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Subscribe to RSSAmerican contractor Alan Gross has been imprisoned for three years in Cuba for smuggling satellite equipment to the country's Jewish community. NBC's Michael Isikoff reports.
HAVANA, Cuba — Three years after he was arrested in Havana, jailed American contractor Alan Gross is asking the U.S. government to sign a "non-belligerency pact" with Cuba as a first step toward negotiating his release, according to a Cuba policy analyst who just visited him.
Peter Kornbluh , right, stands with Alan Gross, in a picture taken on Kornbluh's iPhone by a guard during his visit to the Havana prison where Gross is being held.
Peter Kornbluh, a Cuba specialist at the National Security Archives, a nonprofit research center in Washington, met with Gross for four hours on Wednesday at the military hospital in Havana where the contractor is being held. He said Gross appeared "extremely thin" — he has lost over 100 pounds since his arrest —and dispirited.
"He’s angry, he’s frustrated, he’s dejected — and he wants his own government to step up" and negotiate, said Kornbluh. "His message is that the United States and Cuba have to sit down and have a dialogue without preconditions. … He told me that the first meeting should result in a non-belligerency pact being signed between the United States and Cuba."
Gross' comments appear to represent a new tack in an aggressive public relations campaign to win his freedom. His supporters have planned a candlelight vigil outside the Cuban interests section in Washington D.C., on Sunday and the U.S. Senate is poised to take up a resolution Monday demanding his release, Gross’ wife, Judy, has also become increasingly critical of the U.S. government for not doing more to demand that her 63-year-old husband be allowed to return home.
Jose Luis Magana / AP
Judy Gross at her home in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 29.
"He feels like a soldier in the field left to die," she said at a press conference in Washington last week.
Gross, who worked for an Agency for International Development contractor, was arrested by the Cubans on Dec. 3, 2009, and accused of smuggling sophisticated satellite and other telecommunications equipment into the country to give to the island’s tiny Jewish community. Gross has said he was only trying to increase Internet access in Cuba. But he was convicted by a Cuban court in March of last year for crimes "against the independence and territorial integrity of the state" and sentenced to 15 years.
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Last month, Gross and his wife filed a $60 million lawsuit against the U.S. government and the contractor he was working for, Development Alternatives, charging he was used as a "pawn" in a U.S. government program to change the Castro regime and never advised about the dangers he faced bringing high tech satellite transmission equipment into Cuba. (The State Department, of which AID is a part and which has repeatedly called for Gross’ release, declined comment. Development Alternatives has released a statement saying it has "no higher priority" than bringing Gross home.)
Kornbluh, who has advocated closer U.S.-Cuba dialogue, was in Havana last week to attend a conference marking the 50th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis. He was granted permission to visit Gross by Cuban officials. (The Cubans so far have denied all news media requests to meet with him.) He said Gross was most upset about being unable to return home to see members of his family who are ill, especially his 90-year-old mother in Texas who has cancer.
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.
"He really wants to see his mother, who is quite old and infirm,” said Kornbluh. When Kornbluh had his photo taken with Gross, the contractor held up a photo that read: “Hi Mom.” When he asked Gross what he wanted to get out of the lawsuit, the contractor replied: “I want to see my wife and I want to see my mother."
To accomplish that, Gross is seeking to nudge the Obama administration, according to Kornbluh. Gross knows that his freedom "is going to depend on his government negotiating in good faith with the Cubans," said Kornbluh. "His message to Barack Obama is: I’m fired up and ready to go. Where are you at this moment?"
Michael Isikoff is NBC News' national investigative correspondent; NBC News producer Mary Murray also contributed to this report.
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Imagine the soccer games between Puerto Rico and Cuba if we just took over and made Cuba a territory! Beisbol tambien.
American "Contractor" ... LOL! Good one, CIA.
He did break the law. What is our State Department supposed to do? Suspend our policy for a law breaker?
Beware Americans. Beware where you travel, what you do while in another country.
You have to be kidding. So where has he been for the last 60 years or so? You know the status with Cuba.
The US government is not a concierge service that swoops in and puts us all at a disadvantage to save one person from being stupid. He knew what he was doing and the risk. Don't get mad now because Cuba did what they said they would do. No matter if you agree with Cuba or not they are a sovereign nation with the rights of their laws. If you go to another country you are in their laws not ours.
This ploy to get the U.S. to sign an agreement recalls the last time that the Castro regime used their manipulation of events to have the administration sign the deal that assured the continued repression of the Cuban people at the time of the missile crisis.
Once again the Castroites bargain to assure their continuing in power without having to allow any change in their abuse of human rights and denial of true democratic choice for the Cuban people by holding Americans hostage. Fifty years on and the same repressive rule continues to imprison the most beautiful island in the Caribbean...
Moron shouldn't have been in Cuba at all. Tough sh**t. No way we we should trade spys!
This guy is a white prisoner from the United States - so Obama could care less about him.
No John he's a Jew, so Obama will be forced to play the minority card and rescue him.
I feel sorry for the old fart..but then again his choice to go there!
You broke the laws of that country so you have to pay...sorry!
Sorry Cuba Guy but Obama is a sock puppet for the central banks. If freeing you doesn't involve making more money for the banks and keeping them in power he is going to be Oh so busy vacationing in Hawaii to 20 freaking days while the country crumbles apart.
seriously? wtf is this even in national news for?
Lets see, send over the navy seals ( or the us coast guard, which ever is most convenient for us) and bring our us citizen that is caught up in the same political bs we are all caught up in for years.
Oh what thats gonna piss off putttin in the "former" USSR.
and who cares?????
Lets see, nice, tropical, (90 miles from the us coast, CORTED by our biggest arc enemy of all time,(Russia) looking like a great 51st state to me, lets call it "CUBANA"
Oh thats right we have OUR congress that always looks out for our best intrest.
WAKE UP AMERICA
If you weren't In Havana you wouldn't have been arrested.
If It weren't for that Kennedy (__*__) Cuba would be free .
If it wasn't for Kennedy..maybe you and me wouldn't be here!
Honey Boo Boo is very upset about this!
According to Michael Moore, (the fat pig big mouth), this guy will have the best healthcare on the planet with the communists in Cuba (never mind those who have escaped that communist mess and say otherwise), so he should be honored to be in a Cuban prison instead of having to deal with the bureaucratic mess of higher taxes and destroyed health care in the U.S. The dude will probably live longer in a Cuban prison than under Oblame-a care.
The United States really began this tit-for-tat series of imprisonments. Several Cubans residing in the United States were jailed by the Bush Administration for "spying on" (i.e. keeping a watchful on) right-wing Cuban crazies in Miami who have been plotting to invade and overthrow the Cuban government ever since the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion half a century ago. These so-called "spies" were zealously prosecuted by the Justice Department and given harsh prison sentences in the United States. Cuba responded by imprisoning the American man featured in this news article. Gross was implementing -- apparently without fully realizing it -- the US foreign policy of funding anti-government groups in Cuba, trying to bring about regime change from within the country. The truth is that neither the Cubans nor Gross deserved the long prison sentences they were given. The obvious path out of this human tragedy is for the United States to negotiate a mutual release of prisoners with Cuba. The Obama Administration can do something positive for its relations with Cuba and Latin America by undertaking good faith negotiations now.
The jury found these men guilty of espionage against the U.S.A. and guilty of the following charges in the affidavit presented by the F.B.I...
Intelligence gathering against the Boca Chica Air Naval Station in Key West, the MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa and the headquarters of the U.S. Southern Command in Homestead Florida.
Finally ending this comedic international spat would only be about 50 years overdue, and 75% of the responsiblilty for that rests with idiots in the US government (who seem to forget it only took a decade to resume completely normal relations with Japan after WWII, despite grievances far worse than anything Cuba has produced) - neither political party is blameless. There are somewhere between 50 and 75 countries worldwide whose governments engage in political oppression far worse than Cuba's, and with whom we maintain vigourous diplomatic relations. Enough already!!
This story makes me laugh. Was going to install internet in Cuba without permission from government? He is so naive as not to know Fidel and his clowns, just let the press say what the government wants the people to hear? Freedom of Press, that will never happen in Cuba and in any Communist country. They control everything and treat people like animals without any exterior comunication. I'm sorry for him but he made his destiny.
YEAH.............. USA Wants Cuban Cigars - OBAMA Stop The Embargos !
Fives spies..for this idiot?
Even if he was a CIA agent..he should of took the pill, like three years ago!
For AMERICA pal.....DO IT!
dont help him dont
you would think by now that leaving the USA is not safe no matter where you go,you leave America you loose your freedom just that simple,sneak in to Mexico you go to jail,here we say welcome,so Mexico encourages them to leave,and are government is to stupid to realize that
The man was smuggling sattelite reception equipment into a communist dictatorship so the Cubans could receive real news and information. It amazes me how many Americans would give no support, or at least applaude the man for the risk he took. It's stunning how your support for Cuban law takes precedence over a man who in many people's eyes would be considered a hero.
Actually I am not supporting Cuba, I am supporting US policy. This man took the risk, I don't know why, maybe for profit maybe political. But he took the risk. The 5 for 1 that Cuba wants are 5 spies for 1 lawbreaker? So don't go twisting this by claiming anyone that doesn't think this is a good deal is Pro-Cuban.
He broke the law so let him rot. Why should he get special treatment???
Yeah, yeah, the "Poor Mr. Gross" scenario is pretty well driven into the ground at this point, and there still doesn't seem to be anybody getting too jazzed up about it. Seems to be more to this story than meets the eye. On top of that, there really doesn't appear to be any new squawks between the gov't in recent years. Got an idea Mr. G was playing subcontractor for a very private company, maybe with initials like CIA...