US Senators Return from Cuba Trip to Negotiate Release of Alan Gross
HAVANA TIMES – A delegation of two US senators traveled to Havana and met Tuesday with agent Alan Gross in a renewed effort to persuade the Cuban authorities to release him, reported Cafe Fuerte.
Senators Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, and Tom Udall, a Democrat from New Mexico, were optimistic on Gross’s release after meeting with him for two hours in the Military Prison Hospital where he is serving a sentence of 15 years.
This is a new effort by high level US politicians to resolve the main obstacle to the progress of bilateral relations, something that does not seem in sight after a complex political landscape in Washington.
“Most importantly from our visit to Gross is the message that he wants to go home,” Udall said during an impromptu news conference with reporters in Havana.
An encouraging step
No details of the conversation were revealed, but at least it is an encouraging step that Gross had agreed to meet with them. The Development Alternatives Inc. employee had said goodbye to his family this summer and since then was reluctant to receive any visitors in prison.
On the eve of his 65th birthday, on May 2, Gross said that this would be his last year in prison and that he would return to the United States alive or dead.
Asked about the possibility that Gross be released, Flake said, “I feel we are closer to it, because Alan Gross has said himself that this is going to end one way or another.”
The senator added that after five years of arrest, “any benefit that the Cuban government may have figured, must have evaporated by now.”
The senators arrived in Cuba on Sunday with the plan to request the release of Gross with the Cuban authorities. No details on the dialogue with government partners, including Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez were disclosed.
However, there is no indication, that the resolution of the case will be imminent.
Five Years of Agony
The visit from the US lawmakers occurs within one month of the fifth anniversary of the arrest of Gross on Dec. 3, 2009. One option is that the Cuban authorities reopen access to the legal case for humanitarian reasons, once a third of his sentence is served.
Neither Alan’s lawyer, Scott Gilbert, nor spokespersons from the Gross family responded Tuesday to CaféFuerte questions about the senators visit to Havana.
But Flake and Udall’s trip coincides with the confirmation of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), funder of the program Gross worked for, is reviewing the internal rules on covert missions in countries at risk, as is the case in Cuba.
The Bergdahl swap was a lost deal. But it’s satisfying to hear you putting the Castro regime in the role of the Taliban.
Birds of a feather.
Bergdahl was a soldier carrying out orders. His case is entirely different than a private citizen/contractor. In as much as we consider the Castro regime as illegitimate government, the application of laws carried out by this banana republic are less than convincing. Nonetheless, Goss is currently being hostage by this regime and we must accept that reality. What we should not do is give credibility to this regime and their failed hostage-taking scheme by negotiating the release of the three remaining spies in exchange for Gross. This would only show more weakness for Obama’s highly criticized foreign policy decisions.
grtoss broke cuban law. and we traded five terrorists for bergdahl.
Spy-for-spy trades are commonplace. But Alan Gross was not a spy. Raul Castro said so himself. Trading the three remaining spies for contract worker Alan Gross would be a serious foreign policy mistake. Worse yet to effect a trade with a despotic regime like the Castros’ would likely trigger further hostage-taking around the world by other like-minded rogue regimes.
Everyone spies to protect themselves. We have CIA agents throughout the world and listen to everyone’s conversations. It’s time to let the three Cubans go and exchange them for the spy Allan Gross. Cuba is no worse than China or Vietnam when it comes to human rights and we should normalize relations. We should also look at the reasons why we have the highest prison population in the world many of whom are there for smoking weed.
You have misunderstood. I am well aware that Cuba suffered terrorists attacks. However noble the alleged reason for the subterfuge and espionage, the Cuban 5 were ‘spying’. They were under FBI surveillance long before Fidel turned them over to the FBI.
the cuban five were here to defend cuba. you deny there were bombings in havana? i was there and know that the effort was to stop tourists from going to cuba.
Oops. My mistake: I had confused Tom Udall of New Mexico with his cousin Mark Udall of Colorado.
You are wrong Griffin on Tom Udall. He won reelection with 55% of the vote.
Are you kidding? Using false identification and under false pretense, the Cuban spies got onto military installations. if you and I did that, we would go to jail as well. On the other hand, if you and I gave computers and cellphones away to Jewish community groups, what’s the harm? A trade would be a huge mistake. Every NGO worker located in a country run by anti-US despots like the Castros would be at risk of being taken hostage on trumped up charges like Alan Gross in Cuba.
Pobrecito Alan Gross. This man received over half a million dollars for the work he did in Cuba so obviously he knew the risks involved. The Cuban five. Received very little money for their efforts in defending their country from terrorism. Now the whiney bastard is threatening suicide if he is not released. Free the Cuban 3 and release Gross. The Cuban government should not settle for anything less. If Gross wants to kill himself then let him. It would be the fault of the U.S. government just as much as the Cuban government.
Yes ronbobel777 !! Eran unos santos “Los Cuban 5” ! and there were over 14 members of the Wasp Network dear!
WND NEWS: ‘Wasp Network’ stung in Miami Cuban spies ‘wage war against the people of the U.S.’ – by Toby Westerman – Published: 01/09/2001
Of the original 14, four fled and are believed to be in Cuba, five pleaded guilty and five have declared their innocence. Those pleading innocent said they were only eeping an eye on the anti-communist Cuban exiles. Although the ring was engaged in classic acts of espionage, those who pleaded guilty, as well as the defendants standing trial, are not facing charges of spying, but rather are being charged as “unregistered foreign agents.
http://www.wnd.com/2001/01/7761/
The Brothers to the Rescue were not involved in any bombings in Havana, nor was the US airforce base. Those were the targets of the Cuban spies.
Tom Udall just lost his job as a U.S. Senator. As such, he has zero influence in Washington. Senator Jeff Flake is an unusual Republican who has called for unconditionally lifting the U.S. embargo on Cuba. He is isolated from his caucus on this point.
Another pointless trip to Cuba.
alan gross should be traded for the remaining three of the cuban five. the latter were in the US to “spy” on terrorist groups who were bombing in Havana. Gross was assisting jewish groups. None of these men should have received prison sentences and it is past time to let them all go.