The Cuban journalist Mario J. Pentón published a video in which he firmly responded to Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, the national coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, whom he referred to as the most mediocre spy in the history of Cuba.
The trigger was a post by Hernández on his profile "Gerardo de Los Cinco", in which he criticized those who mock from over 90 miles away at those preparing to defend their homeland with whatever they have, even with their nails, in a direct reference to Pentón after sharing images that mocked the so-called "artillary bulls" presented by the Cuban army during territorial defense exercises.
"Well, the most mediocre spy in the history of Cuba came out. Do you know what for? To attack me," Pentón said in the video, which garnered over 134,000 views in just a few hours.
Pentón rejected the label of coward that Hernández implicitly hurled at him and reminded him that his effectiveness as a spy had been questionable from the start: "This spy that the United States already had recorded, who they had identified before capturing him, calls me a coward because according to him I have not had the courage to free Cuba."
The journalist also reported that the Cuban State Security has systematically acted against him: "State Security has provided numerous reports about me, reports obtained by interrogating my family, interrogating my friends, searching, scrutinizing every aspect of my life, conducting smear campaigns against me."
Pentón listed specific cases of repression by the regime that, according to him, reveal where true cowardice lies: the harassment of Yoani Sánchez to prevent her from reporting on Cuban reality, the intimidation of young Ana Bensi and her mother, the imprisonment of minors aged 16 and 17 in Ciego de Ávila, and the jailing of Sulmira and other Cubans for criticizing the government on Facebook.
The most powerful moment of the video was when Pentón reminded Hernández of his role in the downing of the planes belonging to Hermanos al Rescate on February 24, 1996: "You know that you have the blood of four innocent people on your hands who were killed by that regime aboard civilian planes in international waters."
Hernández was sentenced in the United States to two life sentences plus 15 months for his role in the so-called "Operation Venecia," which enabled the shootdown in which four people died.
Pentón also referred to the fall of Nicolás Maduro, captured by U.S. forces in January 2026: "Maduro is there in a federal prison because of the ineptitude of people like you, of you all, of your group."
The exchange is not the first between the two. In May 2025, Hernández had already publicly attacked Pentón on social media following this meeting with the spy Fernando González Llort at Barajas airport in Madrid.
Pentón closed his video with a direct statement: "Yes, you are right. I'm not a neighborhood tough guy, but Gerardo, you all, you are the cowards. You are the cowards, the cowardly bullies of power."
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