US Delegation Leaves Cuba without Gross
Circles Robinson
HAVANA TIMES — Senator Patrick Leahy and Representative Chris Van Hollen visited Tuesday with agent Alan Gross, the US citizen serving a 15-year sentence in Cuba for violating the islands national security laws, reported DPA news.
No information about the meeting has been released thus far by the 7-member delegation which according to the US Interests Section left the island on Wednesday morning.
Leahy had said he would like to take Gross back home with him but expectations for his release were not high. Van Hollen represents the Maryland district where Gross has his residence.
The high-level congressional delegation met privately also on Tuesday with Cuban President Raul Castro, searching for ways to loosen up the tense state of affairs between the two countries, which have not had diplomatic relations for a half century.
The Obama administration is expected to receive a report from Senator Leahy who headed the delegation that also included Senators Jeff Flake (Arizona), Debbie Stabenow (Michigan), Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island) as well as Massachusetts congressman Jim McGovern.
Alan Gross is not a spy! Even the Cuban “government”
had to admit that! He doesn’t even speak Spanish! I hope senator Leahy remembers
his own words, they are all over the net!
N.Y. TIMES: Senators Urge Castro to Release American – By JONATHAN WEISMAN – February 24, 2012
Cuban authorities “do not consider Alan Gross a spy,” Mr. Leahy said. Mr. Gross had traveled to Cuba five times in 2009 under his own name before his arrest.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/25/us/politics/senators-meet-with-raul-castro-seeking-release-of-alan-gross.html
Hilllllllllllllarious
Are you the same ‘Elpidio Valdes’ that works the Castro dictatorship? I bet it pisses you off that you can’t send a mob to my house to harass me like you could if I were a Cuban in Cuba? Instead all you can do is call me names.
Thank you for the book recomendation. Anytime I need a good laugh I’ll be sure to reach for the recycled Soviet propaganda of that paranoid coke-head, Oliver Stone.
Dear Elpidio and Luis,
Thank you for providing such clear examples of the standard operating procedure of regime agents and apologists: Never bother to debate the issues, simply attack the messenger with personal insults and absurd guilt-by-association slurs.
Do I sound like a bigot, Luis? Really? Is that the best you can do?
And Elpidio, I am sorry, but Antonio Rodliles cannot accept your invitation to move to Miami as he is currently in a Cuban prison for having the temerity of presenting a petition to the Cuban government calling on them to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Mr. Patterson the best you and your fellow Americans can do is to read the book of Oliver Stone, “THE UNTOLD HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES”, then when you finished to read it, come back to this place and write your comment, but in the mean time call your friends and colleague in the US Congress and tell them to eliminate the BLOCKADE against Cuba, the war on terror against Cuba, the constant creation of a fake political opposition against the Cuban people by paying them in US dollars, this mean mercenaries at the service of a foreign country, something dangerous and punishable by the Cuban and the American Law system as I am sure you know very well. So please do not come to lecture us about democracy and liberty, you people has a long way to go about those subjects and others..
The only disaster in Cuba in the present time, are people like you Mr. Antonio Rodiles,, you are the best example of the little group that is asking the US Government to ad one more star to his flag, this means Cuba, you are such a poor fellow that the only thing you deserve is to mention you as a traitor of your country and your people.
Please go to Miami and join your friend Posada Carriles and others like him, you will be happy as a baby with a chocolate candy.
Griffin you sound like a bigot. 50 years of USA covert war versus the tiny island=Terrorism American Style
Sen. Leahy is known as senior senator from the People’s Republic of Vermont. He and Sen. Flake from Arizona are the best friend’s that Cuba have in the Senate (Barbara Lee D-CA in the House) and even they see the futility and political liability in making unilateral concessions to the Castros. Minutes ago, CNN just reported Leahy’s stated disappointment regarding Castro’s response to the delegation’s visit. He acknowledged that the release of Alan Gross is the main roadblock for this administration’s ability to move forward with Cuba.
Sen. Patrick Leahy is a classic example of the Western “useful idiot” Lenin wrote about.
“It is incomprehensible how democratic governments can embrace a totalitarian regime principally responsible for the disaster that our nation is living. The Cuban people have the right to live — to live and to feel proud about their homeland. Why not listen to them? Why allow the repression and national ruin caused by this regime to be covered by a cloak of absurd and outdated rhetoric?” -Antonio Rodiles
The symbolism of sending a Congressional delegation to Cuba can not be overstated. Not to mention the time and expense. Castro sycophants, like those who comment here on HT, should take note that once again the mean ol’ USA has made the effort to open a dialogue. When was the last time a delegation of high-level Cuban officials traveled to Washington to meet with their US counterparts or even to visit the convicted Cuban spies? Don’t remember? How about never.