Havana, Apr 5 (RHC) – U.S. Academician, Sandra Levinson, asked President Barack Obama on Thursday to pardon three Cuban antiterrorists incarcerated in her country for 15 years now for preventing the execution on the island of violent plans.

Levinson, executive director of the Center for Cuban Studies in New York, said in a letter to the head of state that Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero and Ramon Labañino, along with another two compatriots who already served their sentences, were condemned in 2001 for protecting the lives of their compatriots and of many U.S. citizens, the Cubadebate Web site reported on Thursday.

They and their comrades, Rene Gonzalez and Fernando Gonzalez, are known as The Five, and were arrested in 1998 for monitoring the activities of violent sectors in south Florida, from where these sectors plan actions like those that have claimed the lives of 3,400 victims in the Caribbean island over the last 53 years.

The academician sponsors talks, screenings, performances of Cuban artists and presentations of writers visiting the United States and has received important awards in Cuba for her work.

With her letter, she joined the international campaign in favor of the immediate and unconditional release of Gerardo, Antonio and Ramon, sentenced in Miami amid a hostile atmosphere favored by journalists paid with money of the U.S. government.

Rene and Fernando are in Cuba, after serving their sentences.