Cuban President congratulated internationalist soldier

 HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 31 (ACN) “Congratulations on your 65th birthday, dear Orlando, hero of our generation and of all those who believe in the values of dignity and the power of knowledge,” Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote on his Twitter account.

In 1978, during Cardoso’s second internationalist mission, this time in Ethiopia, he was the only survivor of a Somali ambush and became a prisoner of war. He was just 20 years old.

Upon his return to Cuba almost 11 years later, he was decorated with the honorary title of Hero of the Republic.

He is also recognized as a writer of children's books, testimony and several novels, the most outstanding of which is his 2003 book Reto a la soledad (Defying loneliness), about how he relied on his revolutionary spirit to cope with his years of imprisonment in Somalia.