Story highlights Pictures released Monday show Fidel Castro meeting with five Cuban intelligence agents

The agents were jailed in the United States for many years

Havana, Cuba (CNN) Photos published in Cuba's state-run press on Monday show Fidel Castro meeting with five Cuban intelligence agents who served lengthy prison sentences in the United States.

Castro reportedly met the agents Saturday at his home in Havana, ending speculation over why the former Cuban President had not yet seen the men, who are referred to as "the five heroes" by Cuba's government.

The last of the agents returned to Cuba in December following a prisoner swap that also freed U.S. State Department contractor Alan Gross, who was jailed in Cuba. The swap coincided with an announcement of a change in U.S. policy toward Cuba.

Castro's wife, Dalia Soto del Valle, is also shown, as is his nephew Alejandro Castro Espín, the son of Cuban President Raul Castro and a colonel in Cuba's Interior Ministry.

Fidel Castro, in blue, poses with five Cuban intelligence agents formerly jailed in the U.S.

These "anti-terrorist heroes never did any harm to the United States," Fidel Castro wrote in an article published in the daily Communist Party newspaper Granma on Monday, which said he met with them for five hours. "They tried to prevent and impede terrorist acts against our people."

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