During my visit to Cuba, I had the honor and privilege of interviewing with René:
Netfa Freeman: I just want to ask you, brother, a few questions to help our listeners understand things more, hopefully be fortified with information. I want to say this is an honor and thank you for giving me this interview.
I’m reading Stephen Kimber’s book right now. First is, I understand that you were born in the US. Your family, your parents moved to the US before the Cuban revolution and then ended up moving back afterward. So the first question is really what knowledge and information might your parents have imparted to you or shared with you that gave you your political consciousness and your commitment to the Cuban Revolution? And particularly if you could share how that might have influenced your choice to fight in Angola. You were one of those who served in Angola against apartheid South Africa, to help Angola get its independence.
René González: I want to start by advising everybody to read Kimber’s book. In my opinion it’s the best thing that’s been written about the case. He did great research. He wrote a book which is tied to the facts, to the most elemental things. So it’s a good way to get acquainted with the case, which on the other side is a very complex case. Now you say my parents. They are working class Cubans who by different ways ended up in the States in the 50’s. They met there and I was born in 1956. Then in 1959 came the Cuban Revolution. Since the beginning of the revolution they felt sympathy for the goals and the purpose of the revolutionary process. So they decided to come home in 1961.
”I remember the counter-revolutionaries who went to the mountains, and how the US, the CIA, would come and drop weapons for them there.”
It was an interesting time to be in Cuba. It was a time of struggle. The island was already under the blockade and there was a lot of terrorism imposed on Cuba. By then I was 5 years old but my first memories are tied also to the violence that was imposed on us by the bombings, shootings in places. I remember the counter-revolutionaries who went to the mountains, and how the US, the CIA, would come and drop weapons for them there. So I was born in that environment – which is an environment that makes you grow, politically speaking. And of course my parents’ principles and values resonated also together with that environment. So I believe I was part of a generation that was privileged of having been born under revolution, which allowed you to grow, to think, and it makes you at the end to stand for something.
That combination is why for me it was natural to go to Africa. I mean the Cuban people back then, we had that feeling of, you know, we had to do something for the world. Back then it was Africa, it was the whole colonialism issue. Everybody knows that the US government in spite of their rhetoric about democracy, they supported colonialism, they supported South Africa. We cannot forget they had Mandela on the terrorist list until yesterday. Now all of a sudden everybody loves Mandela there, but we cannot forget history. So I was 20 years old when I volunteered to go to there and fight against South African apartheid and the invasion of Angola. As I said it was part of who we were back then, you know. And I believe the same feelings pushed me to accept this mission in the US. I had grown up, as I told you, watching our country being bombarded and shot at. So when I was asked to go there and infiltrate those groups I didn’t hesitate. I said yes.