PARIS-Two important individuals in France - Bernard Thibault, general secretary of the General Labor Federation, and Senator Hélène Luc - have added their names to an open letter to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez demanding the immediate release of the five Cuban heroes incarcerated in U.S. jails.

At the request of Fernando González’s wife Rosa Aurora Freijanes, who is in Paris as part of a Cuban delegation to the festival, the prominent trade union leader and the respected social activist have signed the open letter along with thousands of French people at the Fête de l’Humanité, a large annual festival in that country.

Thibault heads the largest French trade union federation, which has tens of thousands of members.

As she signed the document, Senator Luc noted that the French Senate had financially supported the creation of the Casa Victor Hugo in Old Havana, and reaffirmed the senators’ conviction that "Cuba should live."

"The role of your country and your struggle against the U.S. government - and not the people of that country - is what unites us with the Cuban people," the Senator explained. "That is why we should help you to carry out large things, large projects," she added.

Luc affirmed that she would immediately talk to Senator Poncelet, president of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, regarding the "actions that we can take for the release of those five Cubans."

She also noted that the Communist Party of France will soon be participating in an official delegation to the United Nations, "centrally to defend the UN reform project proposed by Secretary General Kofi Annan, which has been subjected to 750 amendments by the United States in its desire to eliminate the Millennium Goals." On that occasion, she plans to see how she might intervene on behalf of the Five, Luc added.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of French people visit the Fête de l’Humanité, a gigantic fair with representatives from leftist organizations all over the world.

The Cuba stand at the event was opened on Friday, September 9 by Cuban Ambassador Rogelio Sánchez. The Cuban delegation is headed by poet Nancy Morejón.