Crowned a national hero by Cuba's president last week, convicted spy Gerardo Hernández -- who was release last Dec. 17 after President Barack Obama commuted his double life sentence -- says he is ready to return to duty, Yahoo News reported.

"What I'm telling you right now, I already told Raúl Castro: I'm a soldier," the 48-year-old said pounding his chest. "I'm ready to receive my next order; I can serve anywhere my country believes I am useful."

The proud Fidelista was part of the so-called "Cuban Five," the spies the Obama administration exchanged for imprisoned American contractor Alan Gross and an unidentified CIA agent.

Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, René Gonzalez and Fernando Gonzalez had been arrested in 1998. Accused of operating a network out of southern Florida, they were convicted and sentenced to long prison terms in 2001, the Miami Herald recalled.

Fidel Castro met the five agents on Saturday at the revolutionary leader's home, and the Cuban government on Monday released photos of the encounter, the newspaper detailed. On Feb. 24, the spies had already been honored with the title of "Hero of the Republic of Cuba."

In an article, the elder Castro insisted that the spies "never harmed the United States in any way," Agencia EFE noted.

"They were trying to prevent and hinder terrorist acts against our people organized by the U.S. intelligence agencies, with which world opinion is very familiar," the 88-year-old claimed.

Raúl Castro, who succeeded his brother as Cuban president in 2008, said the five had fulfilled with "dedication, dignity and firmness" the "sacred mission" to defend the island from terrorism.

Today, Hernández ranks as rock-star celebrity in Cuba and is recognized and cheered wherever he goes, Yahoo News detailed. He and his wife, Adriana, are parents to a 7-week-old baby, Gema, and the family resides at a the foreign ministry villa -- a life the spy wrily compared his 16-year odyssey through the U.S. prison system.

"I have a new warden now," he said nodding toward a woman looming in the background. "My mother-in-law."

Hernández's release has angered many anti-Castro Cubans in South Florida and some members of Congress; Republican Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Bob Goodlatte recently called it "shameful" in a letter to the Bureau of Prisons.

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