Free Alan Gross

Free Alan Gross
Monday, May 14, 2012

After spending two years and five months in Cuban detention on dubious
charges of subversion, American Alan Gross recently told CNN that he
feels like a "hostage." The U.S. State Department agrees.

Gross, 63, was arrested in 2009, while he was working as a subcontractor
for the U.S. Agency for International Development on a project designed
to link Cuba's Jewish community to the Internet. For the crime of
transporting laptops and other telecommunications equipment into Havana,
a Cuban court found Gross guilty of "acts against the independence or
territorial integrity" and sentenced him to 15 years.

While the Castro government asserts that conditions are not poor, Gross
has lost 100 pounds while being held in a military hospital. His
90-year-old mother suffers from lung cancer and cannot travel. Gross has
pleaded for Havana at least to allow him to see his mother one last
time. He even has offered to return to Cuba afterward.

The Cuban government sent CNN's Wolf Blitzer a letter offering to hold a
dialogue to find a humanitarian solution "on a reciprocal basis." The
State Department takes the gesture as yet another attempt by the regime
to swap its release of Gross in exchange for Washington's release of
five Cuban intelligence agents found guilty of trying to infiltrate U.S.
military institutions in 2001.

On the plus side, the Castro regime deserves credit for allowing Gross
to use his weekly phone call to contact CNN and make his case. On the
down side, the news coverage serves to remind the world of the
repressive policies of President Raul Castro.

Every country has a right to uphold on its sovereignty. Havana certainly
had a right to sanction Gross for misusing a tourist visa to transport
laptops and other devices. Even still, Cuba's use of Gross as a pawn -
for the crime of trying to put Cubans onto the Internet - shows how
truly vulnerable Castro's hold on Cuba must be.

This article appeared on page A - 9 of the San Francisco Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/13/ED9J1OGRL9.DTL