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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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Something doesn't smell right about this story... the guy gets "arrested" for what? Standing around being an American Citizen?? Dude did something wrong.. there's no doubt about it... now he wants to trade 5 Cuban spies for his Old Ass??? They should get 1/2 of a Cuban Spy for him.
We went head over heal to get American hikers released from Iranian prison. Why not this guy from Cuba?
The word is heel...not heal.
Looking at your screen name I can see way the mistake!
Most of what was done for the hikers was through the private sector. Also hiker=innocent, Gross=guilty. If he were a victim of trumped up charges we'd be more sympathetic. We have citizens in jails all over the world. We don't help them. Like the TV character Baretta said, "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."
I loved that show Baretta..walks in a crime scene and says I know who did it. Bob was a good actor, from my state of NJ like most are! Just to say he's not dead yet!
America doesn't deal with crime of any means!
How DARE He tell the US what he wants it to do!! He wants the U.S. to meet with Cuba and sign a non-bellig.....Oh My God! The gall. I have tried to understand his position and when they filed that lawsuit for 60 million, I was hanging on to the notion that maybe he wasn't as opportunistic as presented. But now, I am out. I am out like the big kid in dodgeball. No sympathy, understanding, or good wishes. And to even mention the word "soldier" as a descriptive! How dare he. If you are going to take your cause to the people for sympathy, have a subject who is sympathetic.
5 to 1 doesn't sound like a very good trade offf to me.
So this dumb ass goes somewhere he is not suppose to be, gets caught doing stuff he should not be doing and now we are suppose to bend over for the Cubans to get his dumb ass out of jail.
NOT!
Micheal Moore loves Cuba....If Obama and Micheal have there way we will live like they do there...free medical care....lol...Micheal moore got the tour of the best hospital in cuba and made it look the Cubans have it made in the shade.....I know people that have been to Cuba and life is not as rosey as Micheal would lead ya'll liberal sheep to believe.
i am 1st gen cuban/amer. my father is from havana and got out just before the revolution. this guy is stupid for going over there. it is that simple - stupid!! suffer the consequences!!
Come on! The current Administration wouldnt send in troops to guard an Embassy and protect American soil AND an Ambassador plus three other Americans! do you really think he could be bothered to get some dude released?! lmao! keep drinking the Kool=aid
The hell with this guy and everyone that goes to places of risk.Bye bye you fool.
Abe....the missiles never reached Cuba.....really? There are U2 overfly photo's that bed to differ. Study up a bit.
Leave him in Cuba and send Jana Fonda to Cuba too to keep him company
Gross and the five Cuban agents in US custody are just a few more casualties of our absurd, fifty-year-long, utterly failed wee-wee wagging contest with the Cuban regime. Obama, get off your covered rear end, pardon the five, deport them and get Gross back - and let's stop playing live-action board games with the Cubans and negotiate some kind of detente at last. We've spent half a futile century making ourselves look like bullies and fools - especially since the Soviet Union collapsed. Enough already.
Why haven't we changed our relationship with Cuba? We do business with Viet Nam and approx. 55,000 of our soldiers died there. We do business with Saudi Arabia while 19 Saudis were responsible for the 911 attacks in our country. We do business with some of the most repressive governments on earth, but while I detest the Castro regime, one has to ask why do we not do business with Cuba??
We should not release Cuban prisoners from our jails just to gain freedom for Mr. Gross who went to Cuba of his own volition, smuggled tech equipment and broke Cuban laws. If we want to change the relationship our country has with Cuba let it be for a better reason than to release Mr. Gross.
What a jack-ass. Let him rot. What. he's more important than governments, laws ... come on now. He knew what he was doing and he knew it was wrong, wrong, wrong. Let him rot.
They are DEMANDING the US government sit down and negotiate ? I don't think so. And just for filing a frivolous lawsuit against the United States I say F--K him. Period. He chose to go there and the US did not hold a gun to his head forcing him to even get on the plane. The USA will NEVER negotiate in international kidnapping cases. His wife needs to be slapped right across the kisser. She is probably sleeping with Cuban men anyhow the whore that she is.
i am pretty sure we didnt send you there and now you want us to compromise our governments stand on these 5 men so you can come back and sue the government.you knew the risk as do all americans going to cuba.
Too bad, so sad. You went there on your own, so why should the U.S. bail you out? I'm sick of this crap where people get in trouble in foreign countries, then expect the U.S to help them.
Is this guy for real? He claims he was "never advised about the dangers he faced bringing high tech satellite transmission equipment into Cuba." How naive is that? What did he THINK the Castro regime was going to do? This isn't exactly a government known for being open to foreigners transmitting from their country.
And how is a "non-belligerence treaty" going to help him get released (or a $60 million suit naming the very government he wants to help get him out of Cuba, for that matter)?
Give me a break.
I'm really shocked and ashamed of some of the comments people are
leaving on here. I'm sure if it was them in a Cuban prison for the past 3 years
they would change their tune. Just because he's not a soldier doesn't make him
any less of an American, he didn't commit murder or terrorism for goodness
sake. Yes, it does sound like he got caught up in something he should have
thought twice about and I'm willing to bet greed was involved. But what if he
actually believed what he was doing was right and even if he didn’t, I think
he's paid the ultimate price. The criticism about his wife is thoughtless too!
Does no one really see how frustrating and scary her position is? I couldn't
even begin to imagine how it must feel knowing that your loved one is in a foreign
prison and not knowing if you will ever see them alive again, not having the
power to change it. Bottom line, he still should be brought home, he should not
be forgotten and left. I believe with some American support we will bring him
home.
AE - So personal responsibility doesn't matter, eh? Every question you ask, and every point you make in your post, can be answered thusly: If he didn't go over to Cuba and do what he did, would any of this be a problem? NO! Simple and straight AE. I'm not happy he is in jail over there anymore than you are, but he caused this whole thing by himself. No one held a gun to his head. He made his choices, now he has to live with them...
What does the Obama administration do?
Rewards the Castro Communist illegal regime ( no multi party elections in 53 years- a very illegal regime)
with more US based tourism and free for all no limit money remittances by exiles
As an individual of Cuban origin, I am more concerned with the thousands of Cubans who are in Cuban jails now many for just dissenting, than I am for one American, a foreigner in Cuba who had no business being there. I do sympathasize with the family though.
I mean really how many times did Gross visit Cuba to deliver this tech equipment??? more than once for sure
By his own admission Gross stated that his assignment was risky
He did something in another country that was "wrong" and he expects the US to clean up after him? Made your bed man. It's your problem.
Back in the '70's I worked in a small restaurant that had an elderly Cuban dishwasher who was called "papa-san" ( I'm not sure of the origin of the Japanese-sounding appelation ). The manager of the restaurant was papa-san's son, although he claimed to be Castillian Spanish. When papa-san talked with me about his experiences in Cuba, he said "Castro---no good". When I asked what it was like under Batista, he said "Batista---no good". The language barrier prevented me from finding out if he'd initially supported Castro, only to become disillusioned.
Someone should tell this couple that only in the USA you are allowed to sneak in get food stamps free education .......vote on election .pay no taxes ......break the law........get SSI ........oh yea AMNESTY............. you broke in the wrong country ..........you broke cuban law then you must pay be thankful they dont shoot you lol
they want king OBAMA to help .........he didnt lift a finger to help 4 men in BENGHAZI you expect him to help you .......his on vacation surfing in hawaii..............he wouldnt help to get us off the fiscal cliff and you want him to hel don't hold oyur breath
cyrkles maybe you can use some of that corporate welfare help you probably get to help out. Call Cuba and see ol boy. LMAO