Jesse Jackson Leaves Cuba, Didn’t See Alan Gross
HAVANA TIMES — Jesse Jackson completed his four-day visit to Cuba on Monday. While he did meet with representatives of the FARC guerrillas in Havana for peace talks with the Colombian government, he was unable to see US agent Alan Gross, who is in his fourth year of a 15-year sentence for endangering Cuban national security.
“I certainly inquired about him. No American can come here in good conscience and not ask about him,” Jackson said. “I would hope we would maintain our vigil in trying to gain his release,” AP quoted the reverend as saying.
Jackson did meet with the FARC emissaries who asked that he be involved in the handing over of former US soldier Kevin Scott Sutay, taken prisoner in the Colombian jungle.
However, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said that only the Red Cross would be allowed to obtain Sutay’s release, saying there would be “no media spectacle” referring to the involvement of Jackson.
Jackson told AP he still plans to travel to Colombia in the next days and try to work out an agreement to get Sutay out.
“The American is free, but he cannot be retrieved, so he indeed is not free,” Jackson said. “He’s no longer being held by FARC. He’s being held by a lack of access.”
Not even Amnesty International has questioned the conviction of Alan Gross on spying and related charges. They have, however, publicly questioned the conviction of The Five. They have never bought into claims of Gross’s supposed “humanitarian mission for democracy.” He was a spy, pure and simple. It would be a fair swap.
As for your self-serving lies, denials and rationalizations for what amounts to genocide, Amnesty International has also reported that your beloved embargo is used to “deprive Cuba of vital access to medicines, new scientific and medical technology, food, chemical water treatment and electricity.”
In their latest report on this matter (dated this year)
“UN agencies working in Cuba, such as the WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA, continued to report the negative effects of the US embargo on the health of the population, particularly members of marginalized groups. Access to specific commodities, equipment, medicines and laboratory materials remained scarce as a result of restrictions imposed on the importation of items manufactured by US companies and their subsidiaries or produced under US patents.”
Call it the elephant in the room, but under the terms of Article 2c of the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, your beloved embargo is indeed a form of genocide.
Makes you proud, don’t it, America?
There are no “prisoners to swap”. Alan Gross is merely a hostage that – according to Raul himself – is no spy. During his trial not even one instance of any of the equipment he brought over or people he worked with having done any thing against state security in Cuba.
The Cuba 5 – 4 – spied on military installations as Rene Gonzalez himself admitted.
As far as your lie that the embargo is genocide: that has been exposed over and over again by the facts showing the US to be a willing trade partner of Cuba (5th in 2008) for both food and medicines while experts have shown that it is the Cuban regime that is guilty of denying the Cuban people access to food and medicines.
It is the US regime that refuses to negotiate a prisoner swap. It needs some kind of pretext to continue its genocidal trade sanctions targeting every man, woman and child of this small island nation. Unfortunately, for the US regime, not even its closest allies at the UN are buying into its self-serving lies, denials and rationalizations. For over 20 years in a row now, the UN General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to condemn these cruel and inhumane sanctions.
Every time a left-leaning ‘friend’ of the regime visits Cuba to seek the release of Alan Gross and leaves the island empty-handed or, worse, without even being able to see Mr. Gross, it only plays into the argument the anti-Castro folks make that the Castros are not really interested in lifting the embargo or releasing Alan Gross. The Castros know that as long as they continue to imprison Gross, they will not have to negotiate with the US. Maintaining the US ‘boogeyman’ helps the regime maintain its deathgrip on the Cuban people.
There were several other people Jesse jackson failed to see:
He didn’t meet with the Afro-Cuban leaders of the island’s courageous democracy movement, including the leader of The Ladies in White, Berta Soler, or with Angel Moya, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, Manuel Cuesta Morua, Ivan Garcia, Guillermo Farinas, Damaris Moya Portieles or Ivan Hernandez Carrillo.
Noether did he advocate for the release of Afro-Cuban political prisoners, such as Sonia Garro, Ramon Munoz and Ivan Fernandez Depestre.