Port au Prince, February 21 (RHC) -- Cuban residents in Haiti signed a letter addressed to Pope Benedict XVI, requesting his mediation in the case of the five Cubans unjustly imprisoned in the United States, local media reported Monday.

The letter, signed by members of the Association of Cuban Residents and Descendants in Haiti and by Haitian friends of Cuba, denounces the 50-year-long US blockade against Cuba and requests His Excellency The Pope to speak in favor of the immediate release of Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez, Ramon Labañino and Rene Gonzalez -- internationally known as the Cuban Five-- who remain in US prisons since 1998.

This action is part of activities organized every month in Haiti to support the fight for the return of the five anti-terrorism fighters.

The “Cuban Five” were jailed in September 1998 for reporting on violent schemes by far-right anti-Cuba groups based in Miami.

They were then convicted in 2001 by a Florida court on alleged espionage charges and were given excessively long sentences, and routinely denied visits by their family members, who are residing in Cuba.

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