Fernando González, one of the members of the Cuban Five, has been released after more than 15 years behind bars in the United States. González was transferred Thursday to an immigration prison pending deportation back to Cuba. His mother spoke in Havana praising the release of her son

Magali Llort: “For the Cuban people who have been fighting for a long time for this return, this is also a victory.”

The Cuban Five were arrested in 1998 and later convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. They say they were not spying on the United States, but trying to monitor violent right-wing Cuban exile groups. Another Cuban Five member was released in 2011; three others remain in prison.