Cuban Five Gerardo Hernandez elected to Council of State

Cuban deputies exercised their right to vote today to elect a new member of the Council of State, deputy Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, who holds the position of national coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR).

Esteban Lazo Hernández, president of the National Assembly of People's Power, explained that the vacancy in the Council of State was caused by the resignation of Carlos Rafael Miranda, who previously served as national coordinator of the CDRs.

Alina Balseiro, president of the National Electoral Council, said that since this session is taking place online, she has delegated the provincial electoral councils and the special municipality of Isle of Youth to assist her in the voting and counting in the territories.

María Consuelo Baeza, President of the Candidacy Commission, presented the draft candidacy and explained that a consultation process was carried out with more than 500 deputies, who expressed the merits of the proposal.

Hernández Nordelo, who graduated from the Institute of International Relations in 1989, participated in internationalist tasks in Angola and in the mid-1990s he carried out a mission in the United States to prevent terrorist actions by counterrevolutionary groups against the Cuban people.

In the northern country he was unjustly imprisoned for 13 years and on his return to Cuba he was awarded the title of Hero of the Republic.

As defined by the Constitution, the Council of State is the body of the National Assembly of People's Power that represents it between one session and another, executes its resolutions and fulfills the other functions that the Constitution attributes to it.

This body has a collegial character, is responsible before the parliament and is accountable to it for all its activities.