Lino Fernández

Lino Fernandez (1931) “was born in Esmeralda, Camagüey. He married Emilia Luzárraga in 1958 and has three children. He went to high school at Belén Jesuit School in Havana. He studied medicine at the University of Havana and clinical psychology at the University of Villanueva. He specialized in psychiatry at the San Juan de Dios Sanatorium and worked at Mazorra Hospital, both in Havana. He was a member of the Agrupación Católica Universitaria and the Catholic Psychiatric Institute.

“In 1953, he was among the founders of the League of Revolutionary Action (LAR) and participated in the struggle against the dictator, Fulgencio Batista. In October 1959, he was a founding member the Movement for Revolutionary Recovery (MRR). On February 17, 1961, he was captured in Las Villas province where he had joined the armed struggle against the Castro government. He was a political prisoner in Cuba for 17 years.

“In 1979, Dr. Fernández became an exile and now practices medicine in the United States. He specialized in general and geriatric psychiatry at Jackson Memorial Hospital. He is currently eligible for the US Board of Psychiatry. Since 1987, he has been a member of the American Society of Addiction Specialists. Between 1985 and 1990, he was medical director of the Drug Abuse Programs of the Archdiocese of Miami.

“Since 1989, his principal political activities have been: the Center for Democracy in Cuba; the Committee in Support of a Plebiscite in Cuba; the Coordinating Committee of Cuban Social Democracy; the Cuban Democratic Platform, the Cuban Committee for Democracy; and Mesa de Reflexión de la Oposición Moderada.”

In 2003 he was a board member of the Memory, Truth and Justice: Comparative Perspectives on National Reconciliation.