Havana, Sep 1(AIN) Portuguese Nobel Laureate author Jose Saramago has added his signature to those of some 1,500 scientists, journalists, artists and political activists who have signed an open letter to the US Attorney General demanding the immediate release of the Cuban Five still unfairly confined in US penitentiaries.

The document, published for the first time last Tuesday in Havana, has had widespread international press coverage including major media in the United States. The Los Angeles Times, San Jose Mercury News, Houston Chronicle, Univision, El Diario (New York) and The Voice of the Americas have highlighted
the support of such prestigious international personalities for the cause of the Cuban Five.

Similarly, the Argentinean newspapers Pagina 12 and Clarin; Cronica Digital journal, from Chile; El Tiempo daily and Venezolana de Television, in Venezuela; the BBC, in the UK and El Universal, in Mexico have all published reports of the letter.

Academic and social activist Angela Davis was one of the first signers. For three decades she endured similar injustices to those suffered presently by the Cuban Five, giving her signature a symbolic meaning. Davis recently declared in Berlin that fighting for the freedom of the Cuban Five is fighting against international terrorism.

The number of signers of the open letter to the US Attorney General is expected to continue to grow. Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles, director of Central Station and Motorcycle Diaries; popular Puerto Rican singer Andy Montanez; dancer and cultural activist Julie Belafonte and novelist Luisa Valenzuela are among those joining the effort.

Gerardo Hernandez, Rámon Labañino, Fernando González,Antonio Guerrero y Rene Gonzalez, known worldwide as 'the Cuban Five,' were detained in 1998 by the FBI after they had infiltrated right wing Cuban American organizations in southern Florida to prevent terrorist activities against the Cuban and American people.

On August 9, a three judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals of Atlanta unanimously ruled that the 2001 trial in Maimi was clearly biased against the defendants, overturning their convictions and ordering a new trial.

After seven years in prison for crimes they never committed, most legal experts believe there is no grounds to keep them imprisoned.

(AIN) Septenber 1, 2005