Gerardo Hernández Nordelo was born in Havana on June 4, 1965, the third and youngest son of Gerardo Hernández Martí, since deceased, and Carmen Nordelo Tejera. He spent all his childhood in the Havana suburb of Víbora. He studied at his neighbourhood primary school, where he received several awards for his activities as a Young Pioneer, Cuba's children's organization.

He completed his junior high school education occupying different levels of responsibilities and finishing among the top students in his class. He began high school studies in 1980, and was elected as municipal delegate to the FEEM, the Union of Junior High and High School Students. In the 11th grade he was elected member of the Municipal Council of the FEEM.

Between 1983 and 1989 Gerardo studied at the Higher Institute of International Relations, finishing with excellent results. During his university studies he was outstanding for his participation in amateur festivals organised by the National Students Union, the FEU, as part of a theatre group and as a caricaturist.

In 1988 he married Adriana Pérez O'Connor, a graduate in chemical engineering and specialist at the Food Industry Research Institute. He went to Angola in 1989 to take part in an internationalist mission that earned him several medals and awards for bravery in combat.

During the 90's he took part in missions in the United States directed at preventing terrorist actions against Cuba, organized and carried out by counterrevolutionary groups in Miami. While in the United States he worked as a graphic artist.

Gerardo has the full support of his wife, Adriana Perez O'Connor, his mother, Carmen Nordelo Tejera, who was born in the Canary Islands and came to Cuba in 1950, and his surviving sister, Isabel Hernández Nordelo, all of whom work tirelessly to gain his release.

In addition to the general conspiracy count (Count 1) and the conspiracy to commit espionage (Count 2), Gerardo was the only defendant charged with Count 3, conspiracy to commit murder by the alleged unlawful killing of the four Brothers to the Rescue pilots by the shooting down by Cuban air force Mig pilots, in a disputed air space, on February 24, 1996. He was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment plus 15 years.