Agents Could Torpedo US-Cuba Thaw
By Circles Robinson
HAVANA TIMES, Jan. 29 — A US government agent jailed in Cuba for distributing illegal electronic equipment and the Cuban Five, jailed in the US for conspiracy to commit espionage, may axe any hopes of a significant change in the adversarial relations of a half century between the two neighboring countries.
Working for a US government program seeking regime change in Cuba, Alan Gross was allegedly caught distributing illegal communications equipment on the island. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said Wednesday that Gross is still under investigation; he could face a stiff jail sentence if found guilty.
According to Reuters, “The detention has prompted calls in Washington for Obama to take a hard line with the Cuban government and put an end for now to what has been a slight thaw in relations.”
Meanwhile, Havana maintains that the situation of the Cuban Five must be addressed if a real normalization is to occur. Rodriguez said the issue is a key one on any agenda for better relations.
The Cuban Five have been imprisoned in the US since 1998. Their real “crime” was having infiltrated terrorist organizations based in Miami that have operated for decades against Cuba and its interests under the complacent eye of eleven US administrations.
My mistake. Sorry. The Five have been in prison for over TEN years.
They are NOT to blame for the worsening of relations. Obama stated during the campaign that he would seek more diplomatic avenues for dealing with Cuba. Sending clandestine agents isn’t a diplomatic avenue, of course.
Obama also promised to MAINTAIN the US blockade of Cuba when he campaigned in front of the Cuban American National Foundation. And he has also kept that promise as well.
Don’t blame the Cuban Five. They aren’t to blame for the latest deterioration in relations with the United States. After all, they’ve been in US prisons for over a year.
They were also convicted of being unregistered foreign agents in the United States. Alan Gross was an unregistered foreign US agent working in Cuba, as the various reports about his activities: handing out satellite telephones and laptop computers indicates.
Read the Foreign Agents Registration Act to see what would have happened to Alan Gross had he been a Cuban who came to the United States:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/usc.cgi?ACTION=RETRIEVE&FILE=$$xa$$busc22.wais&start=1813165&SIZE=21106&TYPE=TEXT
A reasonable solution was laid out clearly by Jose Pertierra in COUNTERPUNCH:
GESTURE FOR GESTURE
http://www.counterpunch.org/pertierra03272009.html