June 25 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama called on Cuba’s government to “unconditionally” release all of its political prisoners and allow them to “fully participate in a democratic future in Cuba.”

Obama, 47, cited three political prisoners who are the recipients of an award from the National Endowment for Democracy, a Washington based non-profit foundation. The president has said he is open to changing U.S. relations with Cuba if the communist country takes concrete steps toward democracy, including the release of dissidents.

“It is my sincere hope that all political prisoners who remain jailed, including three of today’s award recipients, will be unconditionally released,” Obama said in a statement.

Earlier this year, Obama removed travel limits for Cuban- Americans visiting family in Cuba, ended restrictions on how much money Cuban-Americans can send relatives on the island and allowed U.S. telecommunications companies such as AT&T Inc. to get licenses to operate there.

Obama and other administration officials have said it is up to Cuba to make the next move.

“The test for all of us is not only words, but also deeds,” Obama said April 19. “It is important to send the signal that issues of political prisoners, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, democracy” continue to be the main U.S. priorities.

Five Cubans were given the foundation’s award. Three of them -- Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, Librado Linares and Ivan Hernandez Carrillo -- have been imprisoned since 2003. The other two are currently under house arrest: Iris Tamara Perez Aguilera and her husband, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, who was released from prison in 2007.

Obama said that they and other pro-democracy Cubans are “brave men and women who are standing up for the right of the Cuban people to freely determine their country’s future.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Julianna Goldman in Washington at jgoldman6@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 25, 2009 11:31 EDT