E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Roberto León / NBC News
Josefina Vidal, Cuba's director of U.S. Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, addresses the media in Havana on Wednesday.
HAVANA -- A Cuban official on Wednesday accused the U.S. government of “lying” about the health of Alan Gross, an American contractor serving a 15-year prison sentence here, in an effort to force his release.
Denying speculation that the 63-year-old Gross has cancer or is otherwise in poor health, Foreign Ministry official Josefina Vidal said at a press conference in the Cuban capital that the 63-year-old American has "been treated decently and well in prison.”
She also stated that “his health has "not deteriorated" and that he "speaks regularly with friends and family."
"Gross has been seen by the most qualified Cuban medical specialists," Vidal said. "The U.S. government is lying to suggest that he has cancer and that he is not receiving adequate treatment." If these lies continue, she said, "Cuba will present new evidence that shows Gross is not sick."
Vidal’s statement came in response to increasing pressure from the U.S. government and lawmakers to release Gross, who was convicted in 2009 of "acts against the independence and/or territorial integrity of the state” for distributing telecommunications equipment to Cuba’s tiny Jewish community.
At the time, Gross was in Cuba on a tourist visa, working for Development Alternatives, Inc., a State Department contractor, as an "independent business and economic development consultant" under an $8.6 million contract from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The court that convicted him described the effort as an effort to subvert the Cuban government.
“It was demonstrated that (Gross) illegally introduced telecommunications equipment in Cuba to create internal networks as part of a program of the government of the United States that aimed to promote destabilizing actions in the country and subvert Cuban constitutional order," it said at the time.
Since his imprisonment more than three years ago, Gross has lost more than 100 pounds and developed a mass on his right shoulder blade, which Cuban doctors diagnosed as a non-malignant hematoma that would be reabsorbed within a few months, according to Reuters.
Related stories
Cuba pushes swap: its spies jailed in US for American contractor held in Havana
American jailed in Cuba wants US to sign non-belligerency pact to speed release
Gross’ wife, Judy, has been leading a public relations campaign in the United States for her husband’s release on humanitarian grounds. An American radiologist she consulted said last month that the mass had not been properly evaluated and speculated that it could be cancerous. The radiologist, Alan Cohen, said that Gross needed an urgent evaluation – and likely a biopsy of the mass – preferably at a facility in the United States.
At a press conference on Capitol Hill Tuesday – the fourth anniversary of her husband’s imprisonment – Judy Gross said her husband “is frail, suffers from chronic pain ... and still doesn’t know whether he has cancer.”
U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner sounded a similar theme on Monday.
“Mr. Gross has lost more than 100 pounds and suffers from severe degenerative arthritis that affects his mobility, and other health problems,” he said in a statement. “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.”
While resisting calls to release Gross, Cuban officials have floated an alternative to resolve the impasse: They say they will free Gross if President Barack Obama agrees to release five Cuban spies held in the U.S.
The spies – known as the Cuban Five – are national heroes in Cuba as a result of their mission in the late 1990s to infiltrate anti-Castro exile groups in South Florida that Havana suspected of plotting terrorist attacks inside Cuba. They were convicted in Miami in June 2001 of conspiracy to commit espionage, conspiracy to commit murder, acting as an agent of a foreign government, and other illegal activities.
Vidal referred to this scenario on Tuesday, reiterating “Cuba's willingness to immediately start talks with the U.S. government to find a humanitarian solution that is mutually beneficial to both parties." She also stated that her government would not make a "unilateral" move and release Gross because the "problem also belongs to the U.S." -- referring to the Cuban Five.
Gross himself pushed for a diplomatic solution in a meeting on Nov. 28 with Peter Kornbluh, a Cuba specialist from the National Security Archives in Washington.
"He’s angry, he’s frustrated, he’s dejected — and he wants his own government to step up" and negotiate, Kornbluh told NBC News last week. "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."
Mary Murray is an NBC News producer; NBC National Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff also contributed to this report.
More from Open Channel:
Follow Open Channel from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
Leave a Comment:
I'm sure the United States is lying. After all, the healthcare system in Cuba is so much better than ours and since this individual is in prison, and under complete government control at all times, his health should be top notch.
We just have to accept the fact that they have things a little better in Cuba. Life is just so much better when "the people" are in charge.
You forgot the /s at the end.
Hmmm, too much sun?
Michael Moore would have told us if that was true. Of course the Americans are lying. Look what's in the White House!
"Cuba will present new evidence that shows Gross is not sick."
..........dafuq? Do it then. lol
WIKILEAK DOCUMENT : Viewing cable 08HAVANA103, CUBAN HEALTHCARE: “AQUI NADA ES FACIL”-
In one Cuban hospital, patients had to bring their own light bulbs. In another, the staff used ``a primitive manual vacuum'' on a woman who had miscarried. In others, Cuban patients pay bribes to obtain better treatment.
Those and other observations by an unidentified nurse assigned to the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana were included in a dispatch sent by the mission in January 2008 and made public this month by WikiLeaks.
Titled ``Cuban healthcare: Aquí Nada es Facil'' -- Nothing here is easy -- the cable offers a withering assessment by the nurse, officially a Foreign Service Health Practitioner, or FSHP, who already had lived in Cuba for 2 ½ years.
CLICK LINK BELOW FOR ORGINAL WIKILEAK DOCUMENT
http://www.wikileaks.ch/cable/2008/01/08HAVANA103.html
Here is the actual statement by Josefina Vidal Ferreiro. Its flavor is very different from that of this article.
In recent days we've seen the stepping up of false statements and reports by U.S. Government officials regarding the case of American citizen Alan Gross and, in particular, on the alleged deterioration of his health.
The U.S. Government is lying once again to the public, saying that Mr. Gross has cancer and does not receive adequate medical care.
These lies have not stopped, even after the results of the biopsy practiced on Mr. Gross' lesion were delivered to his family and U.S. authorities, which leave no doubt that Mr. Gross does not have cancer.
A world class medical Cuban team has offered from day one systematic attention to Mr. Gross. This team has the biopsy results and other tests showing Mr. Gross is not suffering from cancer or other disease that might endanger his life. The U.S. has no evidence to prove otherwise. If these misrepresentations are to continue, we would be forced to disclose new evidence.
The U.S. Government also lies about Mr. Gross' prison conditions and about his phone calls and visits regime.
The U.S. Government continues to lie about the reasons that led to the arrest of Mr. Gross, for the sole purpose of avoiding its direct responsibility for the situation that Mr. Gross and his family are going through.
The U.S. Government has never seriously addressed the case of Alan Gross and just reiterated the unsustainable position that it has nothing to negotiate with Cuba to find a solution to it. Moreover, it insists in demanding that Cuba makes a unilateral decision without taking into consideration our humanitarian concerns related to the case of the Cuban Five. This is unrealistic. Today, I reiterate Cuba's willingness to immediately establish a dialogue on the Gross case.
Based on these fabrications and, interestingly enough, coinciding with the anniversary of the arrest of Alan Gross, the U.S. Government put pressure on the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the UN Human Rights Council to force a decision declaring arbitrary the detention of Mr. Gross. Today, Cuba denounces these pressures that led to the violation of the usual working procedures and deadlines of this Group.
Yesterday, December the 4th, the Government of Cuba received the opinion of this Group calling the detention of Alan Gross arbitrary.
Today we are publishing on the Foreign Ministry's website the official response sent by Cuba to this United Nations Group, showing that Mr. Gross' detention does not qualify, in any way, as arbitrary.
Alan Gross was detained, prosecuted and sentenced with all the guarantees and rights of the due process of law and under the principles related to judicial independence. Mr. Gross violated Cuban laws by committing acts that constitute serious crimes severely punished in most countries, including the U.S.
The U.S. does not allow another government to break U.S. regulations and illegally send unknown individuals into U.S. territory, with government funding from that other State, to establish illegal and covert communications systems, without any kind of formality or registration, much less so if these actions are intended to destabilize the existing order.
Mr. Gross has received a decorous and humane treatment since his arrest.
This UN working group is the one that in May 2005 had declared the detention of the Cuban Five arbitrary, on the grounds that the Five were kept in solitary confinement for 17 months, without proper access to lawyers and the evidence of the case, and because there was a climate of bias and prejudice that contributed to the Five being presented as guilty from a beginning, in the absence of objectivity and impartiality.
The Cuban Government, once again, invites the U.S. Government to a serious talk about these issues in order to find a humanitarian solution that is acceptable to both sides.
My understanding is that the Cuban doctors are very competent but lack basic medicines, equipment and other supplies. This situation would seem to be congruous with the nurse's "withering assessment" in the Wikileaks document. Of course the root cause is the US embargo.
Travis: Have you ever been in Cuba? I have and not as a tourist. And I traveled there legally. Things are not "better off" in Cuba. I suggest you go and spend 6 months as an average Cuban to understand their reality.
Unless you are part of the system, life is pretty tough.
Unfortunately for Mr. Gross, he broke Cuban law while he was there, by distributing electronic communication devices without the authority of their government. And Cuba was looking for revenge for the 5 Heros spy case.
I believe Mr. Travis was being sarcastic.
The coffee pot must still be brewing.
Gross is better than the average Cuban, Cuba wants to keep him as its bargain chip. If the US really wants him free; after all they sent him there, they should trade him for the 5 Cuban spies.
And yet the U.S. Government protects a known terrorist named Luis Posada Carilles at the expense of our own tax dollars. The de-classified info is available for anyone to read. Odd double standard this country has when it comes to terrorism. It's only OK if it is sponsored and blessed by our governement! Read about it for yourself if you are not familiar with the case...it is somewhat shocking!
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/index.htm
well said. The US has no moral grounds to preach to any country. US is the biggest terrorist in the world.
@jhon2816389:
You posted>>>"The US has no moral grounds to preach to any country. US is the biggest terrorist in the world."
What an pathetic un-American thing to say. You should pack your lies and go back to Iran. You are NOT an American... at least not one with any sense of reality. Go eat a pork chop and and wait for them to come for you.... IDIOT!!!!!
Funny how other countries claim Americans are terrorists when they are the ones who hijack planes and kill over 2,500 innocent people, when their own governments let their people starve and live in poverty just to make weapons, when they execute prisoners in the most brutal of ways.
As for Cuba, how can we trust what they say is true? Their country isn't better off than America. Like someone else said, I'm sure their doctors are competent enough to take care of the sick, but they severely lack medical supplies. Cuba doesn't particularly like America so I find it hard to believe that they would take good care of someone who broke their nations laws.
dave-6403609 former CIA agent Cuban-American Luis Posada Carilles is the mastermind behind the bombing over Barbados of a civilian Cuban airliner with 73 people on board, before any Muslim a$$hole started bombing airliners, this criminal POS and his accomplice Orlando Bosch, who was pardoned by George H. Bush, walks freely in Miami, so, yes, we train, groom and harbor "our own good terrorists".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Posada_Carriles
I'm sorry I believe the US government is lying. This way they think they can fool the American people into going along with a five Cuban spy for one US contractor swap. I also believe they are doing this because the Israelis ask us for their help in this matter. Only Israel and the US would swap all spies in their prison for only one of ours. This guy should not have been in Cuba to begin with. Now if Cuban wants to do a one for one swap then I would agree to that, as long as it was a low level spy. NEVER believe the Obama administration. They will lie every time they gets in a pinch in order to save their hide.
As do ALL US Administrations. Lies, lies, lies, throughout Gov't, Corporate, Financial sectors, etc, etc.....
Us local citizens just tell local lies; our Gov't tell GLOBAL lies.
Hmm....no wonder. "if a lie can be told for benefit, it will" - me.
I just love this. Our, the American, doctor does not know sh.t from crap but he goes ahead and speculates in his diagnosis. Yep, that's one of our finest - you think? I am so sick of this manufactured BS by the press in order to make some stupid and inaccurate headlines.
This clown went to Cuba to do what is not allowed in Cuba! Idiot got cought. Idiot has to do time. His problems in the US are of no concern or interest to anybody.
Next please.
pgard, are you the one who is lying? What do you mean by "this guy should not have been in Cuba to begin with" when he was being paid by the US gov't to be there? When you call the cuban 5 spies, you make it sound as if they were spying on the US gov't which is not the case and never thought to be.
And we believe you Josefina .....because the Cuban government always tells the truth. -_-
More so that the US government does.
If we look to the past relations between Cuba and the U.S., Cuba told the 100% truth about Bay of Pigs while the U.S. Government tried to lie and cover it up before telling the truth.
I concluded years ago that all government lie in one form or the other.
However that facts are this man took equipment into a country where the consequence if he got caught, prison or death. . If he did it out of greed or at the request of government agency the bottom line is he took his chances & lost, now he cries for help because he has to take responsibilty & pay his dues for the crimes he comminted on foreign soil, sorry no pity here.
Just because our criminal system gives better medical care to the convicted then the innocents doesn't mean all countries should have too. Prison was never met to be comfortable or homey for the convicted.
Why did Cuba jail USAID contractor Alan Gross?
The official Cuban answer has consistently been about Cuban sovereignty and Gross’ conduct that was alleged to have threatened, as the charges against him put it, the “independence and territorial integrity” of Cuba.
If you have wondered what they mean by that, a court document that came to light this month explains in detail what the Cuban government found and what it perceived Gross to be doing.
In brief, the Cuban court held that Gross was working on a project that he designed, that he described in his own papers as focused on political objectives and contributing to the Bush Administration’s regime change objectives; that he imported and installed three satellite Internet/Wifi systems for Cuba’s Jewish community, never representing himself as working for a U.S. government program; that those communications systems were chosen because they do not operate on the Cuban communications network; that he traveled to Cuba five times in one year, carrying some equipment himself and enlisting unwitting Americans who were traveling to Cuba for religious exchanges to carry the rest; that he was going to be assigned to repair a satellite communications system that another USAID grantee had installed; and that he had a discussion – at Cuba’s Hotel Nacional, of all places – about installing satellite communications systems for Cuba’s Masonic Lodges.
Come on Cuba, release the old man and let him be with his family in America. Forget all the politics on these decisions. We're in a new era, them old days are gone. Open your eyes, we're trading with China, Russia, Vietnam and many other countries today. Join the world Cuba and quit resisting it. We have American companies in communist countries today. Your lacking behind with the rest of the world. Come on Cuba, release the old man.
It is a US embargo, not a Cuban one. The US should join the rest of the World. Cuba already has, years ago.
yes Cuba, do was we do and ignore the illegal....be like us...let Israel do what ever the heck they want...be like us..Cuba, what are you waiting for, we got more shipments and a dude already on the ground finishing the job "old man" started...come one Cuba, why wont you let us let Israel undermine you....damn you Cuba, your way behind...we haven't called you a terrorist... YET
Cuba has asked many times to sit at the negotiation table with the US government over this. But Obama is not interested. The ball is in Obama's court.
deb-3232690 I think you are very ignorant regarding The US-Cuba relations.
The US government lies about everything. What's new?
It is quite useless to continue our embargo against Cuba while we pat Russia and China on the back. Normalized relations will do wonders.
You mean you can get an 8.6 million dollar paycheck from the Feds for handing out radios in Cuba? Wow, I'm in the wrong field.
Leave all convicted in their respective prison situations, and just figure there's lot's of lies, so what if there are some more? There is no way for the public to determine which lie, and who's lie, is most significant. We've got 5 Cubans and they have one old guy with health conditions. When the five Cubans get old and get health conditions, give them back to Cuba.
Hi, please sign/share this petition for a new honest approach to obtaining the release of Alan Gross. Thank you.
Nick
wh.gov/5BqM
::eyeroll::
Why is it, Americans think that they can go to another, commit a crime (by the local laws), then holler for the government to come save them?
He worked for USAID. The US government has to take responsibility for sending him there, and start the dialogue Cuba is asking for to bring him back.
You've got the facts all twisted, Terelyn. Here is straight: "Why is that an agent of the US gov't, paid to commit a crime in another country, can ask for the passage of a non-belligerancy treaty so there would be a better chance for him to return home?
Here is an article about Gross' state of health (during a visit, he was seen by a Rabbi who is also a doctor), and his legal Complaint against the US government for sending him without adequate warnings about the dangerous nature of his activities in Cuba.
Sorry, but you are SOL, Alan. There is no way the U.S. is going to trade five Cuban spies for you. How could you not know that the Cubans would disapprove of your trying sell telecom equipment in Cuba?
Amnesty International found the trial of the five Cubans highly irregular. In any case, they were not accused of being spies. They could only be tried for CONSPIRACY to commit espionage, not espionage, because there was no transfer of US documents back to Cuba. The five men were sent to the US to stop terrorist attacks on fellow Cubans by extremist Cuban-Americans in Miami. They served their country by preventing random violence against their fellow Cubans. The only thing they were guilty of was that they came as unregistered agents. However, unregistered agents usually serve no more than two or three years sentences in prison. These men have already been in prison 14 years. There have been numerous examples of exchange of prisoners between the US and other countries. Justice must be done and these five Cubans released.
To all of the people knocking the US Goverment, this is a FREE country and your are FREE to move the Fu*K out of it, if you don't like it you can pack your bags and move to Cuba. We should not trade one man for 5. Its a sad story that this guy may be dying from cancer, but to let 5 convited crimals out of jail is just sending a message to the other pysco world leaders that if you take our people we will release yours to get them back....Should not happen.
you are very disturbed. You apparently have an issue with others being FREE in your country...bhaaaa...if you dont like it, shut your computer off...why so drastic Amanda? you dont like people talking about your precious country as if they might belong to it and disagree....gree AMANDA why dont you take your own advice and leave...that way you dont have to worry about others...you can be all alone with your glorified version.
So, this guy was in Cuba on a tourist visa -- something no other American is supposed to be able to get -- working for a US government agency, distributing 'telecommunications equipment' to a tiny Jewish population. Sounds like he was definitely a spy. What other country gives telecommunications equipment to tiny populations of Jews in communist countries? Israel, maybe? The US just got caught this time.
As I recall, the "telecommunications equipment" were cell phones.
It depends on frequency and system type. There are two way systems with encryption. Need the radio and base equipment. It doesn't say. My guess if it was a small 2 way with base and possible encryption. Cell phones need cell site and then they have to connect to the PBX so that they can connect to the landline phones. Two way wouldn't need that.
DaleP-1653887 high tech satellite phones and routers, you can't get those at Walmart, neither have money to pay for them, only a CIA phone plan can make those affordable.
Actually, it seems like a lopsided idea to me, to trade five flops at trying to infiltrate an anti-Castro group for an American who has admittedly deteriorated in his health, whose only crime, it seems, was trying to bring the internet to folks in Cuba. We cannot afford to wait much longer to get Mr Gross to competent medical practitioners. The US allegedly does not negotiate with terrorists, but maybe this should be done as a prisoner swap. The five useless Cubans in jail in the US would likely never make it back here, and it's a better than even bet that Mr Gross would just as soon stay the hell out of Cuba.
In 2010 the US traded 10 Russian spies for 4 of ours.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: RESTRICTIONS ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN CUBA- Amnesty International Publications 2010
CONTROL OF INTERNET ACCESS
In Cuba, access to the internet remains under state control. It is regulated by the Law of Security of Information, which prohibits access to internet services from private homes. Therefore, the internet in Cuba has a social vocation and remains accessible at education centres, work-places and other public institutions. Internet can also be accessed in hotels but at a high cost. In October 2009, the government adopted a new law allowing the Cuban Postal Services to establish cyber-cafés in its premises and offer internet access to the public. However, home connections are not yet allowed for the vast majority of Cubans and only those favoured by the government are able to access the internet from their own homes.
However, many blogs are not accessible from within Cuba because the Cuban authorities have put in place filters restricting access. The blogs affected are mainly those that openly criticize the Cuban government and its restrictions on freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly and movement. For example, Generation Y is one of the dozens of blogs that are filtered or intermittently blocked by the government and are not accessible inside Cuba.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR25/005/2010/en/62b9caf8-8407-4a08-90bb-b5e8339634fe/amr250052010en.pdf
The Jewish community in Cuba had already plenty of access to the Internet. They did not need Alan Gross to come and "save" them. The Jewish community has acknowledged that Gross lied to them about the reasons he installed equipment that could not be detected by the authorities and were meant to be used for subversive activities.
ALJAZEERA VIDEO: Cuba dissidents Ladies in White & Antonio Rodiles @ 8:50 - After 53 years of revolution, Cubans ar increasingly exasperated by the restrictions imposed on them by the country's change-averse communist regime. In spite of, or perhaps because of, recent modest economic reforms, activism is growing as the government's opponents overcome their fear of arrest and take to the streets. But it is not easy. Today, even the church based Ladies in White -- a group of women relatives of imprisoned activists - say they are routinely spied on and arrested. Nevertheless, inspired by the Arab Spring, the Ladies are determined to keep up their protests, sensing that the regime's grip on power is fading and that sooner rather than later it will be forced to give way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XgylqDUh5-I
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL VIDEO: Routine repression in Cuba - Harassment and detention of political dissidents, human rights activists, journalists and bloggers across Cuba has risen sharply over the past 24 months. - Mar 22, 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyWLTbHMHmc&feature=youtu.be
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Cuba urged to revoke repressive laws and release prisoners of conscience
Amnesty International on Wednesday called on the Cuban authorities to revoke laws that restrict freedom of expression, assembly and association and to release all dissidents unfairly detained by the authorities.
The organization also urged President Raúl Castro to allow independent monitoring of the human rights situation in Cuba by inviting UN experts to visit the country and by facilitating monitoring by other human rights groups.
The call came ahead of the 7th anniversary of the arrest of 75 Cuban dissidents around 18 March 2003. Fifty-three of those arrested continue to be detained. One of those arrested in March 2003, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, died on 22 February 2010, having spent several weeks on hunger strike in protest at prison conditions.
"Cuban laws impose unacceptable limits on the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly," said Kerrie Howard, Americas Deputy Director at Amnesty International. "Cuba desperately needs political and legal reform to bring the country in line with basic international human rights standards.
"The long imprisonment of individuals solely for the peaceful exercise of their rights is not only a tragedy in itself but also constitutes a stumbling block to other reforms, including the beginning of the dialogue needed for the lifting of the US unilateral embargo against Cuba."
Several articles of the Cuban Constitution and Criminal Code are so vague that they are currently being interpreted in a way that infringes fundamental freedoms.
Article 91 of Cuba's Criminal Code provides for sentences of ten to 20 years or death for anyone "who in the interest of a foreign state, commits an act with the objective of damaging the independence or territorial integrity of the Cuban state".
According to article 72 "any person shall be deemed dangerous if he or she has shown a proclivity to commit crimes demonstrated by conduct that is in manifest contradiction with the norms of socialist morality" and article 75.1 states that any police officer can issue a warning for such "dangerousness". The declaration of a dangerous pre-criminal state can be decided summarily. A warning may also be issued for associating with a "dangerous person".
Law 88 provides for seven to 15 years' imprisonment for passing information to the United States that could be used to bolster anti-Cuban measures, such as the US economic blockade. The legislation also bans the ownership, distribution or reproduction of "subversive materials" from the US government, and proposes terms of imprisonment of up to five years for collaborating with radio, TV stations or publications deemed to be assisting US policy.
Local non-governmental organizations have great difficulty in reporting on human rights violations due to restrictions on their rights to freedom of expression, association and movement. International independent human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, are not allowed to visit the island.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/cuba-urged-revoke-repressive-laws-and-release-prisoners-conscience-2010-03-17
Honestly, you are obviously in the wrong forum, go back to Babalu, Radio Bemba or some other Miami sponsored venue. Thanks for not posting in upper case as you usually do, I appreciate it.
Wow, coming from a society that has a most current automobile year of 1959. A medical system with antiquated technology where most physicians are trained there in their homeland of Cuba. I really would find it hard to believe any medical diagnosis coming from such a backward society. Even Castro left the Island to have his treatments. Nothing but political jargon from a Castro appointee trying to generate a swap. As for the unfortunate situation that confronts our fellow American. DID YOU NOT SEE THIS COMING!!!!
Wow, coming from a society that supported a brutal dictator that was overthrown by a popular uprising, continually sought ways to assassinate the leader of the uprising, continually threatened invasion and imposed a crippling embargo for over 50 years that has long outlasted any usefulness. I find it hard to believe anything our gov't says about the 5 cuban unfortunates who were trying to stop further terrorism against their country, which the US refused to help with, and about the guy that they paid to break the law in Cuba.
Have you ever heard of medical tourism in Cuba? Why do you think that people would flock there if the system were as bad as you think it is?
guess free obama phones just weren't welcome there.dang and it worled soooo well in Kenya.
Now tell me this. If he was there in there country, and committed a crime. Why should we or would we in anyway attempt to subvert there legally mandated sentence. Dude was obviously committing a crime under there laws. So be it. Sit there and take it like a man. Those 5 here in the US in prison broke the law. How arrogant are you to think because we here in this country deem what he was doing as an innocent thing. That our views should mandate his release? Arrogant prick! Deal with your sentence. You broke there law.
if Mr. Gross has loss over 100 pounds he must have been GROSSLY over weight, and now is being fed a proper diet. oh for a big fatty mac! priceless!
I wasn't allowed back in the U.S. last week by CBP agents in Toronto because I was coming from Cuba where I had attended a conference with over 300 supporters of the Cuban Five from 46 countries. I wore a t-shirt "Free the Cuban 5 -- In U.S. Prisons for Opposing Terrorism." U.S. customs insisted I complete a questionnaire about all money spent on the island and details of previous trips. I have never tried to hide my visits to Cuba but I refuse to apply for a license to go. Love is my license and my being there is not "trading with the enemy." The Cuban people are not my enemy!
I hope that Alan Gross can come home soon but his assignment in Cuba is being grossly distorted. Read AP investigative reporter Desmond Butler's article:
In the lawsuit filed by the Gross family, they state his contract was more about pursuing the Helms Burton Law that codifies regime change in Cuba, than it was about helping the Jewish community. He was helping to develop a clandestine communication system that is in strict violation of Cuban law and sovereignty.
Anyone looking at this honestly can understand why the Cuban 5 had to come to the U.S. to protect Cuba against terrorist attacks. Even Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell’s former Chief of Staff, says so. They had no weapons and collected no classified information. What they did was monitor terrorist group operating freely in Florida. These groups have been financed and encouraged by every administration since 1959. The Cuban 5 need to go home, as does Alan Gross.
Cubans preferred Castro over Batista in '58, not because he was such an intellectual gem and model statesman, but because Ike Eisenhower would not listen to Cuban pleas to oust the U.S. mafia/aggie cartel puppet dictator. Life was so repressive for the average working Cuban who was not on the Batista bandwagon that they preferred to leap out of the fire into the frying pan, so to speak. The Castros were on the Soviet gravy train during the Cold War, but now they're crotchety old men on the downhill slope, and that, combined with the U.S. embargo being sustained by greedy U.S. lobbyists trying to force Cuba back into the sociopolitical indenturement of the mambo king days, keeps Cuba in poverty and political paranoia.