Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, the Cuban ex-spy sentenced to two life terms in the United States and currently the national coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), published a congratulatory message on Facebook on Tuesday, celebrating the 59th birthday of world record holder in high jump Javier Sotomayor.
"The pencil mark at 2.45 m should still be on the wall of my cell in Victorville, California. I made it because Cubans have the right to brag, being compatriots of the man who has jumped the highest in history. Happy birthday, Javier Sotomayor!" he wrote on his page "Gerardo de Los Cinco," which he regularly uses to spread regime propaganda.
The publication refers to the time the former spy was incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Complex in Victorville, where he served the last decade of his sentence.
This is not the first time Gerardo has shared photos that showcase his friendship with the legendary athlete. In January 2025, he posted a picture of both of them playing dominoes with the renowned baseball manager Armando Ferrer.
"When you were never good at baseball, nor in athletics, but with manager Armando Ferrer, you beat Javier Sotomayor," he wrote then on his account of X.
Gerardo was the leader of the so-called Red Avispa, a Cuban espionage network that operated in south Florida during the 1990s with the aim of infiltrating organizations of Cuban exiles.
He was sentenced in 2001 to two life sentences plus 15 years in prison for conspiracy to commit espionage and for his involvement in the downing of two planes from Brothers to the Rescue on February 24, 1996.
After his release in 2014 during the thaw between the United States and Cuba, the regime rewarded him with positions of power: he assumed national coordination of the CDR in September 2020 and was promoted to the Council of State three months later.
For his part, Sotomayor is a figure who does not criticize the Cuban regime and has systematically praised Fidel Castro over the years.
The only athlete in the world who has surpassed 2.45 meters in high jump, in 2018 described Castro as "a guide" who made Cuban elite sports possible and stated, "Fidel Castro is present in every workplace, in every medal, in every result and will eternally be among us."
In June 2019, he publicly thanked Castro for allowing him to compete in the Olympics in Sydney after the doping scandal at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, where he tested positive for cocaine and was stripped of his gold medal: "I thank Commander Fidel for trusting my word. The opportunity to jump in Sydney is thanks to Fidel."
In February 2020, in an interview with La Vanguardia, he defended the regime with the phrase "We are not poor", attributing the country's difficulties to the U.S. embargo and denying the reality of the scarcity faced by the Cuban population.
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