CUBA activists today released the text of a heartfelt plea from 16 US clergy leaders to President Barack Obama to review and revise the US policy on contact with Cuba.

The senior clerics wrote: “As religious leaders in the United States, we are writing to you to express our hope that you will take bold executive action to improve the relationship between our nation and Cuba.”

“We welcome the changes to US-Cuba policy that your administration made in 2011.” 

And late last year we were delighted to hear you call for an update in US-Cuba policy.”

But they struck a more sombre tone when they moved on to more recent events.

The clerics noted that they had been “disappointed with the pace of change in US policy.” 

“This issue,” they said, “has become more urgent with the recent hunger strike by imprisoned USAID [US Agency for International Development] contractor Alan Gross to highlight his plight and to urge high-level action by your administration to secure his release.”

They called on the US President to enter into immediate discussions with the Cuban government at the highest levels and stressed that “these discussions must take into consideration the concerns of the Cubans about US policy, including the imprisonment of the remaining three members of the Cuban Five.”

The clerics drew attention to a recent visit to Washington by six Cuban church leaders. 

They noted that, for many years, US and Cuban churches had worked together toward common goals and pointed out that the relationships had been strengthened recently.

 And they called for immediate action to remove Cuba from the US’s State Sponsors of Terrorism list, which they described as “an unnecessary irritant in an already tense relationship which undermines the credibility of the list itself and harms our relations with the rest of the Western hemisphere.”

And the clerics were not alone. Even Florida gubernatorial hopeful Charlie Crist said last week that it was long past time to lift the trade embargo.

“The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result,” Mr Crist told Florida reporters.