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Cuba has released American aid worker Alan Gross, 65, the ailing US aid worker held in Cuba for five years in a reported prisoner exchange with Havana.
US officials had long cited Cuba’s refusal to free Gross as one of the biggest impediments to improved relations and had held out the possibility that his release could open the door to such steps.
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According to US Senator Richard Durbin, Gross' release comes with significant involvement by the Vatican. Gross' lawyer and family have described him as mentally vanquished, gaunt, hobbling and missing five teeth.
A US official said Gross was released on humanitarian grounds and would arrive at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington at noon on Wednesday. CNN reported a prisoner exchange that also included Cuba releasing a US intelligence source and the US releasing three Cuban intelligence agents.
President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro will both give public statements at 12 p.m. ET. According to the White House, Obama will make his noon statement from the Cabinet Room. CNN reported that Castro will speak at the same time on "international relations with the United States."
Who Is Alan Gross And Why Was He Imprisoned?
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Gross was a longtime supporter of Jewish causes and a career development consultant who traveled the world on private contracts before taking his Cuba assignment. He had only once previously visited Cuba and spoke very limited Spanish.
Gross worked for Maryland-based Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI), which had a $6 million deal with the USAID to promote democracy and support political dissidents. Gross signed two contracts with DAI paying him a total of $590,000 to deliver telecommunications equipment over 20 months.
During five trips to Cuba in 2009, Gross imported banned satellite communications devices and other high-tech gear in his luggage and helped install it at Jewish centers in Havana, Santiago, and Camaguey.
Cuban officials arrested him in his hotel room on Dec. 3, 2009, just before he had planned to return home.
Gross sued DAI and the US government for $60 million, saying he was inadequately informed of the dangers and illegality of his mission. He settled with DAI for an undisclosed sum and a judge threw out his suit against the US, a decision upheld on appeal.
Cuba later sentenced him to 15 years for attempting to establish clandestine internet service for Cuban Jews under a program run by the USAID. His case raised alarms about USAID's practice of hiring private citizens to carry out secretive assignments in hostile places.
Cuba considers USAID another instrument of continual US harassment dating to the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power. Fidel Castro retired in 2008, handing power to his brother Raul.
The US has said it wants to promote democracy in communist-led Cuba, a one-party state that represses political opponents and controls the media. American officials accused Cuba of taking Gross hostage as a ploy to get their spies back.
The three Cuban intelligence agents, jailed since 1998, are Gerardo Hernandez, 49, Antonio Guerrero, 56, and Ramon Labañino, 51. Two others had been released before on completing their sentences — Rene Gonzalez, 58, and Fernando Gonzalez, 51.
A Change In Relations?
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Citing US officials, the AP said Washington planned to open an embassy in Cuba as part of its plan to launch talks and to normalize relations.
A senior congressional aide said Obama would ease the embargo and travel restrictions that prevent most Americans from visiting the island.
The two countries have been ideological foes since soon after the 1959 revolution that brought Raul Castro's older brother, Fidel Castro, to power.
Washington and Havana have no diplomatic relations and the United States has maintained a trade embargo on Cuba for more than 50 years.
The so-called Cuban Five were convicted for spying on anti-Castro exile groups in Florida and monitoring US military installations. They are hailed as antiterrorist heroes in Cuba for defending the country by infiltrating exile groups in Florida at a time when anti-Castro extremists were bombing Cuban hotels.
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Two were due to be released in coming years but Gerardo Hernandez, the leader, received a double life sentence for conspiracy in Cuba's shooting down of two US civilian aircraft in 1996, killing four Cuban-Americans.
The US had flatly refused to swap Gross for the agents, but the White House came under increasing pressure to intervene from Gross' allies and foreign policy experts as Gross' health deteriorated.
Gross had already lost some 100 pounds (46 kg) when he went on a five-day hunger strike in April, and upon his 65th birthday in May he vowed to die rather than turn 66 in prison.
The payoff for Obama was the release of Gross, whose lawyer and family have described him as mentally vanquished, gaunt, hobbling and missing five teeth.
According to a petition from the Jewish Community Relations Council for Gross' release, the health of Alan’s family has also deteriorated since his imprisonment. His 27-year old daughter and 89-year old mother are both battling cancer. "The financial burdens on the family are becoming insurmountable, due to the growing medical and legal bills and the loss of Alan’s income," the petition stated.
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Gross' release could lead Obama to begin normalizing relations with Cuba, which would stir fierce opposition from well-financed and politically organized Cuban exiles, who resist engagement with the communist-led island.
Whatever he announces in terms of a wider policy shift, Obama may well face criticism in Washington and within the Cuban exile community in Miami for freeing the Cuban intelligence agents after 16 years in prison. Their freedom will be hailed as a resounding victory at home for Raul Castro.
Although Obama said "we have to continue to update our policies" on Cuba over a year ago, until now he had yet to signal change.
The president has authority to unilaterally gut the US trade embargo against Cuba and allow US citizens to travel freely to the island. His State Department can remove Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism, an outdated designation that carries with it further economic sanctions.
But there were already quick objections to the news from some US lawmakers. Robert Menendez, the current head of Senate Foreign Relations Committee, denounced President Barack Obama's actions on Cuba, saying they "vindicated the brutal behavior of the Cuban government."
Menendez said in a statement that trading Gross for "convicted criminals" from Cuba "sets an extremely dangerous precedent."
Similarly, US Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American of Florida, said the release of Gross "puts a price on Americans abroad." Speaking on Fox News, Rubio, a potential 2016 White House contender, said he did not believe that Congress would support lifting the embargo on Cuba.
Proponents of normalization note that Cuba has blamed the embargo for its economic shortcomings for decades and uses US aggression as justification for stifling dissent.
Despite bilateral animosity, the two countries have been quietly engaged on a host of issues such as immigration, drug interdiction, and oil-spill mitigation.
(Writing by Daniel Trotta and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Howard Goller)
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