Mahmoud Abbas asked Cuba to free Alan Gross

(MaanImages/Omar Rashidi, Pool)

Ma'an News Agency/ By George Hale

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- In early March, President Mahmoud Abbas approached Cuban leader Raul Castro with an unusual request.

According to the veteran Israeli negotiator who set up the call, Abbas wanted Castro to free Alan Gross, a Jewish American contractor jailed by Havana since late 2009.

The intermediary, peace activist Gershon Baskin, says Gross “is being held hostage.” The view is shared by much of the US Jewish community as well as the State Department, which has no direct ties with Cuba. Palestine, however, has an excellent relationship with the island nation, so Baskin contacted Abbas.

"I asked the Palestinians, and he did that," Baskin said in an interview. "It was a very good, humanitarian gesture on the part of Abu Mazen," he said, although the talks failed to secure Gross' release.

What does an American jailed in Cuba have to do with the Palestinians? Emails stolen in May from a Palestinian Authority cabinet minister may provide a clue.

Posted online, the messages depict Palestinian officials desperate to convince a powerful Cuban-American lawmaker to lift a hold on $147 million allocated for civilian aid to the Palestinians.

The congresswoman, Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee and is one of the Castro regime’s fiercest critics in Washington. Gross is from Maryland but his plight is a priority for many of the lawmaker's south Florida constituents.

Three weeks after Abbas contacted Castro, Ros-Lehtinen relented on half the funds -- about $89 million -- that she had withheld for seven months in protest of Palestinian efforts to seek membership in the UN. On March 23, the lawmaker sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton explaining that she would “no longer object” to distributing the aid for water programs, healthcare and food.

The letter made no mention of the Palestinian overtures to Castro, but a person involved in the campaign to free Gross said the congresswoman had agreed to consider releasing the money if Abbas succeeded. She was first approached with the proposal by one of Gross' attorneys.

Baskin confirmed this account but said Ros-Lehtinen was also under pressure from the State Department and even AIPAC, an influential pro-Israel lobby group. And she was not the only one blocking Palestinian money; Republican Kay Granger of Texas had a similar hold in place.

Still, the Palestinians understood their intervention as necessary to appease Ros-Lehtinen, not Granger. Baskin said he initiated the talks as a goodwill gesture to Ros-Lehtinen, although she is not mentioned by name in the messages stolen from Mahmoud Habash, a senior Palestinian official.

Trade the “Cuban Five? Maybe, But For These Guys, Not Alan Gross

By Chris Simmons

For some time, the Castro regime has suggested various scenarios for an exchange of Alan Gross for up to six of its spies jailed or on parole in the United States.  However, Alan Gross is a hostage, not a spy.  As such, trading him for the Cuban Five cannot be seriously considered under any circumstance.  However, exchanging Gross for several indicted Cuban officials and all US fugitives on the island could benefit both nations.    According to law enforcement sources, as many as 70 US fugitives may be enjoying the protection of the Castro regime.

Luis Armando Pena Soltren

A precedent for such a prisoner exchange already exists.  In 1979, four CIA operatives jailed in Cuba for nearly two decades were exchanged for Oscar Collazo, who tried to assassinate Truman in October 20, 1950, as well as Lolita Lebron and three other Puerto Ricans who shot up the US Congress on March 1, 1954.  Additionally, in June 2008, Cuba returned American fugitive Leonard Auerback to the US to face Federal charges of sexually abusing a Costa Rican girl and the possession of child pornography.  Cuba also allowed Luis Armando Pena Soltren to return to the US in October 2009 to surrender to FBI officials to face a 40-year old indictment for air piracy.

In this scenario, the Cuban Five would be exchanged for Alan Gross, all 50-70+ fugitives want by the US, and four indicted Cuban officials.   The indicted Cubans are all associated with the murder of four Americans during the February 1996 shoot down of two US aircraft flown by the humanitarian group, Brothers to the Rescue.  Indicted by the US on August 21, 2003 were General Rubén Martínez Puente, Lieutenant Colonel Lorenzo Perez Perez, and his twin brother, Lieutenant Colonel Francisco Perez Perez.  All three were indicted for conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of destruction of aircraft, and four counts of murder for the shoot down of the two aircraft and the death of the crews.  Ironically, most of the evidence against them was developed as a result of the 1998 arrests of 10 members of a Cuban spy ring known as the Wasp Network.  Another Cuban officer to be included in the proposed exchange is Lieutenant Colonel Juan Pablo Roque, another member of the Wasp Network, also remains under indictment for conspiracy to commit murder and espionage-related charges.

Víctor Manuel Gerena

Among the wanted US felons are terrorists Víctor Manuel Gerena and Joanne Chisimard.  On the FBI’s “10 Most Wanted” List, a million dollar reward is offered for Manuel Gerena http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/victor-manuel-gerena/view.  Similarly, a million dollar bounty is offered on Joanne Chisimard for the May 2, 1973 execution of a New Jersey state trooper http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/dt/joanne-deborah-chesimard.  The crimes committed by the dozens of other felons include numerous counts of murder, air piracy, and other heinous acts.

So, regarding the idea of exchanging the Cuban Five for Alan Gross – no, not now, not ever.  But trading the Cuban Five for Alan Gross and as many as 74 terrorists, indicted officials, and other dangerous criminals?  That’s an idea worth considering.  I’d say yes to “75 for 5!”

Cuba Trade Proponents in Senate Pressure Castro Over Jailing of US Citizen

by Chris Simmons

By Erik Wasson – The Hill

Two Senate advocates for increased trade with Cuba have backed off their efforts in light of the detention of a U.S. citizen by the Fidel Castro regime.

Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) had been leading a congressional push to “reset” relations with Cuba and increase trade and travel ties, but have halted that advocacy over the Alan Gross case.

Gross, 63, was given a 15-year prison sentence for alleged spying and is reportedly frail. The State Department has called repeatedly for Cuba to release him.

“I have tried to change the trading relationship with Cuba. I am taking a hiatus from that effort. I am no longer willing to do that,” Moran said.  “I hope that this will put pressure on Cuba to release him,” he said.

Moran and Durbin had faced opposition from Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla), who has thwarted changes to Cuba policy since becoming chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in 2011. Despite the lack of action in the House, Moran and Durbin persisted last year in trying to increase agricultural exports to Cuba.

U.S. companies have been permitted to ship food and medicine to Cuba since 2000, but Treasury Department regulations have inhibited trade by making the payments for those goods more complicated.  Moran last year inserted an amendment into a draft 2012 Financial Services Appropriations bill that would have allowed Cuban buyers to make direct cash payments to U.S. financial institutions in order to ease agricultural trade. Farm lobbyists supported the language.

The Kansas senator also supported language that would end a restriction that forces buyers to pay for goods before they leave U.S. ports, rather than when receiving the goods.  Both provisions were stripped out of the final 2012 omnibus appropriations package that was enacted into law, however.

Moran this week said he is no longer pushing for the trade changes, and aides said neither provision is in the bill that passed out of the Appropriations Committee on Thursday.  Durbin, the spending “cardinal” in charge of the Treasury budget, said that he supports Moran’s decision despite being an advocate of using trade to open up closed societies.  Durbin said he’s “always voted with [Moran] to expand trade,” but a visit with Gross in prison this spring convinced him that more needs to be done to free him.

In 2010, the House Agriculture Committee under now-ranking member Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) attempted to pass a wide-ranging Cuba trade bill.  Asked Friday about the Gross case, Peterson said he still wants stronger trade ties.  “I’m still for opening trade with Cuba,” he said through a spokesperson.

Former Gov. Bill Richardson on Alan Gross, Cuba

Weekly “Free Alan Gross” Vigils Continue Outside Cuban Interests Section

by Chris Simmons

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington continues a weekly vigil outside the Cuban Interests Section (2630 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC) every Monday from noon-1pm.   Vigil sponsorship rotates among local organizations and houses of worship.  Vigils will continue each Monday through the end of the year. Overall organizers are the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington (IFC) and The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC).

Other participating sponsors include the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, JCRC of Greater Washington, Machar Washington Congregration, Adat Shalom, B'nai Tzedek, Adas Israel Congregation, Am Kolel, Washington Hebrew Congregation, Chevrat Shalom, Kemp Mill Synagogue, Agudas Achim, Temple Beth Ami, Ohev Shalom, Mitzvah Mavens, Beth El, and the Tifereth Israel Congregation.

More at Free Alan Gross    http://www.jcouncil.org/site/PageServer?pagename=WeeklyGrossVigils

The “Free Alan Gross” Facebook Page

by Chris Simmons

http://www.facebook.com/FreeAlanPGross#!/FreeAlanPGross

About:  We Need to Raise Our Voices to Help a Jew in Dire Straits.

Description:  Alan Phillip Gross (born 1949) is an American social worker and international development professional. In December 2009 he was arrested while in Cuba as a contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as part of a program funded under the 1996 Helms-Burton Act. He was prosecuted in 2011 after being accused of crimes against the Cuban state for bringing satellite phones and ...computer equipment to members of Cuba's Jewish community without the permit required under Cuban law, and is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence in Cuba. The Cuban Government has accused him of being a spy, tried him and convicted him of taking part in "a subversive project of the U.S. government that aimed to destroy the revolution through the use of communications systems out of the control of authorities." We must not be silent when Jews are in danger!

State Department Press Briefing on Mariela Castro and Alan Gross

by Chris Simmons

Special Briefing

Michael A. Hammer

Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Public Affairs

Washington, DC

June 1, 2012

Extract:

QUESTION: Did she [Mariela Castro] meet with a member of the administration, and second is there some progress in the matter of Alan Gross. The Secretary met with [Judy] Gross this week. Is there anything to report in this regard?

MR. HAMMER: First, no one from the administration met with Mariela Castro. Second, the issue of Alan Gross is something we consider every day here. The State Department is very concerned about his health and situation. Secretary Clinton, as you mentioned, met with his wife, Judy Gross, and continues to urge the Cuban authorities, well, to release him immediately. It is a very unfair case, and even for humanitarian reasons they should allow Alan Gross to come to visit his 90 year-old mother, who is ill, just as René González was allowed to go to Havana in a similar humanitarian case. We will continue to insist. I really cannot understand why the Cuban regime does not allow Alan Gross to have his freedom. But at least it should allow a humanitarian release, given the seriousness of the illness of his mother, who is very old.

QUESTION: And the United States has always argued that this is a case that cannot be compared with the other case. Now you say that, it should now be with Gross just like it was for Rene. Isn’t this comparison just like that made by Havana?

MR. HAMMER: No, the only thing similar is that here, our judicial authorities gave humanitarian permission in a similar situation in the case of Rene Gonzalez, who had a relative who was also very sick. There are very different circumstances under which the Cuban spies were imprisoned here than for Alan Gross, who actually was working in an appropriate manner in Cuba. Therefore the cases are very different, but they are similar in that there sometimes are circumstances where you want to see that you can provide a way out for someone for humanitarian reasons; and one would like to see the same kind of understanding by the Cuban authorities. But let me be clear, Alan Gross should not be imprisoned. He has been unfairly imprisoned for more than two years and five months. In this case, he should be released immediately, and that is what we believe. But if they are not ready to do that now, at least in this case they should grant a humanitarian visit.

[Mariela Castro the good girl] on Alan Gross and U.S. Cuban Prisoners Issue

by Chris Simmons

Read >>

Advocates Urge Two Concessions in Exchange for Alan Gross

Cuba Confidential/

A stunning extract from today’s issue of the Heritage (Florida Jewish News):

Olga Salanueva Arango (L) and Adriana Perez O'Connor

“On background, a source apprised of the dealings among Gross’ advocates, the U.S. government and the Cubans says that Gross’ advocates are willing to press for visits by the wives of two of the Cuban Five, Rene Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez. The U.S. has refused visas multiple times for the women, and Amnesty International has taken up their cause.

Another possible “give,” according to the source:  a permanent return to Cuba for Gonzalez, who is out of jail and serving probation in the Miami area.”

Read the full article here:  Consideration of Cuban demands

Omitted from the story is Washington’s rationale for banning visits by the wives of René González and Gerardo Hernandez.   Following the arrests of Wasp Network spies in September 1998, Hernández’s wife, Adriana Pérez O’Connor, was identified as “Agent Bonsai.”  Her mission was to courier messages and material between Havana and Miami.  Still in training as an intelligence asset at the time of the arrests, she and her children were deported and permanently banned re-entry visas.

In an act of unappreciated generosity, the U.S. also decided not to charge Olga Salanueva (wife of René González) with espionage and deported her and the children to Cuba.  However, her espionage career renders her ineligible to ever return to the United States, even to visit her incarcerated husband.

The U.S. allows family members of the three other members of the Cuban 5 almost limitless visas.  In addition to the long and frequent family visits, Cuban government officials also often enjoy visits with all five convicts.

See also:  US Department of State.   “The “Cuban Five: Cuban intelligence operatives often misrepresented as political prisoners,” June 9, 2008, http://www.docstoc.com/docs/14807527/The-%E2%80%9CCuban-Five%E2%80%9D

Gross advocates press for consideration of some Cuban Five demands

Jewish Telegraphic Agency
By Ron Kampeas

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Advocates for Alan Gross say talk of a trade with the “Cuban Five” is a non-starter, but acknowledge hopes that the Obama administration will consider lower-level concessions for the five Cuban spies in exchange for Cuban considerations for the jailed American.

Insiders say that Gross’ advocates want the U.S. government to consider, among other measures, more family visits for the Cuban Five, agents who were arrested in 1998 and convicted in 2001 on espionage-related charges, and the permanent return home for the one among them who is now out of jail and serving probation.

The Cuban government recently came closer than ever to making explicit that the fate of the Cuban Five factors into its considerations of whether to release Gross, the  State Department contractor who is in jail on a conviction stemming from his efforts to connect Cuba’s small Jewish community to the Internet.  More >>

EEUU rechaza oferta de Cuba para liberar a Gross a cambio 5 agentes cubanos

En el  Nuevo Herald >>

Cuba quiere dialogar sobre el caso Alan Gross [y los cincos espias]

En carta del jefe de la Sección de Intereses de Cuba en Washington, Jorge Bolaños, al periodista Wolf Blitzer, del programa The Situation Room, fija la actitud de la isla en torno a la condena contra Gross, encarcelado aquí por actos contra la independencia nacional.  Mas >>

Secretary Clinton on Alan Gross & Cuban Five

Read >>

American jailed in Cuba says he feels like a hostage

(CNN) -- A jailed American contractor said Friday he feels like a "hostage," in Cuba, where he is serving a 15-year prison sentence on charges of subversion.

Alan Gross was arrested in 2009 while working as a subcontractor on a U.S. Agency for International Development project aimed at spreading democracy.

Gross' family and attorneys say that he traveled to Cuba to help link the country's small Jewish community to the Internet. But Cuban authorities say Gross imported sensitive communications equipment to connect dissidents.

"I feel like I'm a hostage," he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer, speaking by phone from the Carlos J. Finlay Military Hospital in Havana.

"The president of the Dominican Republic told me two years ago when he visited, he said: 'Alan, I hope you realize this is not about you.' And at the time, I could understand that. I could intellectualize it -- that it wasn't about me, that it was an effort on the part of the Cuban government to express its disdain to the United States," he said.

"But right now, it is about me. It's about my family and it's about my mother. And I'm taking this very personally," he said.

He asked that be allowed to visit his dying mother, who is suffering from cancer and getting along in age.

"I have a 90-year-old mother who has inoperable lung cancer. She's not getting any younger, and she's not getting any healthier," he said.

"My lawyer and I have written, on more than one occasion, to the government of Cuba requesting permission for me to visit her. I would return to Cuba. You can quote me on that," Gross said.

Earlier this year, his attorney said the mother's final wish is "to be able to see her son once more before her battle with cancer is lost."

The Cuban government has not yet responded to their request.

Gross, 63, has been held in Cuba for two years and five months. He's lost about 100 pounds during that time but said his overall condition is fine.

After having not been allowed to see the sun for a year and a half, Gross said he is now permitted to go outside. The quality of his food has also improved, he said.

Last year, Cuba's highest court upheld the 15-year sentence imposed on Gross for committing crimes against the security of the state -- charges Gross described as "laughable."

His case sank U.S.-Cuba relations to a new low after initial signs of thawing when President Barack Obama took office. The State Department has said no progress will be made until Gross is released.

"If I weren't in this situation, I would be laughing about it because I'm about as much of a threat to the security and the state as the chair is that I'm sitting on right now," he said.

American [Alan Gross] in Cuban prison: ’Get me the hell out of here’

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Read >>

EEUU pide a Cuba que permita a Alan Gross visitar a su madre enferma

ABC.es/

El Gobierno de Estados Unidos pidió hoy reciprocidad a Cuba y que permita a Alan Gross viajar a Estados Unidos para visitar a su madre enferma de cáncer, después de que Washington accediera a que René González, acusado de espionaje, fuera a la isla para ver a su hermano, también enfermo de cáncer.

"Pedimos al gobierno cubano responder positivamente a la petición de Alan Gross de viajar a Estados Unidos para visitar a su madre de 90 años, Evelyn Gross", dijo a Efe el portavoz del Departamento de Estado para Latinoamérica, William Ostick.

González, uno de los cinco agentes cubanos condenados por espionaje en Estados Unidos, acaba de regresar de Cuba después de que una jueza federal de Florida le autorizara un viaje de dos semanas para visitar a su hermano, Roberto, enfermo terminal de cáncer de pulmón.

"Tanto ella como Roberto González sufren un cáncer pulmonar inoperable" señaló Ostick, que señaló que el único deseo de Evelyn es poder ver a su hijo.

El Departamento de Estado hizo además un llamamiento al Gobierno de Cuba para que acabe "definitivamente" con el "encarcelamiento injustificado" de Gross, para que pueda reencontrarse con su familia permanentemente.  Mas >>

Alan Gross pide a Castro que le permita visitar EEUU ...

Europa Press/

   El contratista estadounidense Alan Gross, condenado en La Habana a 15 años de prisión, ha pedido al presidente cubano, Raúl Castro, que le otorgue un permiso para poder visitar durante dos semanas a su madre gravemente enferma en Estados Unidos, ha informado este jueves su defensa.

   Gross, de 62 años, se ha comprometido a regresar a Cuba para continuar cumpliendo con la condena dictada hace un año por distribuir ilegalmente equipos informáticos en la isla, como parte de un programa de promoción de la democracia financiado por Washington.

   A su madre, Evelyn Gross, le fue diagnosticado un cáncer que se ha extendido a ambos pulmones y que ya no puede ser operado. El diagnóstico de su enfermedad se dio a conocer poco después de que Alan fuera arrestado en Cuba en diciembre de 2009.

   La condición de Evelyn ha empeorado y "su último deseo es poder ver a su hijo una vez más antes de perder su lucha contra el cáncer", escribió el abogado de Gross, Peter Kahn, en una carta a Castro fechada el 7 de marzo.

   "Solicitamos respetuosamente que permitan a Alan viajar a Estados Unidos por dos semanas para estar con su madre cuando celebre su cumpleaños número 90 el 5 de abril del 2012, dado que probablemente no viva otro cumpleaños", escribió Kahn en la carta a la que tuvo acceso Reuters. "Alan volverá a Cuba para completar el resto de su sentencia tras la visita", agregó.   

More >>

NY rabbi meets with jailed American [Alan Gross] in Cuba

Arthur Schneier of the Park East Synagogue

HAVANA - A prominent New York rabbi met with imprisoned American subcontractor Alan Gross in Cuba on Tuesday, describing him as upbeat and concerned about family members back home.

Arthur Schneier of the Park East Synagogue said he spent about an hour and a half with Gross in the Havana facility where he is being held.

Photos on the rabbi's digital camera showed a thin, bearded Gross wearing glasses and a yarmulke, in a room with blue and white curtains and an air conditioner.

Schneier said he brought Gross a prayer shawl and hamantaschen, or three-cornered, sweet-filling pastries, and they prayed together to mark the eve of the Jewish holiday of Purim.

"I found him hopeful, and Purim is a festival of miracles. So we all pray that a miracle will allow us to see a resolution of the pain and suffering of all involved," Schneier said.

He declined to comment further, saying a statement would be issued upon his return by the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, which Schneier founded and which organized his interfaith humanitarian mission to Cuba.

Gross is serving a 15-year prison sentence stemming from his work importing satellite and other communications equipment onto the island under a USAID-funded democracy-building program. Cuba considers such programs to be attempts against its sovereignty, and he was convicted of crimes against the state.

Gross maintains that he was only trying to help Cuban Jews improve their Internet capability.

Gross, 62, who was heavyset when arrested in December 2009, has lost about 100 pounds, and his elderly mother and adult daughter are both battling cancer

He has received periodic visits including from U.S. religious and political figures, island Jewish community members and his wife, Judy.

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, met with Gross on Feb. 23.

Schneier, a Holocaust survivor who was born in Austria, has led the Park East Synagogue since 1962 and worked to promote peace, human rights and religious tolerance around the world. He received the 2001 U.S. Presidential Citizens Medal for service to the nation.

Alan Gross and the mysterious SIM card

Cuba Money Project

It’s unclear how Gross acquired the “discreet” SIM card. Anonymous sources told Butler that “the chips are provided most frequently to the Defense Department and the CIA, but also can be obtained by the State Department, which oversees USAID.”
USAID spokesman Drew Bailey told Butler that the agency did not help Gross obtain equipment.

Ernesto Hernández Busto, editor of the influential blog Penúltimos Días, consulted an expert – also anonymous – who doubts the AP’s claim about a special SIM card. He quotes the source as saying:

Short answer — don’t think the article is correct. There’s a lot of factual errors in the article. Seems the reporter didn’t check with a technical expert on how cell phones work… The way the technology works – what is transmitted to the cell phone network is 2 pieces of information, the SIM card ID # and the ID # of the phone. Even if the sim card were changed in some way, the cell phone # would still be transmitted.
To be able to not be detected — one would need a completely different phone and very different type of SIM CARD. Don’t see how a US AID contractor would be able to get his hands on such a unit. They likely aren’t available in the open market at all.
It’s likely not just a chip, but also a very different cell phone that uses a military satelite network. A US AID contractor wouldn’t have access to such technology. Let alone, he wouldn’t have the security clearance to use such a device.
Seems too far fetched for me…
US Govt officials usually when they travel use normal phones with normal sim cards (issued in the US). However the phones have special encryption that allows the voice and data to be protected.
It’s all about the phone and what network it is using. I see it far fetched for Gross to be able to get the security clearance required to get a device able to connect to the separate military/intelligence satellite network.

Hernández said he contacted Butler, who told him he stands by his story. More >>

Clinton: No concessions to free American in Cuba

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the United States has made no deal or concessions with Cuba to free imprisoned American Alan Gross. Clinton called the continued imprisonment of Gross "deplorable" and a violation of ...  More >>