State Dept. nominee says she'll prioritize Gross case
President Barack Obama’s nominee to lead U.S. foreign policy in Latin America told lawmakers Tuesday that she would prioritize the release of a Maryland man serving a 15-year sentence in Cuba for crimes against the state.
Alan Gross, who was working as a subcontractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development when he was arrested in December 2009, has maintained his innocence. The Baltimore native, a veteran international development worker, was helping Cuba’s small Jewish community develop an intranet and improve access to the Internet.
Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, raised Gross’s case during the confirmation hearing Tuesday for Roberta Jacobson to serve as assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs.
“For nearly two years, the Cuban government has held Alan Gross under horrible terms and conditions, violating his human rights and twisting the rule of law to suit their own needs,” the Maryland Democrat said. “Mr. Gross should be immediately and unconditionally released so he can return home. The health and humanitarian needs of he and his family are paramount.”
Cardin asked Jacobson to prioritize Gross’s release. She agreed.
Comments
Alan Gross met with his rabbi recently and told the rabbi that he would like to be traded for the Cuban Five.
Israel traded a thousand Palestinians for one Israeli soldier, then traded twenty-five Egyptians for one Israeli-American.
Why can't Washington trade five Cubans for one Jewish American?
Here's what Gross's rabbi has to say:
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Posted by: Walter Lippmann | November 9, 2011 1:23 PM
What a disgrace that the confirmation of an important State Department official apparently depends on denying the reality of Alan Gross's situation.
From Cuba's perspective he is just as guilty of violating its laws as from the US perspective the Cuban 5 are guilty of violating ours.
We can continue this charade of mutual self-righteousness for many years, or both sides can seriously seek a political solution. If Israel can agree with Hamas to exchange Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit for 1,027 Palestinians, including 315 serving life sentences, why is it so hard for the Obama Administration to release five Cuban intelligence operatives, one imprisoned for life, in return for USAID agent Alan Gross?
The only way the Obama Administration can escape this trap is by decisively ending the dysfunctional non-relationship with Cuba. Senators Menendez and Rubio had counterparts when Nixon and Carter opened the door to China and Clinton normalized with Vietnam, but they became irrelevant once the step was taken.
John McAuliff
Fund for Reconciliation and Development
Posted by: John McAuliff | November 11, 2011 12:00 PM