Cuba Protests US Manipulation in Alan Gross Case
HAVANA TIMES — The Cuban Foreign Ministry on Wednesday protested the United States government’s manipulation of the case of imprisoned American citizen Alan Gross, accusing the US of circulating false rumors about his health, reported the official media on the island.
The director of the US Department of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Josefina Vidal, said, “The US government is once again lying to the public in saying that this citizen, who was convicted here for acts committed against our national security, has cancer and isn’t receiving adequate medical care.”
According to medical reports from doctors on the island, Gross does not have cancer. “The United States has no evidence to prove otherwise,” said one official, adding “should they continue these misrepresentations, we will be forced to disclose new evidence.”
The American contractor was sentenced in Havana in 2011 to 15 years in prison for smuggling sophisticated and illegal communications equipment onto the island.
Why doesn’t the Cuban “government” allow a couple of independent international oncologists examine Alan Gross and let’s get that suspicion over with! But wait! They have not allowed any international journalist interview Mr. Gross either! What are the Castro brothers trying to hide?
NBC NEWS: American jailed in Cuba wants US to sign ‘non-belligerency pact’ to speed release – By Michael Isikoff
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.
http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/02/15620342-american-jailed-in-cuba-wants-us-to-sign-non-belligerency-pact-to-speed-release?lite