and one of the first to arrive, was sent personally by comrade Hugo Chávez. (Applauses) In the months following the event, the recovery work has not ceased, consequently, 42 percent of the housing problems have been resolved. At the same time, a construction program is underway in the province leading to the eventual relief of the tense situation in that area. On the other hand, the government has subsidized 50 percent of the price of the construction materials assigned to the repair of the damaged houses, and with the same end it has offered bank credits at lower interest rates and with a longer period for repayment. Likewise, in the cases of full house collapse the State Budget has taken on the payment of the interests and subsidized the lowest income families. Progress has also been made in the recuperation of healthcare, education and culture facilities, and of transportation. Additionally, the investment process undertaken in 2004 has continued with the rehabilitation and expansion of the provincial capital aqueduct, allowing a steady and daily supply of water to 30 of the 32 hydrometric segments of the city, although this service is yet to be ensured to the areas of Altamira and Litoral which are presently receiving water every other day. It is the responsibility of the provincial authorities and enterprises to secure the sustainability of the system. These works regularly monitored by the Central government have yet to be completed. Let me assure the women and men of Santiago that, foremost with their direct involvement, we shall build an ever more beautiful, hygienic, orderly and disciplined city that will live up to its condition of Heroic City and birthplace of the Revolution. May no one forget that Santiago (Exclamations of “Santiago is still Santiago”) is still Santiago. It seems miraculous that 60 years after that 26 of July some of us involved in those events are still alive, particularly when the dictatorship unleashed its thirst for revenge on many combatants who were tortured and murdered. We also wanted to take heaven by assault. It was a dream, we tried and couldn’t make it, but exactly five years, fives months and five days later, on January 1st, 1959, we came through that main gate to demand, on behalf of Fidel, the unconditional surrender of the city garrison with its over 5000 troops. (Applauses) Fidel’s determination and decorum, that turned him from accused into accuser in the trial to which we were submitted, led to our first victory, followed by a fruitful imprisonment and exile in Mexico; the rearrangement of the revolutionary forces and the preparations for the Granma expedition, whose delayed arrival in the Cuban coasts prevented the synchronization with the heroic uprising in Santiago de Cuba organized by that young leader Frank País, on November 30, 1956 −he was not 22 years old yet, and the following year, before his 23rd birthday, he was cowardly murdered by the tyranny’s henchmen. There was the setback in Alegría de Pío and the reunion with Fidel in Cinco Palmas two weeks later; the liberation war, first in the Sierra Maestra and later in other mountainous regions; the decisive victory, in 74 days of ceaseless and intensive combats, against the great offensive launched by Batista’s forces on the territory of the I Front in the Sierra Maestra, where the Rebel Army’s General Staff was located. As Che [Guevara] indicated, that victory “broke the backbone of the tyranny” and marked the onset of the strategic counteroffensive of the insurrectional Movement. Thus came, in the summer of 1958, the irreversible turning point of the war, that with the operations of the invading columns, which had departed from the Sierra Maestra, and the actions of the combatants in the underground movement led to the military collapse of the regime, the assumption of power by the victorious Revolution and the establishment of the first Revolutionary Government at the University of this city. Then, the general strike −called by Fidel from Palma Soriano, before entering Santiago− with the working class and the support of all of the people, frustrated the U.S. embassy’s scheming to steal victory while Fidel was on his way to Havana. This is brief summary of an intensive story. At that point, a much more challenging period started, one which shook the foundations of the society as a whole. Four and a half months after the victory, −in the Sierra Maestra itself and the headquarters used by Fidel in the final days of the war− in compliance with the Moncada Program, the first Land Reform Law was enacted. This action placed the Revolution in a confrontational path with powerful foreign economic interests and with the local bourgeoisie, which for several years would fund and encourage the actions of armed gangs and the assassination of young teachers, many of them only teenagers; the Playa Girón invasion in April 1961, on the eve of which the Socialist nature of the Revolution was proclaimed; the Missile Crisis in October 1962, when the United States was preparing a direct invasion of Cuba with its troops, and the incessant aggressions and crimes against our people carried out for decades. Many years have passed but this is still a revolution of the young, as we were young that July 26, 1953, and also those who fought and died in the streets of Santiago de Cuba on November 30, 1956. Most of those who fought the bandits were young, too, −for five years, from 1960 until approximately January 1965 they fought the bandits that in two occasions during that period had managed to have active gangs of different sizes in every province in the country, including south of the capital− as were young the ones who defeated the mercenaries in Playa Girón, and those youths who joined the literacy campaign −most of them students; the young people incorporated in masse to the Militias, and to the newly formed Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior. Hundreds of thousands of our compatriots who discharged their duty with internationalist missions in other lands of the world −most of them in Angola, as one of guests just said− were young, the same as those who are today offering healthcare and education services in various countries −most of them young women; the scientists, intellectuals, artists and sports people who have brought so much glory to the homeland; those who do their military services, including girls who have volunteered for this task; the middle level education students and our university students who were the successful protagonists of the latest population and housing census; the workers and farmers who in the areas of production and services yield revenues for the economy; our teachers and professors. This shall continue as the Socialist Revolution of the humble, by the humble and for the humble proclaimed by Fidel on April 16, 1961, at the funeral of the victims of the bombings that preceded the Playa Girón [Bay of Pigs] invasion. This Revolution −and I repeat it because it has proven as much for 60 years− will keep on being a Revolution of the young. (Applauses) Today, over 70 percent of Cubans were born after the triumph of the Revolution. It could be said that several generations are living in our homeland, each with their own history and merits depending on their times. The historical generation is giving space to the “new trees”, at peace and with calm confidence, aware of their proven capacity and preparation to uphold the flags of the Revolution and of Socialism for which countless patriots and revolutionaries have sacrificed their lives, from the natives and slaves who rebelled against oppression until today. As previously informed, the process is underway for the progressive and orderly transference of the main leadership responsibilities of the nation. To ensure the success of this undertaking, we will never lose sight of the strategic importance of preserving, above all −and I repeat it, preserving above all!− the unity of all worthy Cubans, just as Fidel has taught us. Comrades all, This is a good occasion to pay homage to all those who fell through centuries of redeeming struggle. And also to Fidel, the Commander in Chief of the Cuban Revolution (Applauses), who with unwavering optimism and alongside our people −capable of enduring so much sacrifice, and the true protagonist of this epic− led us to victory and placed our tiny island in the world map as a beacon of social justice and respect for human dignity. Let’s pay tribute to Cuban women (Applauses) in their roles of mothers, combatants, comrades in sacrifices, struggles and joy (Applauses), and to the new generations that will forever defend the revolutionary ideals. From this historical place we send a fraternal embrace to the courageous antiterrorist fighters (Applauses) that for fifteen years have been kept unjustly incarcerated in the United States. We will continue striving restlessly for their return to our Homeland. At this point, we cannot fail to pay a heartfelt tribute to the unconquered Commander of the Bolivarian Revolution in our sister country Venezuela, the dear comrade Hugo Chávez Frías, an advanced pupil of the national heroes of Latin American and Caribbean independence. (Applauses) Eternal glory to the martyrs of our Homeland! (Exclamations of “Glory!”) Long live the Socialist Revolution! (Exclamations of “Long live!”) Long live free Cuba! (Exclamations of “Long live!”) Long live Fidel! (Exclamations of “Long live!”) Ever onward to Victory! (Exclamations of “Long live! Long live!”)

Miami: Witch-hunt against Antonio Castro

A trio from Miami and New Jersey, led by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, have sent a letter to Secretary of State, John Kerry, asking him to deny a visa to Cuban sports doctor Antonio Castro Soto del Valle. Dr Castro was part of the Cuban baseball team, and months ago he was re-elected as a vice president of the International Baseball Federation, headed by Italian Ricardo Fraccari. Now, he ought to take part in an international university series that will start next week in Des Moines, Iowa, a new friendly series between Cuba and the United States. According to the letter of Ileana and her men to John Kerry, they are "deeply concerned" if they grant a visa for the doctor to enter the country. Pretext? Being the son of Fidel Castro and nephew of President Raul Castro, they venture to say that Dr Castro often accompanies baseball players who travel abroad "to intimidate them" and "prevent their defection." Clearly, the obsession of Ros-Lehtinen and her men against Cuba has reduced their common sense and has fused with the most rancid ineptitude. Even the primary school children in the U.S. could understand that two political figures like Fidel and Raul Castro would not need to stoop to such grotesque methods. Those three from congress had previously questioned the granting of visas for the U.S. director of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Josefina Vidal, sexologist Mariela Castro, and historian of Havana, Eusebio Leal. According to Ileana and her duet of followers, to authorize the entry of Antonio Castro, "would undermine our efforts to promote democracy and freedom" within the island, and "isolate the oppressors." Does that excuse impose a rigorous selection beyond political and ideological to provide a green light for entry into the country? Many cases tend to indicate that. Suffice five of them. In August 1995, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen sent a letter demanding the State Department not grant a visa to Fidel Castro if in Ocotber he decided to attend the 50th anniversary of the UN in New York. Her request failed. Five years ago she made strenuous efforts trying to avoid the presence of South African leader Nelson Mandela in various regions of the United States who were waiting for him. One of her arguments: that Cuba supported him in his fight against apartheid. In mid-October, 2011, she sent a letter to then Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to demand explanations for authorizing visas to Cuban children's theater group La Colmenita, composed of children aged from six years old and said that it damaged the national security interests. Eleven months later Ileana criticized the stay of the Cuban singer Vicente Feliu, who performed in Washington, New York and San Francisco, California. This road has transited through years of visa applications, among them for artists, scholars, scientists and athletes, and even relatives of the Cuban Five unjustly held in jails of that country. Now they hinder entry to U.S. soil of a known doctor who specializes in baseball and vice president of the International Federation of that discipline, Antonio Castro. No wonder! Those political witches from Miami are daughters or granddaughters of those murderers and torturers that came out of Cuba in January 1959 and were kindly received in the North, even without a visa.

Quinque-Cocal: Rehabilitation that Nurture the Soul

The Quinque-Cocal Therapeutic community of the Health and Tourism Company, located in Holguin province, welcomes patients from different countries who receives treatment for their drug dependence. Through a highly scientific rehabilitation process, the patients improved their quality of life and spirituality while overcoming their addiction. The community consists of two villages: El Cocal, managed by Juan Manuel Lopez Torres; and El Quinqué, directed by Mario Portuondo Isaac. The two organizations have specialists with a high professional level who provide a service of excellence to patients. The staff is composed of psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, social workers, rehabilitation specialists, physical education graduates and support personnel who form a close-knit team. According to Dr Pastor Aguilera, psychiatrics at villa El Cocal, sports and physical activity play an important role in the rehabilitation process, as they help to improve health and keep patients away from drugs. These activities favour the health recovery of the patients, who have said to be satisfied with the daily care provided by the medical team and service workers. "The attention is very good, I’ve been in villa El Quinqué for just one month and I have progressed a lot, I feel like at home and I'm sure I will continue to improve because the persons taking care of me do their job with love, so I will do my best to recover, " told to the local media Loryan Romero Marquina, a patient from Venezuela. Luis Rodolfo Ramirez, another patient, said "I am very happy with the care provided in villa El Cocal, I have no complaints, the medical team is really good and we are encouraged to continue toward greater recovery." Both Loryan as Luis Rodolfo speak highly of physical activity and sport, and the performance of the medical team as a whole, which ensures that the rehabilitation process carried out in the TC Cocal-Quinqué , strengthens the spirituality of patients. Confortable gyms, facilities for the practice of various sports that merge harmoniouslywith the practice of individual, group and occupational psychotherapies, constitute a whole in the health recovery of patients, the main goal of the staff of these two clinics. A strong sense of collectivism, a sound work ethics and a dedication to a work of high human values are some of the qualities that distinguish the Cocal-Quinqué Therapeutic Community. BY Jose Antonio Perez Chapman

A monkey flower?

Orchids are elegant flowers, but some of them have a very strange appearance, such as the monkey face orchid, one of the many curiosities of nature. Since this photo began circulating on the Internet, there have been many who have doubted its existence. The scientific name of this orchid is Dracula simia, but it is popularly known as monkey face orchid, from the resemblance of its flowers to the face of an ape. These rare orchids only grow in the cloud forests of southeastern Ecuador and Peru at elevations of 1,000-2,000 meters on the side of mountains.

The name Dracula comes from the strange feature of the two long spurs of the sepals, that resemble the fangs of a number of inhabitants of Transylvania in film and fiction. The orchid was named in 1978 by the botanist Luer, but is in a family that contains over 120 species mainly found in Ecuador. The monkey face orchid is not a typical flower season, although in their natural habitat can bloom at any time. This flowers smell like ripe orange, which is ironic, because with that face the least you can expect is they smell like bananas.

In my city

The region of Holguin is one of the richest scenes of nature in Cuba. High mountains, fertile plains and beaches of fine sand alternate in the landscape of this province unique for its beauty and many attractions. It also takes the best and most valuable of the local and universal culture with exponets in all branches of culture with renowned artists like Faustino Oramas (El Guayabero), painter Cosme Proenza, pianist Frank Fernandez. This eastern province of Cuba, has also a high quality health system. Sample is infant mortality rate achieved here, only comparable to that of developed countries, thanks to the implementation of a health system that allows pregnant women prioritized attention and care of newborns and infants in general. On several occasions it has hosted important scientific events as the International Symposium on Cardiovascular Research and the Cuba-canada International Symposium on the Heart, held in Playa Pesquero with the participation of leading Cuban and foreign specialists. This eastern territory of Cuba also hosted last week a Symposium on Pediatric Surgery that included the participation of Dr. Yann Revillon, outstanding professor at Descartes University and director of the pediatric surgery department of the famous children's hospital Necker-Malades in Paris, among other important scientists. The event demonstrated the quality reached by the Holguin and the island pediatric surgery in the field of science, research, teaching and care to patients in the province and the country, where there are many medical schools and pediatric hospitals that guarantee child care.

Love and Pain in the History of the Five Cuban

Mirtha Rodríguez talks intensely with the passion of someone who has a kind and deep feelings for his beloved family members and friends. It is difficult not to accept the words pronounced by this woman who has not stopped imagining that his son will be returning to Cuba to conclude a history of love and pain. This woman, who has already the color of her hair completely grey and loves the tango genre and artists like Libertad La marquee, Hugo del Carril and Carlos Gardel, among others, looks her memories into the past and present and looks into the present to see the future as if she was remembering occasions of her life without regrets and having the conviction of having done what she had to do on every moment of it and continues to do it. Mirtha de la Santísima Trinidad Rodríguez is the real name of Antonio Guerrero mother, who is one of the heroes of the Cuban Republic and a Cuban antiterrorist fighter that is currently incarcerated in US prisons for having monitoring terrorist groups which were conspiring against his nation. During more than 15 years of her son imprisonment, Mirtha, has never hesitated not even a single minute despite being thousands of kilometers from the motherland in respect of defending the cause of her son through true arguments and contributing with thousands of elements to make the people of good will aware about the case of the Cuban Five antiterrorist fighters taking into consideration that René, Fernando, Ramón and Gerardo are all considered by her as sons. As usual, she comes after having being requested her presence on the Radio Rebelde station in its program entitled La Luz en lo Oscuro (literally, the light in the darkness), then as if she was at her own house, she answered a series of questions with the typical sincerity from a mother who has never stopped thinking of her beloved son each single second of her existence. “Each single time that I travel overseas I say and insist a lot on the case of Gerardo Hernández given the fact that he was the one who experienced the most vicious attack from the US judicial system and we have to keep fighting for bringing the truth into light inside the own US people about the outrage and crime that has been committed against that man who had been given two life-imprisonment sentences even without proofs, let alone evidences againt him. Therefore, the US government has tried to punish Cuba through the case of Gerardo.” Mirtha Rodríguez said. Mirtha was the only woman from a family with seven siblings. She could get to know her name until she decided to get married and it was then when she knew about a change that not even her only family knew: Her name might be Mirtha Rita de Casia Rodríguez; however, behind her first name and inscription appeared the words De la Santísima Trinidad. The anecdote causes her to laugh at present, but she expresses the fact that when that happened, then all hell broke loose between her parents because they were not expecting that surprise. Life was not either good with her when she became a widow and her daughter Marucha was 15 years old and Tony, who was the youngest, was 13 years of age. It was something dramatic as happened right on her birthday. The pain always was present in her until her family members decided to celebrate her birthday by recovering that tradition. “The three of us got really united, so she and her two children made a pact of love, unity and respect that has lasted until nowadays.” This really kind woman, who talks slowly and clear and is a magnificent communicator, Mirtha Rodríguez highlighted. “I do consider myself an optimistic, enterprising and familiar person like my son as those are one of the aspects on which we both have many similarities.” Mirtha Rodríguez pointed out. What can be said about Tony? “It is a truly intense sadness what is felt after knowing that he is far away and imprisoned for having defended a fair cause, but it is precisely when I have had a personal problem and I usually tend to feel really depressed that I remember his case to talk to myself the undeniable fact that if my son is capable to defend that truth by even putting at risk everything, then how come I would not be able to go ahead, It is then when I take the right path again by rejuvenating my spirit and making it even stronger.” Mirtha Rodríguez highlighted. “When we visit the United States, we try that each single photo could transmit love. I always enjoy the occasion of the photos by my son when I have even desired to take my son with me. We usually try to have then a happy occasion and for Tony the truth is never absent.” Her mother stated. With that same truth, Mirtha Rodríguez travels there each time she is invited to talk about the case of the Cuban antiterrorist fighters in other nations. What does inspire you? “I talk and use the sincerity coming from my heart and the truth about this case, including the noble way these men, young ones with many dreams and families, left everything behind for a noble and fair cause to preserve the lives of more than eleven million of compatriots, including the ones from the own US population.” Mirtha Rodríguez highlighted. “It has been a story filled with love and pain, Olguita, as it is popularly named, had to wait over 13 years to see her husband. Adriana, on her part, has never been able to see her husband Gerardo due to the US government has never allowed it. They (The Cuban Five) took the decision about fulfilling their mission and that attitude shows their magnanimity as human beings. “Mirtha Rodríguez pointed out. When she talks about those men, Mirtha voice failed a bit until she recovers it and said: “Even though the price has been really high, taking into consideration the irregularities that has affected the case, their enemies will never success in breaking the moral of the Cuban antiterrorist fighters and their family members and that has been precisely their strength of spirit given that fact that despite they remain imprisoned, they continue being free through their thoughts and convictions.” Mirtha Rodríguez said finally. Regarding Mirtha and the rest of their family members, it is valid what has said many times René: “the mothers and wives of the Cuban Five families are also heroines.” By Demetrio Villaurrutia Zulueta