René González Sehwerert

René González Sehwerert was born in Chicago, in the United States, on August 13, 1956, into a working-class family that emigrated to the United States.

His father, Cándido René González Castillo, was a steel worker in Indiana, United States; while his mother, Irma Teodora Sehwerert Milejan, devoted herself to household duties.

On October 2, 1961, his parents, who from the United States had cooperated with the July 26 Movement in the struggle against Batista, decided to return and settle permanently in Cuba, accompanied by their two children, immediately joining the tasks of the Revolution.

He began his primary studies, as a scholarship student, at the school "José Martí", located in Santa María del Mar, with satisfactory results.

From a very young age, René enjoyed disassembling and assembling defective toys, which is why in the future he felt a strong inclination toward mechanics, while at the same time displaying a strong character but with noble sentiments.

His desire to become an anti-aircraft artilleryman, like his father in the militias, led him to request in 1968 his admission to the military vocational school "Camilo Cienfuegos", in Baracoa, having to withdraw in tenth grade due to health problems that affected his school performance.

In 1970, the Union of Young Communists welcomed René into its ranks for his active participation in military and sports activities and other political activities.

In 1972, he transferred to the basic secondary school Combatientes de América, in the municipality of Cerro, and in 1973, he entered the second contingent of the detachment "Manuel Ascunce Domenech", studying in the special course as a working student and beginning to teach classes between 1973 and 1974 at the Basic Secondary School of Students in the Countryside, ESBEC, Socialist Republic of Romania, in Alquízar.

In 1974, while still maintaining his status as a foreigner and able to be exempted from his patriotic responsibilities, he voluntarily enlisted in general military service, being assigned to military unit 3075, where he completed a course as a tank driver.

In early 1977, after completing military service, he was proposed and accepted the fulfillment of an internationalist mission in the People's Republic of Angola, undergoing training as a T-34 tank driver. During the mission, he was appointed head of the faculty of teachers who taught classes to soldiers and officers to raise their cultural level.

He was secretary of the youth committee, participating in a course for youth leaders and another for sappers, obtaining the first ranking in both courses.

In March 1979, he completed his internationalist mission, being decorated with the International Fighter medal.

Between 1979 and 1982, he studied at the aviation school "Carlos Ulloa", in San Julián, Pinar del Río, graduating as a pilot.

In 1982, the Society of Patriotic-Military Education (SEPMI), accepted him as a worker and entrusted him with the task of training pilots for the Revolutionary Armed Forces.

In that institution, he held positions as a flight instructor and leader of the youth base committee until 1985, when he was appointed head of the flight squadron at the San Nicolás de Bari base and head of the sports aeronautics section.

In 1990, he was accepted into the ranks of our glorious Communist Party of Cuba. At the end of that year, he departed for the United States.

In Miami, he gained access to different counter-revolutionary organizations that use North American territory to organize and carry out terrorist actions and constant provocations against our country, with the purpose of unleashing a military confrontation between Cuba and the United States.

His life in that country has developed under conditions of austerity and sacrifice, having as his only source of personal income his work as a flight instructor.

His wife, Olga Salanueva Arango, has been a party member since 1990 and is a graduate in industrial engineering. She began working in 1977 at the Tenerías-Habana company, first as an accountant and later as an engineer.

In January 1997, Olga traveled to the United States to join her husband, accompanied by her eldest daughter Irma González Salanueva.

Later, in 1998, a few months before being detained, the youngest of this valiant family, Ivette González Salanueva, would be born on North American soil.

As a result of René's detention and that of the rest of his companions, a process of threats and extortion of different kinds began against Olga and her daughters, which included psychological and economic pressures, with the objective of making her betray her husband, her homeland, and her revolutionary convictions.

From that moment on, the sacrifice and dangers to her personal safety and that of her family increased markedly.

Even under those circumstances, Olga decided to remain in the United States, coming to play an important role as a means of communication between the companions and their homeland, and as moral support. The companions saw in her the lineage of a Mariana Grajales, unbending and defiant.

The last attempt at a dishonorable and humiliating proposal by an impotent and anguished enemy was to try to break René's will, as we spoke about in Friday's round table.

The couple's response was not long in coming and, as a result, Olga suffered firsthand the most unjust of detentions, remaining in an INS prison in the United States for three months, during which time they failed to bend even slightly her rebellious and revolutionary character.

At the end of 2000, Olga Salanueva Arango was deported to Cuba, managing to reunite in our country with her two daughters.

Upon her return from the United States, the eldest daughter, Irmita, resumed her studies, first at the ESBEC Republic of Panama and currently at "Raúl Cepero Bonilla", in the municipality of Diez de Octubre.

The mother, Irma Sehwerert Mileján, joined revolutionary activities in the United States, where she emigrated accompanied by her parents.

Since her return to Cuba, she has fully engaged in revolutionary activities, being a prominent activist in mass organizations and a party member.

Her father, Cándido González Castillo, returned to Cuba in 1961 and became directly involved in revolutionary activities, popular mobilization, and the people's sugarcane harvests.

René enjoys great sympathy, admiration, and esteem among his four siblings: Roberto (deceased), Iván, Dayana, and Alina.

Currently, after having served the unjust sentence imposed by the courts of the United States in Marianna prison, Florida, René must remain in the United States under supervised release for three years.

By agreement with the U.S. government in 2013, René renounced his American citizenship and after this act was completed, he was allowed to return to Cuba, where he currently lives with his family and shares his experiences with the Cuban people.