US State Dep’t: Alan Gross Begins Fourth Year of Unjust Imprisonment
Latest update: December 4th, 2012
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Alan Phillip Gross
Mark C. Toner, Deputy Spokesperson for the US State Department, released the following statement on Monday:
“Tomorrow Alan Gross will begin his fourth year of unjustified imprisonment in Cuba. He was arrested on December 3, 2009 and later given a 15-year prison sentence by Cuban authorities for simply facilitating communications between Cuba’s Jewish community and the rest of the world.
“Mr. Gross is a 63-year-old husband, father, and dedicated professional with a long history of providing assistance and support to underserved communities in more than 50 countries.
“Since his arrest, Mr. Gross has lost more than 100 pounds and suffers from severe degenerative arthritis that affects his mobility, and other health problems. His family is anxious to evaluate whether he is receiving appropriate medical treatment, something that can best be determined by having a doctor of his own choosing examine him.
“We continue to ask the Cuban Government to grant Alan Gross’s request to travel to the United States to visit his 90-year-old mother, Evelyn Gross, who is gravely ill. This is a humanitarian issue.
“The Cuban government should release Alan Gross and return him to his family, where he belongs.”
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I hope that Alan Gross goes home soon. However it is really important to work through the rabid right wing anti Cuba media emanating from Miami and sections of Congress to really understand what is going on here. The Gross family has made a positive move by pressuring the Obama Administration that has inherited the 50 year failed US policy on Cuba. In the lawsuit, that the Gross family recently filed against the US government, they made it clear that Mr. Gross's contract with DIA was much more about implementing the Helms Burton Law, that codifies regime change in Cuba, than it was about helping the Jewish community in Cuba. A point they made in the lawsuit states, "one of the objectives was to develop and activate plans for launching a rapid response program that will meet USAID's interest in having and coordinating an on island presence". In other words developing a clandestine communication system that is in strict violation of Cuban law and sovereignty. For more information about Mr. Gross's assignment in Cuba everyone should read AP investigative reporter Desmond Butler's article. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9SS…. Anyone who is looking at this situation from an honest position can understand why the Cuban 5 had to come to the US to protect Cuba against terrorist attacks against them. What those men did was monitor terrorist groups operating freely in Southern Florida. Groups that have been financed, supported and encouraged by administration after administration since 1959. And what they got for that was long prison sentences. The Cuban 5 need to go home as does Mr. Gross , they too have love ones who miss them, they too have family members who are older and sick, they too have medical conditions that need attention. The Cuban government has made it clear that they are willing to discuss any and everything as long as it is a discussion based on mutual respect and without precondition. The ball is in the Obama court.
i had not seen that admission from their lawsuit — wow
And why don't they go in and get him? They do other missions like that!