Cuba Proposes Alan Gross-Cuban 5 Swap
HAVANA TIMES, May 10 — The head of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, Jorge Bolaños, on Saturday proposed an exchange of the “Cuban Five,” who are imprisoned in the United States, for the freedom of US citizen Alan Gross, who is being held in Cuba, reported Notimex.
The Cuban diplomat expressed his government’s position in a letter to journalist Wolf Blitzer on the program “The Situation Room” (CNN), underling the willingness of the island’s government to enter into dialogue to “find a humanitarian solution to the case on a reciprocal basis.”
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday called for the unconditional release of the “subcontractor,” without openly declining the Cuban proposal.
I have traveled to Cuba numerous times on mission trips for the Catholic Church and was there as a volunteer for the two Masses by Pope Benedict in March. I don’t spend my time in managed and staged events life the people who go on the so-called People-to-People trips have to. I spend time with and speak to real people. I am often asked why we hate them because we keep the ‘Blockade’ in place and refuse to alow them to buy US goods. I’ve introduced peanut butter, oatmeal, hand crank can openers, Tampons, powdered Kool Aid and Gatorade mix, and have made many friends. The government gives $millions per year to all these ‘anti-Castro’ groups in Miami to promote democracy on the island. Mos of the money stays with the cronies in Miami; what does get reported on their IRS 990 as humanitarian aid or aid to families of jailed dissidents evaporate into thin air as well. I’ve met many dissidents’ families and they tell me they’ve never seen one CUC from US agencies. To thos who claim Castro is a scam artist (rightfully so) need to look closely at the goons in the Banana Republic of South Florida. Just like a lawyer doesn’t want a case to end because his income dries up, those people don’t want improvements with Cuba because they’d have to get off the gravy train and get real jobs.
It is very curiouse that all deffenders and apologizers of castro dictatorship in this and all www sites are non cubans!!!!!……..it seems castro regime is good only for foreigners with dollars to buy sun and love.
The 5 were part of a more extended net which main task was to instate pacific organizations fighting castro regime to commit violent actions in order to give an excuse to castro regime to fight them back with violence……. the records of the trial on these criminals shows how some of them infiltrated exile organizations and sent menacing letters to American congressman and other authorities….. it is well known that agent Roque (one of the involved in the assassination of Brothers to the Rescue) infiltrated the humanitarian organization Brothers to the Rescue and used to talk in Miami radio stations incitation the members of this organization to not cast flyers over Havana but to cast bombs…… it is not a new strategy of castro’s “intelligence” to infiltrate exile organizations and seize the direction of those organizations to convert them in terrorists. Several books written by retired castro intelligence agent related how they infiltrated the direction of organizations like Omega 3 and Alpha 66 that were practically directed from Ramiro Valdez desk in the 60s and 70s, castro intelligence made these organizations to perform extremely stupid terror acts and to provide castro regime material to start a discredit campaign against all opposition inside and outside Cuba……. in same tone castro agent known as Mono Morales stated in a TV interview he was responsible for Barbados plane bombing and he did it for castro’s order……. some days later Morales was assassinated in a confused incident.
By other side Alan Gross did not smuggled the equipment he brought to Cuba but he passed them through Cuban toll, equipment were checked by toll officials and he received receipts for them……. so, if Cuban regime wanted to avoid those equipments to reach Cuban Jews hands just had to stop them in the toll……. the objective of this trick was simply to convert Gross in a hostage and a piece of negotiation and propaganda.
What Cuba has done, Sherri, has been to re-write the “Melian ‘Dialogue’ ” depicted in Thucydides’s “Peloponesian War.” In the former, Athens demanded that the small island city-state join it in its war against Sparta. When they equivocated, the Athenians crushed them. In the latter case, Cuba stood up to what Gore Vidal calls the “(Other) Evil Empire” and, more that fifty years later, it still stands! As in the Bible, we always root for David, rather than Goliath!
Sherri,
Your post does not come across as an expression of confidence. It comes across as an expression of frustration as if you already know that things will not work out the way you pretend.
Moses, Cuba did what was in their best interests by not detaining him right away…every Government makes the decision as to when and how they detain, that is their right.
Michael, you are so right, but the Americans are so damn angry that this small island has stood up to them for so long without caving to their demands that nothing will ever change…and that suits the Cubans just fine.
At the end of the day Gross WILL serve his sentence and the Cuban government will not cave to any pressure…they have proved their resilliance for over 50 years and will continue to do so.
And I will continue to enjoy my 4 weeks there a year…
Sherri,
Moses answered your point,
The Cuban Five were keeping tabs on terrorists who: (a) placed bombs in Cuban tourist hotels (b) back in the 1970’s blew up a Cuban commerial airliner, killing everyone aboard, (c) continued to fly into Cuban air space, even over Habana, and had been repeatedly warned not to do this. (What would the U.S. response be if Cuba attempted the same over Miami or Washington, D.C.? Like Cuba, the U.S. would have blasted ’em out of the sky!) It is hypocritical to say that Gross was an innocent pawn. The U.S. government is so irrationally vindictive towards Cuba that Gross will probably serve out his 15-year sentence (if he lives that long), and most of the Cuban Five will continue rotting in jail. Israel has exchanged thousands of Palestinians for one or two Israelis, but since the Miami mafia seems to have such a stranglehold on U.S. foreign policy, they prefer to see Gross rot than exchange The Five for one.
Sherri, why didn’t Cuba detain him when he entered the country. Customs inspected the electronic gear and wrote him a receipt for goodness sakes. At the very least they should have confiscated the “illegal” communication equipment if this was really about breaking the law. Would you be willing to consider that perhaps someone in G2 had the idea that Gross would be useful in trade for the 5 spies? At that point, he was arrested. Keep in mind, he had made multiple trips prior to this one. If this crime was so serious, why wait? Methinks it be more that simple lawbreaking. He was taken as a pawn to be used in a hopeful trade all along.
FARC in Colombia uses to kidnap people too and try to exchange them for terrorists in prison…….
Hubert…
Gross is not a hostage but rather a prisoner who broke the laws of the country into which he entered. When you enter a foreign country you are bound by the laws and rules of said country…I visit Cuba twice a year as a tourist and I know each and everytime I land in Varadero that I am on foreign soil and if I break their laws I will be held accountable to Cuba. You do not have to agree with the rules but you have to follow them…
John, inflammatory (and unfounded) rhetoric is unproductive. To declare that “more terrorism has come from America than any other country” without proof nearly puts you at the same level of those guys who chop people’s heads off and call it a home movie or strap bombs to useful idiots and tell them virgins await them in paradise. I say trading one American for five Cubans is good deal. Especially since the Cuban guys have served so much more time. Sucks to imagine front-page Granma: OBAMA RINDE LOS 5 VUELVAN.
John,
it also confirms that Alan Gross is held as a hostage. The cat is out of the bag.
that was the plan all along. ordinary people get caught up in the affairs of state. gross was not very gross and the americans should get real. more terrorism has come from america than any other country.