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At 87 years old, Roberto Pizano speaks not from resentment, but from hope. After spending almost two decades in the prisons of the Cuban regime, surviving a gunshot to the head and witnessing the executions of men who simply asked for freedom, he asserts that today he sees "the end" of the system that imprisoned him as being near.
“I can say that the end is definitely near; we are witnessing it. It is an unsustainable system,” stated Pizano in comments reported by the American media Tampa Bay 28.
His story dates back to February 17, 1961, when he was captured in an ambush. A bullet grazed his head, and he fell unconscious before being arrested by regime forces. He was just in his early twenties. He would spend the next 18 years behind bars.
"I saw innocent men being executed simply for wanting freedom for Cuba," she recounted, through her son Rafael, who acted as a translator during the interview conducted at her home in Tampa by journalist Blake Phillips, according to the report from Tampa Bay 28.
Pizano was released in 1979 as part of negotiations with the Carter Administration. Since then, he has built a new life in the United States, started a family, and continued to denounce the repression on the island, organizing protests in Tampa and Washington. However, his gaze has never stopped pointing towards Cuba.
Today, amid the worsening economic crisis on the island and following the measures adopted by President Donald Trump, the former political prisoner believes that the country is at a crucial moment. He recalls the social uprising of 2021 as a sign that the people have lost their fear.
"I can only hope that what happened historically in 2021, when the people of Cuba rose up en masse for their freedom, can happen again," he expressed.
His greatest desire is not political, but deeply personal: to return one day to a free Cuba to share what he has learned from living in democracy.
"I hope to share the incredible experience I have had in this great nation, the United States, and share it with the Cubans when they are free in Cuba, about what freedom is. And what it is like to live in freedom," he said.
The name of Roberto Pizano is well-known among the Cuban exile community in Tampa. In recent years, he has participated in protests and public events denouncing the regime and advocating for the cause of political prisoners.
But beyond the activism, what resonates in his testimony is the perseverance of a dream that has endured 65 years of history, 18 years of imprisonment, and nearly nine decades of life.
While many on the island struggle with blackouts, shortages, and despair, this elderly man, who has known prison and exile, assures that he still believes in a return. Not as a visitor, but as a Cuban who wants to finally see his country live without fear.
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