Cuban MP on the future of the island

Cuba's former leader Raúl Castro, whose brother Fidel led a revolution on the island back in the 1950's, celebrated his 95th birthday today well away from public view.

Two weeks ago, Mr Castro was indicted by the United States which says he was responsible for the shooting down of two American planes at the time Raúl was Minister of Defence, in 1996. Havana insists the planes were operating without permission in Cuban airspace. Washington says they were not.

Gerardo Hernández is a former Cuban intelligence officer, now a member of Cuba's parliament, who spent years in Florida, spying on anti-Castro exiles living there. He and four fellow agents were arrested and imprisoned. The Cuban Five as they were known, were eventually released and deported during the thawing of relations under President Obama.

Newshour's Shaun Ley asked Gerardo Hernández whether Cubans were marking Mr Castro's birthday?

(Photo: Cuban National coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo, and one of the Cuban Five, speaks during an interview with AFP, in Havana, on 26 September 2023. Credit: Adalberto Roque/AFP via Getty Images)