“but the Cubans think they are the center of the world.”/ Saul Landau

Saul Landau, a longtime journalist and filmmaker who made a friendly documentary about Fidel Castro in 1969 but turned more critical about him in subsequent films, likewise predicted that Cuban officials would jail Gross then try to earn positive points by releasing him.
“My guess is they have little hope for a swap -- given U.S. cold responses to this suggestion [in the past]. So why not sentence him, have him spend a month or two in the can and then release him -- a humanitarian gesture to the Catholic Church and [his] synagogue -- to return to the U.S.?”
Landau suggested that perhaps “Obama would make some positive response to this gesture.”

“Gross is guilty on several counts,” Landau maintained, “but the Cubans know he's a minor pawn in an operation funded openly by Congress.”
The problem for Cuba -- and by extension, Gross -- is that Obama’s attention is focused elsewhere.
“Obama has not been paying much attention to Cuba -- and why would he?” Brandon said, “but the Cubans think they are the center of the world.”

Our Man in Havana
Washington Post (blog)