Human beings have a tendency to elevate to hero status, individuals from bygone eras. The men and women we venerate are usually long-since dead and perhaps that makes it easier to gloss over their human foibles and follies and concentrate on what makes them \"great.\"

Today however, comes word that the Cuban people have a new hero - and he isn\'t dead and buried.

Hector Palacios, a 66-year-old Cuban dissident who was rounded up with 75 other peaceful proponents of change during the island\'s \"Black Spring\" of 2003, is going home. The announcement came yesterday from Puerto Rico, during a visit to our sister island from Spain, where Palacios had been living in exile since his early release from prison in December 2006.

Palacios, who had received a medical parole in Cuba, told reporters that he and wife Gisela Delgado would be returning to Cuba in a bid to resume the leadership role in his outlawed opposition group, \"Liberal Unity.\" Their ultimate goal is the liberation of Cuba\'s over 230 political prisoners.

Said Palacios, who stated his willingness to meet with Cuban \"President\" Raul Castro: \"We want a country where people can live in peace . . . Change is going to happen . . . There\'s one obstacle. Fidel is alive.\"