Two Cuban women, whose husbands are serving jail sentences in the US for allegedly committing espionage, are campaigning to be able to visit them after 10 years.

Since the so-called Cuban Five were arrested in Florida in 1998, the American authorities have repeatedly refused to grant their wives visas to visit them in jail.

The Cuban Five were convicted in a Miami court in 2001, charged with spying on Cuban exile groups. It was a controversial trial, as it took place in Miami, the centre of anti-Castro Cuban exile activities in the US.

Three of the wives have been allowed to visit their husbands in jail. But Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva have consistently been denied visas to enter the US.

The Cuban authorities claim the Cuban Five were not sent to Miami to spy on the US but to monitor anti-Castro exile groups considered a high danger to Cuban security.

The five are considered national heroes in Cuba, where posters of them are displayed across the country. They are also remembered regularly in demonstrations and rallies.