Ramón Labañino Salazar

He was born in the municipality of Marianao, Ciudad de La Habana. Son of Nereyda Salazar Verdui and Holmes Labañino Castillo.

He developed his primary studies with excellent results, holding different responsibilities, such as class leader and monitor of different subjects. Already in secondary school, he held positions at the school level in charge of sports and recreation, and stood out for obtaining good academic results.

Upon entering preuniversity, Ramón stood out for his work in rural schools, where he obtained various recognitions. Upon finishing his preuniversity studies, he entered the Universidad de La Habana in the Faculty of Economics where he graduated in 1986 with a Gold Diploma, and stood out in sports activities, participating in all the Caribbean Games and some Manicatos.

He was granted membership in the Union of Young Communists in 1987 and, subsequently, in 1991, membership in the Communist Party of Cuba.

In June 1990 he married Elizabeth Palmeiro Casado, his current wife, with whom he has two daughters: Laura Labañino Palmeiro and Lizbeth Labañino Palmeiro. From a previous marriage he has his eldest daughter Ayli Labañino Cardoso. Despite spending much time away from Cuba, he has paid much attention to his daughters, constantly expressing his affection and concern for their development and education.

At the beginning of the 1990s he was called to carry out a mission in the United States where he performed important tasks directed against opposition groups based in Miami with the objective of preserving security against terrorism in Cuba. Ramón is one of five young Cubans arrested in Miami in September 1998, accused of endangering United States national security.

He was detained in the United States on September 12, 1998 in an FBI operation against the Wasp Network, a spy network that sent information to Cuban intelligence services. He was then imprisoned and it was not until January 21, 2001 that he was able to make contact with his family members through a letter.

Ramón and his four companions were accused of espionage conspiracy and issued a message to the American people, in which they explained the reasons for their presence in the country. The sentence for Ramón was life imprisonment plus eighteen years of deprivation of liberty.

Ramón's fundamental activity was to obtain information about the actions that groups of Cuban exiles residing in Miami such as the Fundación Nacional Cubano Americana (FNCA) and Hermanos al Rescate (HR) were attempting to take against the government of Cuba and against the life of Fidel Castro Ruz.

The judicial process of Ramón, René González Sehwerert, Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez, Gerardo Hernández Nordelo and Fernando González Llort constitutes the longest trial that has ever existed in the U.S.

On December 29, 2001, the Cuban Parliament, in its special session, granted the honorific title of Hero of the Republic of Cuba to the five imprisoned Cubans. They are currently serving their sentences in United States prisons.

Ramón is serving his sentence at McCreary United States Penitentiary (USP) in Kentucky.