E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSIn what could be the setting for a gripping thriller, Cuba and the U.S. are reportedly locked in a standoff this weekend, with the fate of an American contractor hanging in the balance. NBC's Michael Isikoff reports.
HAVANA, Cuba — It seems straight out of a Cold War spy movie. A group of Cuban undercover agents sneak into the U.S. and set up a secret pro-Castro network in south Florida — receiving instructions in code through late night radio transmissions from handlers in Havana. But the FBI gets wind, tails the agents, intercepts their messages and busts them, sending the agents off to federal prison, their ringleader for life.
Today, the story of those spies — called La Red Avispa, or the Wasp Network — rolled up by the feds 14 years ago is barely known in the United States. But its members, now known as the Cuban Five, are national heroes in Cuba — the subjects of mass demonstrations, their pictures on billboards and posters – and their petitions for freedom are championed around the world by Nobel Prize winners, celebrities like Danny Glover, even former President Jimmy Carter.
And they may now prove key to the tense impasse between Havana and Washington over the fate of jailed American contractor Alan Gross, arrested three years ago Monday for distributing sophisticated satellite equipment to Cuba’s tiny Jewish community and later sentenced to 15 years in prison for "acts against the independence and/or territorial integrity of the state." (Gross says he was only bringing Internet access to Cuba.)
While the U.S. is demanding that Cuba release Gross, who visitors say is angry and frail, having lost 110 pounds in prison, Cuban officials say they are willing to do so only if President Barack Obama will release the Cuban agents.
"I understand what Mr. Gross is going through," Gerardo Hernandez, 47, the Cuban Five ringleader, said in an exclusive interview with NBC News in October at his current home --a federal prison outside Victorville, Calif. "I understand his sufferings and that of his family. … If an agreement can be reached, to stop the sufferings of six families, then I welcome it."
The idea of a swap — the release of Gross for Hernandez and his confederates among the Cuban Five — faces legal and political hurdles.
NBC News
A billboard in Cuba shows the Cuban Five -- Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González.
An Obama administration official told NBC News that the "imprisonment of Alan Gross, an international development worker, is not comparable in any way to that of the five Cuban agents," noting that the Cubans were afforded their "due process rights" and convicted of serious crimes.
Cuban Five ringleader Gerardo Hernandez
Members of Congress have denounced Cuba for holding Gross "hostage" to the release of the Cuban Five. "The Castro regime has no regard for human rights or international law," said Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and frequent critic of the Castro regime. "The Cuba Five should serve their sentences for spying."
And Hernandez, who sports a trim goatee and displays a hearty laugh despite 14 years in prison, might not make the ideal candidate for a pardon or commutation from Obama — a precondition for a swap to take place. Asked if he regretted any of his actions, he smiled and said, "I regret that I got caught." In a follow up phone interview, Hernandez readily acknowledged that "we violated some U.S. laws" — mainly failing to register as foreign agents with the U.S. Justice Department. "We came here with fake passports. Fake identities." But, he added, "We act out of necessity."
As Hernandez and Cuban officials tell it, the Cuban Five was not sent to spy on the U.S. government. In fact, the members weren’t accused of stealing any U.S. secrets (although they were convicted of conducting surveillance of U.S. military bases.) Instead, the mission of the Wasp Network, they say, was to infiltrate anti-Castro exile groups in South Florida who Havana suspected of plotting terrorist attacks inside Cuba. Among those attacks: the notorious bombing of Cubana Flight 455 over the Caribbean in 1976, killing 73 passengers (including teenage members of a Cuban national fencing team) as well as a string of hotel bombings in Havana in 1997 that killed an Italian businessman and were believed to have been aimed at disrupting Cuba’s nascent tourist industry.
"Cuba doesn’t have drones to neutralize the terrorists abroad," said Hernandez. "They need to send people to gather information and protect the Cuban people from these terrorist actions. … I think it’s the same feeling that Americans have that defend their country and love their country when they go to infiltrate al-Qaida and send information here to avoid the terrorist acts. And the U.S. has to understand that Cuba has been involved in the war against terrorism for 50 years.”
Alan Gross in an undated family photo, left, and in 2012, after losing 110 pounds while imprisoned in Cuba.
While admitting his role in spying on anti-Castro exiles — "I would do it again," he said — Hernandez adamantly denies the most serious charge against him: conspiracy to commit murder. His conviction on that count, which has earned him a life sentence, was based on his alleged complicity in the February 1996 shoot-down by a Cuban fighter jet of two Cessna planes flown by members of the Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue, killing four men.
The anti-Castro group had provoked Cuba by dropping anti-government leaflets over Havana. At the trial of the Cuban Five, prosecutors introduced messages between Hernandez and his controllers in Havana suggesting he had prior knowledge of the shoot-down. But Hernandez insists that prosecutors misinterpreted the messages and he knew nothing that wasn’t already public.
"No, sir, absolutely not," Hernandez replied when asked if he knew in advance about the incident. "All I knew was what everybody knew: that Brothers to the Rescue through the years has violated many times Cuban air space, that there have been 16 diplomatic notes from Cuba complaining over that situation."
/
Ricardo Alarcon, president of the Cuban National Assembly
Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba’s National Assembly (the Parliament) and a longtime Castro confidante, said this week in Havana that "the Cuban government publicly, front page in our papers, months before that incident had warned that we are not going to allow any more intrusions into our air space. … The order, the decision (to shoot down the planes) came from the highest level. Fidel Castro himself had said that publicly, that he was responsible for that decision."
U.S. Appeals Court Judge Phyllis Kravitch of Atlanta concluded in 2008 that prosecutors never proved their case tying Hernandez to a plot to shoot down the planes, but she was outvoted two to one and his conviction on the murder conspiracy charge was upheld. Now Hernandez and his lawyers are appealing on another ground: that hundreds of thousands of dollars in secret U.S. government payments to anti-Castro journalists in Miami — newly discovered through Freedom of Information Act requests — inflamed the Miami community against the Cuban Five and made it impossible for them for them to get a fair trial. The payments were mostly made for appearances on Radio Marti, a TV and radio operation funded by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an independent agency that oversees international broadcasting sponsored by the U.S. government.
Slideshow: Castro through the years
In court papers, lawyers for the Cuban Five have cited articles by some of the journalists, including one that denounced the "genocidal character" of Castro’s regime and another that speculated that the real purpose of the Wasp Network was to introduce "chemical or bacteriological weapons" into south Florida. “"his information was spread throughout the Miami area and helped inflame the community against these guys," said Martin Garbus, Hernandez’ lawyer. "It was total madness. … When the case was brought, the anti-Castro feeling in the Miami area was at a fevered pitch."
Keystone / Getty Images
Ever since U.S.-backed Cuban President Fulgencio Batista was forced from power by rebels led by Fidel Castro in 1958, the relationship between the two nations has been fraught with difficulties.
U.S. prosecutors dismiss as “implausible” and "unfounded" the idea that the Radio Marti payments were part of a U.S. government effort to influence the jury in the Cuban Five case.
"The jury (in the case) was carefully selected, following a searching voir dire (jury selection process) that the appellate court deemed a high model for a high-profile case, and that the trial comported with the highest standards for fairness and professionalism,” wrote Caroline Heck Miller, an assistant U.S. attorney in Miami, in a court filing in July asking a judge to reject Hernandez’ motion for a hearing into the payments to the journalists. She also noted, as federal prosecutors have repeatedly done when the issue has come up, that “no Cuban-Americans – the audience (Hernandez) hypothesizes as the target of the government campaign he imagines — served on the jury."
Unless Hernandez can somehow persuade a court to reopen his case – or barring a prisoner swap with Gross — he would seem to have few options.
American imprisoned in Cuba may have cancer, doctor says
Rene Gonzalez, another member of the Cuban Five who was not convicted of the conspiracy-to-commit-murder charge, was released from federal prison on probation late last year, but has not yet been allowed to return home to Cuba to live.
/
Adriana Perez, wife of imprisoned Cuban agent, Gerardo Hernandez
The Cubans are doing their best to ratchet up the pressure. Just as Judy Gross has launched a public relations campaign in the United States to free her husband, appearing at a National Press Club press conference on Friday, this week the Cubans made Hernandez wife, Adriana, available for an interview with NBC News. A chemist in the food industry in Havana, she wept as she described the pain of separation from her husband — and how it has left her unable to bear children. "Every detail, every single moment reminds me of him," she said. "I believe there are many people in the U.S. and the American people as a whole, who could convey to President Obama that there is a woman here suffering."
Hernandez, too, says missing his wife is the hardest part of his life in prison. And he has few illusions about his prospects of being freed. "The only thing I know for sure with me is that I have two life sentences and live with that every day," he said. "And to keep your sanity and your mind, you have to be realistic. But I would be dishonest to say that I don’t have hope."
Michael Isikoff is NBC News' national investigative correspondent; NBC News Producer Mary Murray also contributed to this report.
More from Open Channel:
Follow Open Channel from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
Leave a Comment:
Okay give me a moment.. Let's add Mitt Romney, Kim K , Donald Trump and a years supply of cuban cigars and we've got a deal!
Kim K is on your team pal.
maybe if they toss in a prestine 64 Caddy and a 57 Chevy. and a few old parts cars too.
Sorry... 64 is too new... oops.... back that up to 62. Yikes, Leno would shoot me.
ALAN GROSS IS NOT A SPY! EVEN THE CUBAN "GOVERNMENT" HAD TO ADMIT THAT! HE DOESNT EVEN SPEAK SPANISH! SOME SPY!
N.Y. TIMES: Senators Urge Castro to Release American - By JONATHAN WEISMAN - February 24, 2012
Delaware Democrat who along with Mr. Leahy met Thursday with Mr. Gross at a military prison hospital in Havana, the capital, said prison conditions “are not great.” But he said Mr. Gross appeared to be treated better than a typical Cuban prisoner.
“He’s lost a stunning amount of weight,” “He is very thin.”
The senators are part of a group of six lawmakers traveling to Cuba, Haiti and Colombia to widen agricultural trade with Cuba, inspect recovery efforts from the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and discuss antidrug efforts in South America. Also in the group are Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota, and Representatives Xavier Becerra, Democrat of California, and Peter Welch, Democrat of Vermont.
The meeting with Mr. Castro was the first high-level contact since former President Jimmy Carter dined with him in April 2010. The imprisonment of Mr. Gross has chilled any thaw that might have happened in the wake of the resignation of the longtime Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, and the assumption of the presidency by his brother Raúl.
Mr. Gross, a Maryland resident, was sentenced last year to 15 years in prison after his arrest in 2009 while serving on a democracy-building project financed by the United States Agency for International Development. Mr. Gross, who was accused of bringing satellite and other communications equipment to Cuba, was convicted of crimes against the state, not espionage. Cuban authorities “do not consider Alan Gross a spy,” Mr. Leahy said.
Mr. Gross had traveled to Cuba five times in 2009 under his own name before his arrest.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE!
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/25/us/politics/senators-meet-with-raul-castro-seeking-release-of-alan-gross.html
Why are you Cubans so obsessed with what happens in Cuba? I'm tired of the United States' obsession with Cuba and the sh*t that come from our involvement there. If you're a Cuban and you're in the United States, be grateful you're in this country and for the opportunities you have here. If you're so obsessed with Castro and what happens in Cuba, go back to Cuba.
doctor13a!! how do you know i am cuban? are you a spy? people in the usa have their causes, like tibet or others! dont tread on my freedom of speech!
HUMBERTO CAPIRO:
I have $200,000 that says you are Cuban. Are you ashamed? Every single post on your homepage is a comment on an article about Cuba.....since August of 2011. Dead giveaway.
I am older than you are. I remember the REVOLUCION. I'd be also willing to bet you are from a family that fled rather than being tossed out of Cuba. I can tell by your posts.
Sooooo, how much did your family leave behind....was it millions or billions of dollars???? Too bad (not). If you and President Batista hadn't been hanging around Havana having a good ole time while your paisanos starved....you'd still be in Cuba.
YOU AND THOSE LIKE YOU ARE WHY CASTRO TOOK CUBA....there is a truth for you to swallow.
Why am I so passionate? One of your upper-crust elitist puercas exiled to my hometown and brought her attitudes with her. She spent more time talking hate about Castro than teaching Spanish. In today's world she would get fired. We had a foreign exchange student from Chile who got fed up with her and basically told her what I have in bold above.
She assaulted him, scratched him so bad across the face he was hospitalized for lascerations on his scleras and corneas (eyes). Then she claimed it was an accident. I learned a LOT of the Spanish swear words I know during that confrontation....comunista, punta, besa mi cola (?), joto, etc.....
It is because Cuba was such a stark contrast of "haves" and "have nots" that Castro took over. That is the fault of aristocrats like yourself.
One thing you'll have to learn is to read between the lines in American papers, Humberto, especially when you read statements like, ""the source spoke on the condition that they remain anonymous because they did not have the authority to release the information." Anyhow, I think the main reason that relations have not been normalized is because after 50 years their are a dozens of fugitives and traitors in both countries that fear an extradition treaty. Not saying that Mr Gross was doing this, but somebody like him could go into Cuba and get a bead on American traitors and fugitives in Cuba and start reporting. Traitors don't want Cuba to normalize relations with the U.S., Cuba is their refuge. Both countries might benefit from revoking the citizenship of said people and developing diplomatic relations with the actual sovereigns.
We should tell Cuba to go to hell. Castro ranted for years about how he and the Soviet Union were going to destroy the US. That's why we have an embargo against Cuba. I'm tired of hearing about how our policy against Cuba is being dictated by Cuban-Americans in FL. That's nonsense and only comes from people who either don't know or understand the history of the problems and threats we have had from Castro. Here's something else I'll bet those people don't know: Castro wasn't a communist during the revolution. He became one only to get support from the Soviet Union. He was a scumbag then and he hasn't changed a bit.
ALAN GROSS WAS "PLUCKED" FROM THE REST OF THE TOURISTS BECAUSE HE WAS IDENTIFIED AS A POSSIBLE HOSTAGE TO TRADE FOR THE CUBAN 5 SPIES DUE TO HIS WORK WITH USAID! HE HAD A RECEIPT FOR WHAT HE BROUGHT IN AND THAT FACT CAME OUT IN THE TRIAL! THIS WAS SOMETHING THE CASTROFASCISTS WERE NOT PREPARED FOR! THAT IS THE REASON THEY CHANGED HIS CHARGES FROM BRINGING IN A "SATELLITE" PHONE TO "CRIMES AGAINST THE STATE"!! MR. GROSS DOES NOT SPEAK SPANISH! SOME SPY! AN IF THE CASE WAS SUCH A "SLAM DUNK" WHY WAS THE INTERNATIONAL PRESS BARRED FROM HIS TRIAL AND THE SUBSEQUENT APPEALS? JUST ASK YOURSELF THAT SIMPLE QUESTION!
SAN DIEGO CHANNEL 10 : With American In Cuban Prison, Wife Hopes For Clemency- Alan Gross Convicted Of Trying To Subvert Cuban Gov't - From Jill Dougherty,CNN Foreign Affairs Correspondent
"The equipment is illegal in Cuba without government permission, but a source close to the case told CNN that "at trial, the defense presented a receipt from Cuban Customs to demonstrate the Cubans were both aware of and approved what Alan brought in.""
http://www.10news.com/news/29066339/detail.html
CBS NEWS: Cuban Jewish leader knew imprisoned American-First member of Cuba's small Jewish community admits knowing and talking to American Alan Gross, imprisoned for allegedly smuggling illegal satellite communication devices-By Portia Siegelbaum
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/02/24/501364/main20036259.shtml
NPR : In Cuba, Jailed American Alan Gross Faces Trial
BLOCK: Now, foreign journalists, I understand, are not allowed into the courtroom to cover the trial. You were outside the courthouse today. What were you able to learn there?
MIROFF: That's right. He's being tried in a small municipal courthouse far away from the city center.
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/04/134272743/In-Cuba-Jailed-American-Faces-Trial
I have a much better idea....We'll drop one medium range rocket on your heads daily (targeted at Castro's "compound") until you release Mr. Gross. Sounds like a fair trade to me. By the way Fidel....... Look up! You're on Candid Camera!
NOT “5" BUT 12 CUBAN SPIES: The “Five Cuban Heroes” proclaimed by the Cuban regime were actually part of a network of 12 spies that infiltrated the U.S. In addition to the five spies who maintained their innocence but were convicted in a jury trial (with no Cuban-American jurors), five pleaded guilty to charges of spying in exchange for reduced sentences, one was deported, and one fled to Cuba to escape arrest. The trials cost U.S. taxpayers one million dollars to provide the defendants with a free legal representation. An appeals court is reviewing the five spies’ conviction.
THE CUBAN 5 "WASP NETWORK" A SUMMARY OF HISTORY AND TRIAL!
In 1995, after obtaining FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) Court approval, the FBI obtained warrants to surreptitiously search apartments and monitor telephone communications by a group of Cubans who were Cuban intelligence operatives. The group, through its principal agents or illegal officers, communicated directly with the Cuban Government about its activities and received specific missions and taskings from the Cuban Government. The instructions were subsequently relayed to the other members of the spy ring as appropriate.
During the searches, the FBI uncovered and read the contents of the communications from and to the Cuban Government. This information was concealed in hidden files on computer floppy diskettes kept in the residences of three of the principal agents.
At Cuban Government direction, the Cuban spy ring collected and reported information on domestic, political, and humanitarian activity of anti-Castro organizations in the Miami-Dade county area; the operation of US military installations; and other US Government functions, including law enforcement activity. The spy ring also carried out tasks in the United States as directed by the Cuban Government, which included attempted penetration of US military installations, duplicitous participation in and manipulation of anti-Castro organizations, and attempted manipulation of US political institutions and government entities through disinformation and pretended cooperation. The spy ring received financial support from the Cuban Government to carry out its tasks.
CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE DOCUMENT!
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=94546591
Kinda funny how we seem to love COMMUNIST CHINA.
But hate COMMUNIST CUBA. How could that be?????????? Both COMMUNISTS!!!
Could it be that China makes our corporations a huge profit??? Via close to slave labor. Killing American jobs but profiting the corporations.
Or that trade with Cuba, would damage both FL. tourism , and the subsidized sugar industry????
No friend of Cuba here. But the policy doesn't scream common sense.
What common sense is there in comparing our relations with China to lack of relations with Cuba? They are completely unrelated situations. So far as money is concerned, wouldn't the US make out pretty well by selling goods to Cuba, and also by building plants there to take advantage of cheap labor? Any hypothetical loss of tourism or loss of the low margin sugar business would be more than made up by other business opportunities. You should think before spouting "common sense".
Incorrect: Oct311960: They are both COMMUNISTS. There is NO difference in their basic philosophies. Thus they ARE related situations.
The ONLY difference is that one makes our multi-nationals a profit , the other simply does not currently. You say it could?? Apparently, the multi-nationals disagree with you.
Being the genius , you are, you do not realize, you attacked a post reflecting your position, and reenforcing the original point .
And does it matter if they are communists? Honestly we have to get over that antiquated cold war mindset of "spreading democracy to the world" and "curtailing the spread of communism". Its not winning us any freinds you know.
So the multi-nationals disagree with me - so what? I have no intention of agreeing with them any more than Cuba. Speaking of "basic philosophies" how does the fact that they are both communist countries relate to their foreign policies? Communism is primarily an economic system. Yes, it's been badly bastardized into primarily dictatorships, but those countries are still at will to form their own alliances beyond the fact that they are communist. Just like we do as a capitalist nation. Is there no difference between us and other capitalist nations? How about France? Czech Republic? South Africa? You could cite many major differences between us and other capitalist countries. China wouldn't have any more to do with Cuba than an elephant has with a stink bug.
Actually, totally by accident , Oct131960, you hit the truth.
"China wouldn't have any more to do with Cuba than an elephant has with a stink bug."
China is a resource , manufacturing , elephant. Cuba is a resource , manufacturing stinkbug in comparison.
And THAT IS the reason for the difference in POLICY.
"Communism is primarily an economic system. Yes, it's been badly bastardized into primarily dictatorships" True , but I suspect your thinking of Marxism. A different theory, corrupted by Communism.
dahwhatsdat: I'm pointing out the difference in official policy between similar political states.
If that's what causes the difference in policy, then why do we have trade relations with other small communist countries? That theory doesn't hold water. If China was located 90 miles from the US and had a scumbag dictator threatening us for 50 years, supposedly backed-up by the Soviet Union, we would have no relations with them either. That's what has caused the difference in policy, plain and simple.
So we are using temps for espionage? Good Greif.
He was a nice little naive american who thought Cuba was a good place with poor people. He got snatched, found out different, and now he's a poker chip.
Small special force should be sent to bring him back. If they are going to be a terrorist nation they should be treated as the others.
I don't think anybody is dumb enough to take a bunch of high tech satellite receivers and try to set up internet access as a "contractor" in a totalitarian state like Cuba and not understand that there are risks.
Whose satellite was he hooking up to?
What did we nail the 5 for ... Not having Government of Cuba ids?
Sounds like trading a bronze apple for 5 regular ones. I think the deal sounds pretty fair.
Wait a minute the US government denies all responsibility for their guy. While the Cuban government
accepts responsibility for their five. Forget the posturing ... the deal just might be too good,
especially since we still have our fingers and toes intact!
Oh my god just make the trade. And cancel that useless relic of an embargo while your at it to. Honestly the only dictatorships America likes are the ones we helped to set up in the first place.
Also boo to all the calls for strongarm tactics in retreiving this guy. Do you want to get us potentially into a fight with half the world over aggression? Do you want the UN to say "@!$%# you" and kick us out, retracting all benifits of membership and refusing to trade with us?
If they would have shot this 5 @!$%#s that came here to spy on us in the first place, there would not have been any kind of negotiation and this would have been done and over with kind of deal.....let them rot in federal prison. They deserve it, for being agents of a dictatorial government that has oppressed and impoverish its own people for 50 years
Wouldnt you say the same of the nosy US agents that go poking around other countries? Or do you want them to be returned to us alive?
I think you are missing the elephant in the room. I am not talking about US agents in other countries. I am talking about these @!$%#s.
Think about it, if we start executing the spies we've captured then what will those countries start doing if they capture our spies? They will execute them.
Negotiating with terrorists, or hostage-takers, or simply those who do not wish us well only encourages more of the same behavior in the future. The Cubans are obviously un-repentant, and would no doubt do the same things again that got them arrested in the first place.
As for Gross, I'm sorry for his plight, but he knew what he was doing was against Cuban law and did it anyway. Yes, he's probably being held in worse conditions there than the Cubans are here, but he chose to go there and commit illegal acts. And prison, any prison, is no picnic.
I don't really care about the wife who cannot have children because her husband is locked up. He chose to take the risk and was caught; her lack of children is his fault, not ours. For every prisoner in every place on the face of the earth there is probably someone left behind who is missing him/her. This particular wife doesn't deserve any special consideration.
My views may be considered harsh by many, and, lest you think I'm a right-wing nut, let me explain that I consider myself to be a pragmatic liberal. If we wish to be a nation of laws, then we must abide by our laws. If our citizens choose to go places where we cannot protect them, do illegal things and get caught, well, the risk is theirs.
I repeat, negotiating in these circumstances only leads to more of the same undesirable results. We need to learn that lesson. Here's a good place to start.
Meh thats another viable option. I like it also as much as actually agreeing to their demands.
I say we should make a deal. Cuba can have its spies back if they also take back all of the human garbage they dumped on the U.S. when Castro cleaned out his prisons in 1980 during the Mariel boatlift.
Gross doesn't look so "gros" after this extended stay in sunny Cuba! It could, in fact extend his life! Maybe we should send our obese populace over there like Castro emptied his jails and sent his undesirables to the US! We'll rehabilitate his criminals if he can rehabilitate our "greatest losers"!
A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush. I say we keep what we've got.
Why not, this administration has not done anything to make us safer, and it's not like releasing them is going to send them back to wealth and luxury! So let bring a real american home and send the spies back.
Question, when are intelligent Americans going to stay out of rogue countries, seems the most intelligent folks lack basic common sense. What free American in their right mind would even want to set foot in Cuba. It's sad he's there, but whose fault is it really. Maybe he should have took a job here at McDonalds serving fries, and still have a life, go figure. The Cubans need to remain in prison, let Gross set up the internet in jail, nuff said?
What a deal. For Cuba. If this goes through, from now on all they have to do is start kidnapping Americans at random when they're in Cuba and then making all kinds of demands to set them free. It's what I would do if the Americans were stupid enough to go for it. After all, there's bunches of Americans in Cuba, a virtual treasure trove of money makers.
no, stupid, if you are making money do you piss off your source? They are actually pretty educated and are not particularly interested in having our Marines arrive in a hostage situation. They all get it, and you watch too many movies.
I say let em all wrot.And throw in Axlerod,Rice,Obama, and a few Republicans and the whole lot of MSNBC in there too.As a Navy Vet I respect your opinion as well as you should respect mine. Have a nice day.
PS Throw in all the Kardashians too
I laughed so hard at your comment :) I've wanted to throw all of them over their myself :) Merry Christmas.
Oh for the love of Christ you americans.. get over it. Normalize relations with that pissant island already. Our economy could use the boost. Their economy needs help and materials as well.
Oh I bet you mother------- FBI are monitoring me right now ...come and get me !
Throw in convicted Cop Killer and Prison Escapee Joanne Chesamard. Get this POS back to NJ
Nothing at all like the Cuban Missle Crisis is at all likely to happen these days. It's over, we should just normalize relations, let them fix it up, and go on vacations there.
Our friends in Toronto do, eh? What's the big deal at this point?