"Maybe because I get to close to the wrong person, I was not in on the Moncada assault," recalls Rafael Cancel Miranda, while receiving in San Juan, Puerto Rico the recognition "500th Anniversary of the City of Santiago de Cuba".
With a resounding "I love you", Don Rafa, as affectionately is call here passed from hand to hand, the commemorative medal.
From "here" he said pointing to his head, at age 85 "I am 20-20," although I fail the vision and said regretfully had to give up travel to Cuba and elsewhere, not to recognize that status American passport imposed, given the colonial status of Puerto Ricans.
Always the example of his parents and appears in Cuban exile life in remembrance, - for 14 months, with the name of Lazarus in the 1950s, where he participated in building tunnel Havana Street Line, Fulgencio Batista until expelled him from the country.
Rafael Cancel Miranda, who was imprisoned in the US for 28 years, never forgets about the importance of Cuban solidarity in defense of the right of Puerto Rico to independence.
Similarly, precises the Cuba performance in the release of nationalist heroes Oscar Collazo, Lolita Lebron, Irving Flores and Andrés Figueroa Cordero in 1979.
Energetic, recalled other historical passages of his life, unyielding revolutionary ethics, act with his family and members of the twenty-fourth Juan Rius Rivera Brigade. The group recently returned from a trip to Cuba all of which include participation in the activities for the Day of National Rebellion, the July 26, 2015, in Santiago de Cuba.
Puerto Ricans were part of the celebration, along with 10 thousand people present, who accompanied the protagonists of this epic, Granma yacht expedition and Heroes of the Republic of Cuba.
Milagros Rivera, Chairperson of solidarity, also deserving of this Homage- noted that on 27 July, surprisingly, received the distinction of the Municipal Assembly of People's Power in Santiago de Cuba, in return for the defense of the Cuban people.
Oscar Lopez Rivera, Puerto Rican, the hemisphere's oldest political prisoner, imprisoned for thirty-four years in the United States, was recognized and represented by his daughter in Santiago de Cuba.
On occasion, Clarissa Lopez, expressed his excitement and "hope that her father returns to Puerto Rico, especially for international support and solidarity of which were also deserving the five Cuban heroes."