U.S. lawmakers in Cuba to push for release of Gross
A U.S. congressional delegation is in Cuba to press for
the release of imprisoned American-Jewish contractor Alan Gross.
Seven lawmakers led by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) arrived
in Cuba on Monday for a three-day visit, according to Reuters.
The delegation plans to meet with Gross, as well as
parliament president Ricardo Alarcon, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and
possibly President Raul Castro.
Leahy met with Gross one year ago during a visit to the
island nation. During a meeting that same day with Castro, the president
brought up the case of five Cuban agents serving long jail terms in the United
States. Cuba has linked Gross' release to the fate of the so-called Cuban Five,
according to reports.
The delegation would like to bring Gross back to the
United States with them, Leahy has said.
Gross was arrested in December 2009 as he was leaving
Cuba for “crimes against the state” for distributing laptop computers and
connecting Cuban Jews to the Internet. He spoke virtually no Spanish and traveled
to Cuba five times under his own name before his arrest.
Gross' family and U.S. State Department officials say
that Gross was in the country on a U.S. Agency for International Development
contract to help the country's 1,500 Jews communicate with other Jewish
communities using the Internet. The main Jewish groups in Cuba have denied any
contact with or knowledge of Gross or the program.
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