US Senate Leaders Lobby for Alan Gross
HAVANA TIMES — Conservative members of the US Senate on Tuesday demanded Cuba “immediately” and “unconditionally” release US operative Alan Gross, who was tried, convicted and is now serving his sentence in Cuba, reported Fox News.
At a press conference at the US Capitol, Sen. Ben Cardin and Rep. Jerry Moran (accompanied by Gross’s wife) insisted that Gross was performing “humanitarian work” and should not have been arrested when he was smuggling illegal and sophisticated communications equipment onto the island.
A vote scheduled for yesterday in the Senate would have approved a bipartisan resolution on the Gross case; however, the upper house session closed without submitting the resolution for “unanimous consent,” although it is likely that they will vote on it sometime this week.
Last week the Cuban government presented US authorities with medical reports showing that the prisoner does not suffer from cancer, as had been speculated by the family and international news agencies.
With your readers indulgence, imagine the constant anxiety that the ranking military officer must have who is reponsible for guarding Mr.Gross. Not because they fear that a weakened and demoralized Gross would have the capacity to overpower his jailers and escape. But because of all the briefings he and his men have received regarding the likely military tactics a squad of US commandos might use to rescue him. Ok, Mr. Gross is no Osama Bin Laden but these Cuban soldiers have surely seen all the same Hollywod movies that I have seen. The difference is that for me it is just Blu-ray disc surround-sound entertainment. For his guard detachment it is real life. Not that I think that President Obama would ever authorize the rescue of an unjustly imprisoned American from a poor third world country run by dictators with the military might of the North Dakota National Guard (no offense intended North Dakota). I am jus’ sayin’….
There were two Democrats and one Republican on this press conference! Are you sure they are all “conservatives”??
On Tuesday, the day after the third anniversary of his arrest, Judy Gross joined Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) in pushing for both the U.S. and Cuban governments to redouble their efforts to bring him home. Alan Gross has suffered from health problems in prison, and his supporters hope he might be released by Cuban President Raul Castro on humanitarian grounds.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/cardin-mikulski-call-for-release-of-alan-gross-from-cuban-prison/2012/12/04/069e4520-3e33-11e2-ae43-cf491b837f7b_story.html
Pls sign/share this petition to the WH for a logical/honest approach to Alan Gross and The Cuban 5
http://wh.gov/5BqM