ABC News
By PAUL HAVEN Associated Press
HAVANA February 24, 2012 (AP) A senior U.S. senator met with imprisoned American Alan Gross and discussed the man's case in a long sit-down with Cuban President Raul Castro, but told The Associated Press on Friday that Gross was not likely to be released any time soon.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, said he saw Gross on Thursday afternoon at a Havana military prison. He and Sen. Richard Shelby, a Republican from Alabama, later met for 2 1/2 hours with Castro and offered to take Gross back to the United States on their plane.
"You can imagine how far that went," Leahy said in a phone interview. He added that "we have a long way to go" to win Gross's release.
The Maryland native is serving a 15-year jail term for spiriting satellite and other communications equipment onto the island while on a USAID-funded democracy-building program. Cuba considers the programs an attempt to destabilize the government, and Gross was convicted of crimes against the state, not espionage.
The Gross affair has chilled relations between the U.S. and Cuba and short-circuited any chance of rapprochement since President Barack Obama took office.
Leahy said Castro agreed that Gross "was no spy." Gross spoke virtually no Spanish and traveled to Cuba five times under his own name before his arrest in December 2009.
The talks with Castro and the senators was the first high-level meeting between the Cold War enemies since former President Jimmy Carter dined with Castro during a visit to the island in April 2010. Leahy said the late-night meeting was cordial and open.
The senator said Castro brought up the case of five Cuban agents sentenced to long jail terms in the United States, including one who was released last year but has not been allowed to return to Cuba while he serves out three years probation.
Leahy said Castro never explicitly linked Gross' fate with that of the agents, who were jailed in 1998, but "he made it very clear that while we may be concerned for Mr. Gross and have humanitarian reasons to be, they are very concerned about the five (agents) and have humanitarian and family reasons too."
While the agents' case is largely forgotten in the United States, it remains a cause celebre in Cuba, where the government hails the "Cuban Five" as heroes who were only trying to detect and prevent violent attacks against their country by exile groups.
Cuban officials have stopped short of linking the cases, but have said no one should expect the island to free the 62-year-old American in a "unilateral gesture."
Gross's legal appeals have been exhausted, but his family has asked Castro to consider a pardon on humanitarian grounds. Gross, who was portly when arrested in December 2009, has lost about 100 pounds and is now rail thin. His elderly mother and adult daughter are both battling cancer.
Leahy said Gross appeared in reasonably good spirits during the visit, but that he also indicated his two years of detention had taken a toll on his health.
"He obviously wants to leave. He feels that his health has been endangered," Leahy said, adding that he snapped several pictures of Gross to bring back to his wife, Judy.
Cuban state-run media carried images of the meeting between Castro and the senators, though they gave no details of what was discussed. Cuban media said Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez was also present.
The senators are part of an American congressional delegation touring Cuba, Haiti and Colombia.
------
JG: The answer, my friend, is laying in the wind: Trade The Cuban Five for the U.S. Covert Agent.
Showing posts with label Allan Gross. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Allan Gross. Show all posts
Friday, February 24, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
Associated Press: Allan Gross trip reports indicate that he knew his activities were illegal in Cuba
Washington Post (First of Five Pages)
By Associated Press, Published: February 12
WASHINGTON — Piece by piece, in backpacks and carry-on bags, American aid contractor Alan Gross made sure laptops, smartphones, hard drives and networking equipment were secreted into Cuba. The most sensitive item, according to official trip reports, was the last one: a specialized mobile phone chip that experts say is often used by the Pentagon and the CIA to make satellite signals virtually impossible to track.
The purpose, according to an Associated Press review of Gross’ reports, was to set up uncensored satellite Internet service for Cuba’s small Jewish community.
The operation was funded as democracy promotion for the U.S. Agency for International Development, established in 1961 to provide economic, development and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of U.S. foreign policy goals. Gross, however, identified himself as a member of a Jewish humanitarian group, not a representative of the U.S. government.
Cuban President Raul Castro called him a spy, and Gross was sentenced last March to 15 years in prison for seeking to “undermine the integrity and independence” of Cuba. U.S. officials say he did nothing wrong and was just carrying out the normal mission of USAID.
Gross said at his trial in Cuba that he was a “trusting fool” who was duped. But his trip reports indicate that he knew his activities were illegal in Cuba and that he worried about the danger, including possible expulsion.
One report says a community leader “made it abundantly clear that we are all ‘playing with fire.’”
Another time Gross said: “This is very risky business in no uncertain terms.”
And finally: “Detection of satellite signals will be catastrophic.”
The case has heightened frictions in the decades-long political struggle between the United States and its communist neighbor to the south, and raises questions about how far democracy-building programs have gone — and whether cloak-and-dagger work is better left to intelligence operatives.
Gross’ company, JBDC Inc., which specializes in setting up Internet access in remote locations like Iraq and Afghanistan, had been hired by Development Alternatives Inc., or DAI, of Bethesda, Maryland, which had a multimillion-dollar contract with USAID to break Cuba’s information blockade by “technological outreach through phone banks, satellite Internet and cell phones.”
USAID officials reviewed Gross’ trip reports and received regular briefings on his progress, according to DAI spokesman Steven O’Connor. The reports were made available to the AP by a person familiar with the case who insisted on anonymity because of the documents’ sensitivity.
The reports cover four visits over a five-month period in 2009. Another report, written by a representative of Gross’ company, covered his fifth and final trip, the one that ended with his arrest on Dec. 3, 2009.
Together, the reports detail the lengths to which Gross went to escape Cuban authorities’ detection.
To avoid airport scrutiny, Gross enlisted the help of other American Jews to bring in electronic equipment a piece at a time. He instructed his helpers to pack items, some of them banned in Cuba, in carry-on luggage, not checked bags.
JG: For access to pages four through five, go the original article (click on the link at the top of this post.)
By Associated Press, Published: February 12
WASHINGTON — Piece by piece, in backpacks and carry-on bags, American aid contractor Alan Gross made sure laptops, smartphones, hard drives and networking equipment were secreted into Cuba. The most sensitive item, according to official trip reports, was the last one: a specialized mobile phone chip that experts say is often used by the Pentagon and the CIA to make satellite signals virtually impossible to track.
The purpose, according to an Associated Press review of Gross’ reports, was to set up uncensored satellite Internet service for Cuba’s small Jewish community.
The operation was funded as democracy promotion for the U.S. Agency for International Development, established in 1961 to provide economic, development and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of U.S. foreign policy goals. Gross, however, identified himself as a member of a Jewish humanitarian group, not a representative of the U.S. government.
Cuban President Raul Castro called him a spy, and Gross was sentenced last March to 15 years in prison for seeking to “undermine the integrity and independence” of Cuba. U.S. officials say he did nothing wrong and was just carrying out the normal mission of USAID.
Gross said at his trial in Cuba that he was a “trusting fool” who was duped. But his trip reports indicate that he knew his activities were illegal in Cuba and that he worried about the danger, including possible expulsion.
One report says a community leader “made it abundantly clear that we are all ‘playing with fire.’”
Another time Gross said: “This is very risky business in no uncertain terms.”
And finally: “Detection of satellite signals will be catastrophic.”
The case has heightened frictions in the decades-long political struggle between the United States and its communist neighbor to the south, and raises questions about how far democracy-building programs have gone — and whether cloak-and-dagger work is better left to intelligence operatives.
Gross’ company, JBDC Inc., which specializes in setting up Internet access in remote locations like Iraq and Afghanistan, had been hired by Development Alternatives Inc., or DAI, of Bethesda, Maryland, which had a multimillion-dollar contract with USAID to break Cuba’s information blockade by “technological outreach through phone banks, satellite Internet and cell phones.”
USAID officials reviewed Gross’ trip reports and received regular briefings on his progress, according to DAI spokesman Steven O’Connor. The reports were made available to the AP by a person familiar with the case who insisted on anonymity because of the documents’ sensitivity.
The reports cover four visits over a five-month period in 2009. Another report, written by a representative of Gross’ company, covered his fifth and final trip, the one that ended with his arrest on Dec. 3, 2009.
Together, the reports detail the lengths to which Gross went to escape Cuban authorities’ detection.
To avoid airport scrutiny, Gross enlisted the help of other American Jews to bring in electronic equipment a piece at a time. He instructed his helpers to pack items, some of them banned in Cuba, in carry-on luggage, not checked bags.
JG: For access to pages four through five, go the original article (click on the link at the top of this post.)
Monday, January 23, 2012
The Cases of Alan Gross and the Cuban Five
Center For International Policy - Cuba Report
Posted on 01/17/2012 by Center for International Policy
By Salim Lamrani, with contributions from Wayne Smith
The way may be opening for increased U.S.-Cuban ties. The United States has removed all restrictions on Cuban-American travel from the U.S. to Cuba and all limitations on Cuban-American remittances to families on the island. Coming at a time when the Cuban government is encouraging the establishment of small private enterprises, this opens the way for importantly increased ties between the two communities-as one observer put it: “for an inflow of capital from the U.S. to Cuba.”
There is, however, the proverbial “fly in the ointment” and that is the case of Alan Gross, arrested on December 3 of 2009 and since then representing a major obstacle to improved relations–along with the case of the Cuban Five on the other side (but more on that later).
Who is Alan Gross?
Alan Gross is a 61 year-old Jewish U.S. citizen from Potomac, Maryland who is an employee of Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI), a subcontractor of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) which itself is a dependency of the State Department. In December 2009, when Gross was about to leave Cuba with a simple tourist visa–after his fifth visit that year–Cuban state security authorities detained him at the International Airport in Havana. An investigation discovered links between him and the internal opposition to the Cuban government. Gross had been distributing among the opposition portable computers and satellite telephones as part of the State Department program for “promoting democracy in Cuba.” [1]
A long-distance communications technology expert, Gross has great experience in the field. He has worked in more than 50 nations and set up satellite communications systems during the military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan to circumvent channels controlled by local authorities. [2]
Possession of a satellite phone is strictly forbidden in Cuba for national security reasons and telecommunications are a state monopoly with competition forbidden. [3]
Aid for the Cuban Jewish Community?
The State Department, demanding the release of the detainee declared, “Gross works for international development and traveled to Cuba to assist the members of the Jewish community in Havana to connect with other Jewish communities in the world.” According to Washington, Gross’ activities were legitimate and did not violate Cuban legislation.[4]
In October 2010, during the annual session of the UN General Assembly, Arturo Valenzuela, then assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs, met with Bruno Rodríguez, Cuban minister for foreign affairs, to discuss Gross. This was the most important diplomatic meeting between representatives from both nations since the beginning of Obama’s era. [5]
Alan Gross’ family also said that his frequent trips to the island were to allow the Jewish community in Havana to gain access to the Internet and to communicate with Jews all over the world.[6] His lawyer, Peter J. Kahn, endorsed their words, “His work in Cuba had nothing to do with politics; it was simply aimed at helping the small, peaceful, non-dissident Jewish community in the country. [7]
Gross doubtless had contact with some members of the Jewish community in Cuba. Leaders of the Jewish community in Havana, however, contradict the official U.S. version of his relationship. In fact, leaders of the community affirm they did not know Alan Gross, and had never met with him despite his five visits to Cuba in 2009. Adela Dworin, president of the Beth Shalom Temple, rejected Washington’s statements. “It’s lamentable […]. The saddest part is that they tried to involve the Jewish community in Cuba which has nothing to do with this.”
Mayra Levy, speaker of the Sephardic Hebraic Center, declared she didn’t know who Gross was and added he had never been to her institution. The Associated Press said “the leaders of the Jewish community in Cuba denied the American contractor Alan Gross […] had collaborated with them.” [8] In like manner, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that “the main Jewish groups in Cuba had denied having any contracts with Alan Gross or any knowledge of his project.” [9]
Reverend Oden Mariachal, secretary of the Consejo de Iglesias de Cuba (CIC) [Cuban Council of Churches] which includes the [non-Catholic] Christian religious institutions and the Jewish community in Cuba, confirmed this position at a meeting with Peter Brennan, State Department coordinator for Cuban Affairs. On the occasion of the General Assembly of Churches of Christ in the U.S., held in Washington in 2010, the religious leader rejected Gross’ allegations. “What we made clear is what the Cuban Jewish Community, a member of the Cuban Council of Churches, told us, ‘We never had a relationship with that gentleman; he never brought us any equipment.’ They denied any kind of relationship with Alan Gross.”[10]
In fact, the small Cuban Jewish community, far from isolated, is perfectly integrated in society and has excellent relations with the political authorities in the Island. Fidel Castro, although very critical of Israeli policy in the occupied territories, declared to American journalist Jeffrey Goldberg that in history “no one has been as slandered as the Jews. They were exiled from their land, persecuted and mistreated everywhere in the world. The Jews had a more difficult existence than ours. Nothing can compare to the Holocaust,” he said. [11]
Cuban President Raúl Castro attended the religious ceremony for Hanukkah-the Festival of Lights–at the Shalom Synagogue in Havana, in December 2010. The visit was broadcast live on Cuban TV and published in the front page of newspaper Granma. He took the opportunity to greet “the Cuban Jewish community and the fabulous history of the Hebrew people.” [12]
Moreover, the Cuban Jewish community has all the technological facilities needed to communicate with the rest of the world, thanks to the assistance of other international Jewish entities such as the B’nai Brith and the Cuban Jewish Relief Project, the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), the World ORT, the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) or the United Jewish Committee (UJC); all of it endorsed by the Cuban authorities. [13]
Arturo López-Levy, B’nai Brith secretary for the Cuban Jewish community between 1999 and 2001, and today a professor at Denver University, is also skeptical about the U.S. version of the Gross case. On the subject, he stated, “Gross was not arrested for being Jewish or for his alleged activities of technological aid to the Cuban Jewish community which already had an informatics lab, electronic mail and Internet access before he got to Havana. [The Jews in Cuba] do not gather at a synagogue to conspire with the political opposition because this would jeopardize their cooperation with the government which is needed for their activities: the emigration to Israel program, the Right by Birth project–through which young Cuban Jews travel to Israel every year–or to deal with humanitarian aid. To protect the most important they detach themselves as much as possible from the U.S. programs of political interference on Cuban internal affairs. Gross travelled to Cuba not to work with any Jewish organization but for USAID.” [14]
Wayne S. Smith, chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba from 1979 to 1982 and director of Cuba Program of the Center for International Policy in Washington, said that “in other words, Gross was involved in a program whose intentions were clearly hostile to Cuba, because its objective is nothing less than regime change.” [15]
Illegal Activities According to Cuban Authorities
Cuban authorities suspected Gross of espionage and internal subversion activities. [16]Ricardo Alarcon, president of the Cuban Parliament, declared he had violated the country’s legislation. “He violated Cuban laws, national sovereignty, and committed crimes that in the U.S. are most severely punished.”[17]
Gross, a USAID employee was providing sophisticated communications equipment. The distribution and use of satellite phones is regulated in Cuba and it is forbidden to import them without authorization. On the other hand, Article 11 of Cuban Law 88 reads that, “He who, in order to perform the acts described in this Law, directly or through a third party, receives, distributes or takes part in the distribution of financial means, material or of other kind, from the Government of the United States of America, its agencies, dependencies, representatives, officials, or from private entities is liable to prison terms from 3 to 8 years.” [18]
This severity is not unique to Cuban legislation. U.S. law prescribes similar penalties for this type of crime. The Foreign Agents Registration Act prescribes that any un-registered agent “who requests, collects, supplies or spends contributions, loans, money or any valuable object in his own interest” may be liable to a sentence of five years in prison and a fine of 10,000 dollars. [19]
French legislation also punishes this type of action. According to Article 411-8 of the Penal Code, “the act of exercising on behalf of a foreign power, a foreign company or organization or company or organization under the control of a foreign agent, any act aimed at supplying devices, information, procedures, objects, documents, informatics data or files whose exploitation, spreading, or gathering can by nature attempt against the fundamental interests of the nation is punishable with ten years of imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 Euros.”[20]
On February 4, 2011, the prosecutor of the Republic of Cuba formally accused Alan Gross of “acts against the integrity and independence of the nation,” and demanded a jail sentence of 20 years. On March 12, 2011 Gross was finally sentenced to 15 years imprisonment after his trial.[21] The lawyer for the defense, Peter J. Kahn, expressed his regret that his client was “caught in the middle of a long political dispute between Cuba and the United States.” [22]
The New York Times remembers that Gross “was arrested last December during a trip to Cuba as part of a semi-clandestine USAID program, a service of foreign aid of the State Department destined to undermine the Cuban Government,” The New York paper also indicated that “U.S. authorities have admitted that Mr. Gross entered Cuba without the appropriate visa and have said he distributed satellite telephones to religious groups. [23]
Since 1992 and the adoption of the Torricelli Act, the U.S. openly admits its objective towards Cuba is “regime change” and one of the pillars of this policy is to organize, finance and equip an internal opposition. [24]
USAID, which is in charge of the implementation of the plan, admits that, as part of this program, it finances the Cuban opposition. According to the Agency for the 2009 fiscal year the amount destined for aid to Cuban dissidents was of 15.62 million dollars. Since 1996 a total of 140 million dollars have been dedicated to the program aimed at overthrowing the Cuban government. “The largest part of this figure is for individuals inside Cuba. Our objective is to maximize the amount of the support that benefits the Cubans in the Island.”[25]
The government agency also stresses the following, “We have trained hundreds of journalists in a ten year period and their work is seen in mainstream international media.” Formed and paid by the U.S., they represent, above all, the interests of Washington whose objective is a “regime change” on the island. [26]
From a juridical point of view, this reality in fact places the dissidents who accept the emoluments offered by USAID in the position of being agents at the service of a foreign power, which constitutes a serious violation of the Cuban Penal Code. The agency is aware of this reality and simply reminds all that “nobody is obliged to accept or be part of the programs of the government of the United States.” [27]
Judy Gross, the wife of Alan Gross, was authorized to visit him in prison for the first time in July 2010. [28]She took the occasion to send a letter to Cuban President Raúl Castro in which she expressed her repentance and apologized for the acts of her husband. “I understand today the Cuban Government does not appreciate the type of work Alan was doing in Cuba. His intention was never to hurt your government.” [29]
Judy Gross also accuses the State Department of not having explained to her husband that his activities were illegal in Cuba. If Alan had known that something would happen to him in Cuba, he would not have done that. I think he was not clearly informed about the risks.” [30]
A Way Out?
Clearly, Alan Gross violated the law. Of that there can be no doubt. On the other hand, he seems to have done little harm. His continued incarceration results in no important benefits to the U.S. His release, on the other hand, could be a major step toward improved U.S.-Cuban relations, especially if in the process he were prepared to apologize for his actions.
There is another side to the matter, however, and that has to do with the so-called Cuban Five. Just as the U.S. seems unwilling to move ahead in relations unless there is some movement in the Gross case, so do the Cubans seem reluctant to move without progress in the case of the Cuban Five, who were incarcerated in 1998. They were sent up to the U.S. by the Cuban government to penetrate and develop information about the anti-Castro terrorists groups in Florida after a sequence of bomb attacks against tourist centers in Havana. The idea was then to provide that information to the FBI so that it could take action to halt the exile terrorists. A meeting between representatives of the FBI and the Cubans was held in Havana over several days in June of 1998 and some forty folders of evidence were turned over to the FBI. The Cubans then waited for the U.S. to take action against the terrorists. But none was taken; rather, shortly thereafter, the FBI began arresting the Cuban five. In other words, they arrested those who had provided the evidence rather than the terrorists themselves. The Five were arrested, tried and convicted, though “tried” is not the right word for the trial was a sham. The prosecutors had no real evidence and so fell back on the old standby of trying them for “conspiracy” to commit illegal acts. No evidence, and they were tried in Miami where anti-Castro sentiment had reached such a level with the Elian Gonzalez case that there was no chance of empanelling an impartial jury. Defense lawyers requested a change of venue, but, incredibly, it was denied.
Worst of all was the case of Gerardo Hernandez, who was accused of “conspiracy” to commit murder and given two consecutive life sentences plus fifteen years–this in connection with the shoot down of the two Brothers to the Rescue planes in February of 1996. Never mind that there was no evidence that he was in any way responsible. But there, behind bars, he remains today, mostly in solitary confinement and after all these years not allowed a single visit from his wife.
The injustice in these cases contradicts the reputation of the U.S. for dedication to the rule of law. It must be corrected. Holding these men year after year without real evidence of any crime other than being the unregistered agents of a foreign power was one thing during the Cold War–though unjustified even then. But now, with the Cold War over and every possibility of beginning a new U.S.-Cuba relationship, it becomes morally unjustifiable and counterproductive. It is time surely to undertake a process of reviewing all these cases and then allowing these men to return to their families. One, René Gonzalez, has already been released from prison to serve out his remaining three years on parole, but at the same time, incredibly, not allowed to return to Cuba to be with his wife, who he has not seen in all these years. That, allowing his return, should perhaps be the first step in the process.
And it goes without saying that as the U.S. begins to move in the cases of the Cuban Five, Cuba should release Alan Gross to return to his family.
It should be noted that Alan Gross himself suggested there should be some reciprocal movement in these cases. “Following the recent exchange of the Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, Gross was clear that he wants the United States and Cuba to make a similar gesture for him and the Cuban Five,” explained Rabbi David Shneyer, who had visited Gross in Havana. [31]
Salim Lamrani, PhD in Iberian and Latin American Studies of the Paris Sorbonne-Paris IV University, is a professor in charge of courses at the Paris-Sorbonne-Paris IV University and the Paris-Est Marne-la- Vallée University. He is a French journalist, and specialist on the Cuba-United States relations. He has recently published: Etat de siege. Les sanctions economiques des Etats-Unis contre Cuba with a prologue by Wayne S. Smith.
Wayne S. Smith, now director of the Cuba Project at the Center for International Policy, was chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, 1979-1982, and is the author of The Closest of Enemies, (New York: W.W. Norton, 1987.
End Notes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Jeff Franks, <>, Reuter, October 24, 2010.
[2] Phillip J. Crowley, <>, op. cit.; Saul Landau, <>, Counterpunch, July 30, 2010. http://www.counterpunch.org/landau07302010.html (site consulted on February 18, 2011).
[3] Ibid.
[4] Phillip J. Crowley, <>, op. cit
[5] Paul Haven, <>, The Associated Press, October 18, 2010
[6] Anthony Broadle, <>, Reuters, October 24, 2010.
[7] Juan O. Tamayo, <>, El Nuevo Herald, February 5, 2011.
[8] Andrea Rodríguez, <>, The Associated Press, December 2, 2010.
[9] Jewish Telegraphic Agency, <>, February 6, 2011.
[10] Andrea Rodrígues, <>, The Associated Press, December 2, 2010.
[11] Jeffrey Goldberg, <> The Atlantic, December 7, 2010. http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/09/castro-no-one-has-been-slandered-more-than-tthe-jews/62566/ (site consulted on February 18, 2011).
[12] The Associated Press, <>; Juan O. Tamayo, <>, El Nuevo Herald, December 6, 2010.
[13] Comunidad Hebrea de Cuba, <>. http://www.chcuba.org/espanol/ayuda/quienes.htm (site consulted on February 18, 2011).
[14] Arturo López-Levy, <>, August 2010. http://www.thewashintonnote.com/archives/2010/08freeing_alan_gr/ (site consulted on February 18, 2011).
[15] Wayne S. Smith, <>, Center for International Policy, March 2011. http://ciponline.org/pressroom/articles/030411_Smith_Intelligence_Brief_Gross.htm (site consulted on March 13, 2011).
[16] Paul Haven, <>, The Associated Press, February 19, 2010.
[17] Andrea Rodriguez, <>, The Associated Press, December 11, 2010.
[18] Ley de protección de la independencia nacional y la economía de Cuba (LEY N˚. 88), Artículo 11.
[19] U.S. Code, Title 22, Chapter 11, Subchapter II, § 611, iii <>, § 618, a, 1 <>.
[20] Code Penal, Partie legislative, Livre, Titre Ier, Chapitre I, Section 3, Article 411-8.
[21] William Booth, <>, The Associated Press, February 4, 2011.
[22] Paul Haven <>, The Associated Press, February 4, 2011.
[23] Ginger Thompson, <>, The New York Times, October 24, 2010.
[24] Cuban Democracy Act, Titulo XVII, Artículo 1705, 1992.
[25] Along the Malecon, <>, October 25, 2010. http://alongthemalecon.blogspot.com/2010/10/exclusive-q-with-usaid.html (site consulted on October 26, 2010); Tracey Eaton, <>, El Nuevo Herald, December 3, 2010.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Ibid.
[28] Jessica Gresko, <>, The Associated Press, October 26, 2010.
[29] Anthony Boadle, <>, op. cit. ; Jeff Frank, <>, Reuters, October 24, 2010.
[30]Anthony Boadle, <>, op. cit EFE, <>, February 8, 2011.
[31] Agence France Presse, <> November 8, 2011.
Posted on 01/17/2012 by Center for International Policy
By Salim Lamrani, with contributions from Wayne Smith
The way may be opening for increased U.S.-Cuban ties. The United States has removed all restrictions on Cuban-American travel from the U.S. to Cuba and all limitations on Cuban-American remittances to families on the island. Coming at a time when the Cuban government is encouraging the establishment of small private enterprises, this opens the way for importantly increased ties between the two communities-as one observer put it: “for an inflow of capital from the U.S. to Cuba.”
There is, however, the proverbial “fly in the ointment” and that is the case of Alan Gross, arrested on December 3 of 2009 and since then representing a major obstacle to improved relations–along with the case of the Cuban Five on the other side (but more on that later).
Who is Alan Gross?
Alan Gross is a 61 year-old Jewish U.S. citizen from Potomac, Maryland who is an employee of Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI), a subcontractor of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) which itself is a dependency of the State Department. In December 2009, when Gross was about to leave Cuba with a simple tourist visa–after his fifth visit that year–Cuban state security authorities detained him at the International Airport in Havana. An investigation discovered links between him and the internal opposition to the Cuban government. Gross had been distributing among the opposition portable computers and satellite telephones as part of the State Department program for “promoting democracy in Cuba.” [1]
A long-distance communications technology expert, Gross has great experience in the field. He has worked in more than 50 nations and set up satellite communications systems during the military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan to circumvent channels controlled by local authorities. [2]
Possession of a satellite phone is strictly forbidden in Cuba for national security reasons and telecommunications are a state monopoly with competition forbidden. [3]
Aid for the Cuban Jewish Community?
The State Department, demanding the release of the detainee declared, “Gross works for international development and traveled to Cuba to assist the members of the Jewish community in Havana to connect with other Jewish communities in the world.” According to Washington, Gross’ activities were legitimate and did not violate Cuban legislation.[4]
In October 2010, during the annual session of the UN General Assembly, Arturo Valenzuela, then assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs, met with Bruno Rodríguez, Cuban minister for foreign affairs, to discuss Gross. This was the most important diplomatic meeting between representatives from both nations since the beginning of Obama’s era. [5]
Alan Gross’ family also said that his frequent trips to the island were to allow the Jewish community in Havana to gain access to the Internet and to communicate with Jews all over the world.[6] His lawyer, Peter J. Kahn, endorsed their words, “His work in Cuba had nothing to do with politics; it was simply aimed at helping the small, peaceful, non-dissident Jewish community in the country. [7]
Gross doubtless had contact with some members of the Jewish community in Cuba. Leaders of the Jewish community in Havana, however, contradict the official U.S. version of his relationship. In fact, leaders of the community affirm they did not know Alan Gross, and had never met with him despite his five visits to Cuba in 2009. Adela Dworin, president of the Beth Shalom Temple, rejected Washington’s statements. “It’s lamentable […]. The saddest part is that they tried to involve the Jewish community in Cuba which has nothing to do with this.”
Mayra Levy, speaker of the Sephardic Hebraic Center, declared she didn’t know who Gross was and added he had never been to her institution. The Associated Press said “the leaders of the Jewish community in Cuba denied the American contractor Alan Gross […] had collaborated with them.” [8] In like manner, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that “the main Jewish groups in Cuba had denied having any contracts with Alan Gross or any knowledge of his project.” [9]
Reverend Oden Mariachal, secretary of the Consejo de Iglesias de Cuba (CIC) [Cuban Council of Churches] which includes the [non-Catholic] Christian religious institutions and the Jewish community in Cuba, confirmed this position at a meeting with Peter Brennan, State Department coordinator for Cuban Affairs. On the occasion of the General Assembly of Churches of Christ in the U.S., held in Washington in 2010, the religious leader rejected Gross’ allegations. “What we made clear is what the Cuban Jewish Community, a member of the Cuban Council of Churches, told us, ‘We never had a relationship with that gentleman; he never brought us any equipment.’ They denied any kind of relationship with Alan Gross.”[10]
In fact, the small Cuban Jewish community, far from isolated, is perfectly integrated in society and has excellent relations with the political authorities in the Island. Fidel Castro, although very critical of Israeli policy in the occupied territories, declared to American journalist Jeffrey Goldberg that in history “no one has been as slandered as the Jews. They were exiled from their land, persecuted and mistreated everywhere in the world. The Jews had a more difficult existence than ours. Nothing can compare to the Holocaust,” he said. [11]
Cuban President Raúl Castro attended the religious ceremony for Hanukkah-the Festival of Lights–at the Shalom Synagogue in Havana, in December 2010. The visit was broadcast live on Cuban TV and published in the front page of newspaper Granma. He took the opportunity to greet “the Cuban Jewish community and the fabulous history of the Hebrew people.” [12]
Moreover, the Cuban Jewish community has all the technological facilities needed to communicate with the rest of the world, thanks to the assistance of other international Jewish entities such as the B’nai Brith and the Cuban Jewish Relief Project, the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), the World ORT, the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) or the United Jewish Committee (UJC); all of it endorsed by the Cuban authorities. [13]
Arturo López-Levy, B’nai Brith secretary for the Cuban Jewish community between 1999 and 2001, and today a professor at Denver University, is also skeptical about the U.S. version of the Gross case. On the subject, he stated, “Gross was not arrested for being Jewish or for his alleged activities of technological aid to the Cuban Jewish community which already had an informatics lab, electronic mail and Internet access before he got to Havana. [The Jews in Cuba] do not gather at a synagogue to conspire with the political opposition because this would jeopardize their cooperation with the government which is needed for their activities: the emigration to Israel program, the Right by Birth project–through which young Cuban Jews travel to Israel every year–or to deal with humanitarian aid. To protect the most important they detach themselves as much as possible from the U.S. programs of political interference on Cuban internal affairs. Gross travelled to Cuba not to work with any Jewish organization but for USAID.” [14]
Wayne S. Smith, chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba from 1979 to 1982 and director of Cuba Program of the Center for International Policy in Washington, said that “in other words, Gross was involved in a program whose intentions were clearly hostile to Cuba, because its objective is nothing less than regime change.” [15]
Illegal Activities According to Cuban Authorities
Cuban authorities suspected Gross of espionage and internal subversion activities. [16]Ricardo Alarcon, president of the Cuban Parliament, declared he had violated the country’s legislation. “He violated Cuban laws, national sovereignty, and committed crimes that in the U.S. are most severely punished.”[17]
Gross, a USAID employee was providing sophisticated communications equipment. The distribution and use of satellite phones is regulated in Cuba and it is forbidden to import them without authorization. On the other hand, Article 11 of Cuban Law 88 reads that, “He who, in order to perform the acts described in this Law, directly or through a third party, receives, distributes or takes part in the distribution of financial means, material or of other kind, from the Government of the United States of America, its agencies, dependencies, representatives, officials, or from private entities is liable to prison terms from 3 to 8 years.” [18]
This severity is not unique to Cuban legislation. U.S. law prescribes similar penalties for this type of crime. The Foreign Agents Registration Act prescribes that any un-registered agent “who requests, collects, supplies or spends contributions, loans, money or any valuable object in his own interest” may be liable to a sentence of five years in prison and a fine of 10,000 dollars. [19]
French legislation also punishes this type of action. According to Article 411-8 of the Penal Code, “the act of exercising on behalf of a foreign power, a foreign company or organization or company or organization under the control of a foreign agent, any act aimed at supplying devices, information, procedures, objects, documents, informatics data or files whose exploitation, spreading, or gathering can by nature attempt against the fundamental interests of the nation is punishable with ten years of imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 Euros.”[20]
On February 4, 2011, the prosecutor of the Republic of Cuba formally accused Alan Gross of “acts against the integrity and independence of the nation,” and demanded a jail sentence of 20 years. On March 12, 2011 Gross was finally sentenced to 15 years imprisonment after his trial.[21] The lawyer for the defense, Peter J. Kahn, expressed his regret that his client was “caught in the middle of a long political dispute between Cuba and the United States.” [22]
The New York Times remembers that Gross “was arrested last December during a trip to Cuba as part of a semi-clandestine USAID program, a service of foreign aid of the State Department destined to undermine the Cuban Government,” The New York paper also indicated that “U.S. authorities have admitted that Mr. Gross entered Cuba without the appropriate visa and have said he distributed satellite telephones to religious groups. [23]
Since 1992 and the adoption of the Torricelli Act, the U.S. openly admits its objective towards Cuba is “regime change” and one of the pillars of this policy is to organize, finance and equip an internal opposition. [24]
USAID, which is in charge of the implementation of the plan, admits that, as part of this program, it finances the Cuban opposition. According to the Agency for the 2009 fiscal year the amount destined for aid to Cuban dissidents was of 15.62 million dollars. Since 1996 a total of 140 million dollars have been dedicated to the program aimed at overthrowing the Cuban government. “The largest part of this figure is for individuals inside Cuba. Our objective is to maximize the amount of the support that benefits the Cubans in the Island.”[25]
The government agency also stresses the following, “We have trained hundreds of journalists in a ten year period and their work is seen in mainstream international media.” Formed and paid by the U.S., they represent, above all, the interests of Washington whose objective is a “regime change” on the island. [26]
From a juridical point of view, this reality in fact places the dissidents who accept the emoluments offered by USAID in the position of being agents at the service of a foreign power, which constitutes a serious violation of the Cuban Penal Code. The agency is aware of this reality and simply reminds all that “nobody is obliged to accept or be part of the programs of the government of the United States.” [27]
Judy Gross, the wife of Alan Gross, was authorized to visit him in prison for the first time in July 2010. [28]She took the occasion to send a letter to Cuban President Raúl Castro in which she expressed her repentance and apologized for the acts of her husband. “I understand today the Cuban Government does not appreciate the type of work Alan was doing in Cuba. His intention was never to hurt your government.” [29]
Judy Gross also accuses the State Department of not having explained to her husband that his activities were illegal in Cuba. If Alan had known that something would happen to him in Cuba, he would not have done that. I think he was not clearly informed about the risks.” [30]
A Way Out?
Clearly, Alan Gross violated the law. Of that there can be no doubt. On the other hand, he seems to have done little harm. His continued incarceration results in no important benefits to the U.S. His release, on the other hand, could be a major step toward improved U.S.-Cuban relations, especially if in the process he were prepared to apologize for his actions.
There is another side to the matter, however, and that has to do with the so-called Cuban Five. Just as the U.S. seems unwilling to move ahead in relations unless there is some movement in the Gross case, so do the Cubans seem reluctant to move without progress in the case of the Cuban Five, who were incarcerated in 1998. They were sent up to the U.S. by the Cuban government to penetrate and develop information about the anti-Castro terrorists groups in Florida after a sequence of bomb attacks against tourist centers in Havana. The idea was then to provide that information to the FBI so that it could take action to halt the exile terrorists. A meeting between representatives of the FBI and the Cubans was held in Havana over several days in June of 1998 and some forty folders of evidence were turned over to the FBI. The Cubans then waited for the U.S. to take action against the terrorists. But none was taken; rather, shortly thereafter, the FBI began arresting the Cuban five. In other words, they arrested those who had provided the evidence rather than the terrorists themselves. The Five were arrested, tried and convicted, though “tried” is not the right word for the trial was a sham. The prosecutors had no real evidence and so fell back on the old standby of trying them for “conspiracy” to commit illegal acts. No evidence, and they were tried in Miami where anti-Castro sentiment had reached such a level with the Elian Gonzalez case that there was no chance of empanelling an impartial jury. Defense lawyers requested a change of venue, but, incredibly, it was denied.
Worst of all was the case of Gerardo Hernandez, who was accused of “conspiracy” to commit murder and given two consecutive life sentences plus fifteen years–this in connection with the shoot down of the two Brothers to the Rescue planes in February of 1996. Never mind that there was no evidence that he was in any way responsible. But there, behind bars, he remains today, mostly in solitary confinement and after all these years not allowed a single visit from his wife.
The injustice in these cases contradicts the reputation of the U.S. for dedication to the rule of law. It must be corrected. Holding these men year after year without real evidence of any crime other than being the unregistered agents of a foreign power was one thing during the Cold War–though unjustified even then. But now, with the Cold War over and every possibility of beginning a new U.S.-Cuba relationship, it becomes morally unjustifiable and counterproductive. It is time surely to undertake a process of reviewing all these cases and then allowing these men to return to their families. One, René Gonzalez, has already been released from prison to serve out his remaining three years on parole, but at the same time, incredibly, not allowed to return to Cuba to be with his wife, who he has not seen in all these years. That, allowing his return, should perhaps be the first step in the process.
And it goes without saying that as the U.S. begins to move in the cases of the Cuban Five, Cuba should release Alan Gross to return to his family.
It should be noted that Alan Gross himself suggested there should be some reciprocal movement in these cases. “Following the recent exchange of the Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, Gross was clear that he wants the United States and Cuba to make a similar gesture for him and the Cuban Five,” explained Rabbi David Shneyer, who had visited Gross in Havana. [31]
Salim Lamrani, PhD in Iberian and Latin American Studies of the Paris Sorbonne-Paris IV University, is a professor in charge of courses at the Paris-Sorbonne-Paris IV University and the Paris-Est Marne-la- Vallée University. He is a French journalist, and specialist on the Cuba-United States relations. He has recently published: Etat de siege. Les sanctions economiques des Etats-Unis contre Cuba with a prologue by Wayne S. Smith.
Wayne S. Smith, now director of the Cuba Project at the Center for International Policy, was chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, 1979-1982, and is the author of The Closest of Enemies, (New York: W.W. Norton, 1987.
End Notes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Jeff Franks, <
[2] Phillip J. Crowley, <
[3] Ibid.
[4] Phillip J. Crowley, <
[5] Paul Haven, <
[6] Anthony Broadle, <
[7] Juan O. Tamayo, <
[8] Andrea Rodríguez, <
[9] Jewish Telegraphic Agency, <
[10] Andrea Rodrígues, <
[11] Jeffrey Goldberg, <
[12] The Associated Press, <
[13] Comunidad Hebrea de Cuba, <
[14] Arturo López-Levy, <
[15] Wayne S. Smith, <
[16] Paul Haven, <
[17] Andrea Rodriguez, <
[18] Ley de protección de la independencia nacional y la economía de Cuba (LEY N˚. 88), Artículo 11.
[19] U.S. Code, Title 22, Chapter 11, Subchapter II, § 611, iii <
[20] Code Penal, Partie legislative, Livre, Titre Ier, Chapitre I, Section 3, Article 411-8.
[21] William Booth, <
[22] Paul Haven <
[23] Ginger Thompson, <
[24] Cuban Democracy Act, Titulo XVII, Artículo 1705, 1992.
[25] Along the Malecon, <
[26] Ibid.
[27] Ibid.
[28] Jessica Gresko, <
[29] Anthony Boadle, <
[30]Anthony Boadle, <
[31] Agence France Presse, <
Friday, January 20, 2012
In Spanish: Cuban intelligence agencies knew since 2004 about the subversive activities of Allan P. Gross in the island
Source: Cafe Fuerte
PDF Document (In Spanish) 15 MB, 18 Pages
Publicado el Lunes, 16 Enero 2012 05:37 - Por Wilfredo Cancio Isla
La inteligencia cubana conocía las labores del contratista estadounidense Alan P. Gross desde mediados del 2004, cuando viajó a La Habana con la misión de entregar una cámara de video y medicamentos a un líder masón que resultó ser agente de la Seguridad del Estado.
De acuerdo con la sentencia judicial del caso, el cardiólogo infantil José Manuel Collera Vento, Gran Maestro de la Gran Logia de Cuba, recibió de manos de Gross un paquete enviado por Marc Wachtenheim, director de un proyecto destinado a promover cambios democráticos en la isla con financiamiento del gobierno de Estados Unidos.
Hasta el 2010 Wachtenheim fungió como el director del programa “Iniciativa para el desarrollo de Cuba” de la Fundación Panamericana para el Desarrollo (FUPAD), que recibía fondos de la Agencia de Estados Unidos para el Desarrollo Internacional (USAID).
Testimonio clave
El testimonio de Collera Vento fue clave en el juicio contra Gross, según revela la sentencia. Otro agente destapado por la Seguridad del Estado, Raúl Antonio Capote Fernández, también sirvió como testigo en el proceso contra el contratista, condenado a 15 años de cárcel en marzo del 2011.
El documento -de 18 páginas- señala que Gross “arribó a La Habana el 26 de junio del 2004 y en esta ciudad cumplió el encargo, recibiendo a cambio la suma de 400 dólares estadounidenses aproximadamente, provenientes de los fondos de la FUPAD, cuando días después regresó a Estados Unidos”.
Para esa fecha Collera Vento, el “agente Duarte” devenido luego “agente Gerardo”, rendía ya cuentas a la Seguridad del Estado y conocía de los planes de la FUPAD por boca del propio Wachtenheim.
Collera Vento conoció a Wachtenheim durante una visita a Washington el 2001. En esa oportunidad ambos visitaron el Consejo de Seguridad Nacional y el Departamento de Estado, y se entrevistaron con el entonces subsecretario de Estado, Otto Reich, y Frank Calzón, director del Centro para una Cuba Libre. La visita sirvió también para que Collera Vento recibiera la Medalla de la Libertad del Congreso de Estados Unidos.
La sentencia relata que durante esas reuniones se manifestó abiertamente “la necesidad de poner fin al proceso revolucionario cubano y crear las condiciones para una transición política en Cuba”, y que Wachtenheim le habló de planes para instalar redes informáticas inalámbricas en las logias masónicas de la isla, sin ser detectadas por las autoridades cubanas.
Misión de alta tecnología
Fue Wachtenheim quien en 2007 contactó nuevamente a Gross para que adquiriera equipos de telecomunicaciones de alta tecnología para introducirlos en Cuba, entre ellos un equipo de conexión satelital BGAN.
El equipo BGAN permitía el acceso a internet a través de satélites del operador Inmarsat, obviando los canales nacionales de conexión sin que pudiera ser detectado. Para la adquisición del equipamiento, Gross recibió $5,500 dólares provenientes de las cuentas de FUPAD.
A partir del 2008, Gross se sumó al programa Democracia para Cuba, auspiciado por la empresa Development Alternative Inc (DAI), con sede en Maryland. El proyecto, impulsado por la USAID, buscaba romper el bloqueo del régimen cubano sobre el libre acceso a la información.
En total, Gross realizó siete viajes a Cuba y logró crear tres redes inalámbricas con BGAN en la Comunidad Hebrea de La Habana, la Comunidad Hebrea de Camagüey y la Congregación Hebrea de Santiago de Cuba. Tras la puesta en práctica del proyecto, la remuneración se elevaba a $258,274 dólares.
Representantes de esas congregaciones hebreas brindaron testimonio para la acusación judicial. De acuerdo con la sentencia, Gross les hizo creer que se trataba de una donación para mejorar la comunicación entre la comunidad judía.
Arresto nocturno
El funcionamiento de las redes inalámbricas entre las comunidades judías estimuló la iniciativa de un proyecto similar para las logias masónicas en la isla.
El documento judicial añade que el 2 de diciembre del 2009, Gross se citó con el ciudadano estadounidense Akram Elias, ex Gran Maestro de la Logia Masónica de Washington, para una reunión que se realizaría al día siguiente en el Hotel Nacional de La Habana. En ese encuentro, ambos pretendían ultimar detalles para implementar el plan en instituciones de la masonería cubana.
Pero Gross fue la noche del 3 de diciembre del 2009, un día antes de su regreso a Estados Unidos.
En la sentencia se menciona además la declaración de Capote Fernández, “agente Daniel” de la Seguridad del Estado, quien dice haber recibido un equipo BGAN en abril del 2008. El agente se servía del equipo satelital para comunicarse con Wachtenheim y supuestamente pasarle información de la actualidad cubana.
El BGAN de Capote Fernández se averió y debía ser cambiado, pero Rene Greenwald, asistente de Wachtenheim, lo llamó para advertirle que la persona designada para el reemplazo “había sido detenido en La Habana por haber cometido una serie de descuidos".
Agentes destapados
Collera Vento y Capote Fernández fueron destapados por los órganos de la Seguridad del Estado a través de la serie especial Las razones de Cuba, transmitida por la televisión nacional en marzo del 2011.
A raíz de la detención de Gross, las autoridades cubanas desataron un meticuloso rastreo para tratar de localizar otros equipos BGAN que pudieran haberse introducido en el país burlando los controles de aduana o mediante vías alternativas.
Agencias internacionales de prensa, entidades extranjeras y organismos no gubernamentales acreditados en La Habana fueron objeto del escrutinio de la inteligencia cubana, según testimonios obtenidos por CaféFuerte.
El dictamen judicial refleja además que Judy Gross, esposa del contratista, habría interpuesto una demanda contra la DAI a nombre de su familia, según declaración jurada en poder del tribunal.
El documento contiene una detallada relación de los testigos y expertos interrogados en la causa, así como de los equipos y pertenencias incautados al acusado.
Gross, de 62 años, se encuentra cumpliendo condena en el Hospital Militar "Carlos J. Finlay" de La Habana, afectado por numerosos problemas de salud. Dos representantes de la comunidad judía cubana lo visitaron en ocasión de las celebraciones de Hannukah, a fines de diciembre.
La pasada semana, las autoridades cubanas salieron al paso a un reciente editorial de The Washington Post que exige la liberación inmediata del contratista y afirma que Estados Unidos no debe ceder a la extorsión del régimen de La Habana.
El gobierno de Raúl Castro ha manifestado disposición a buscar una "salida humanitaria" al caso de Gross a cambio de que Washington acceda a excarcelar a los cinco espías cubanos que cumplen largas condenas en Estados Unidos. El Departamento de Estado ha rechazado insistentemente la opción de un canje.
PDF Document (In Spanish) 15 MB, 18 Pages
Publicado el Lunes, 16 Enero 2012 05:37 - Por Wilfredo Cancio Isla
La inteligencia cubana conocía las labores del contratista estadounidense Alan P. Gross desde mediados del 2004, cuando viajó a La Habana con la misión de entregar una cámara de video y medicamentos a un líder masón que resultó ser agente de la Seguridad del Estado.
De acuerdo con la sentencia judicial del caso, el cardiólogo infantil José Manuel Collera Vento, Gran Maestro de la Gran Logia de Cuba, recibió de manos de Gross un paquete enviado por Marc Wachtenheim, director de un proyecto destinado a promover cambios democráticos en la isla con financiamiento del gobierno de Estados Unidos.
Hasta el 2010 Wachtenheim fungió como el director del programa “Iniciativa para el desarrollo de Cuba” de la Fundación Panamericana para el Desarrollo (FUPAD), que recibía fondos de la Agencia de Estados Unidos para el Desarrollo Internacional (USAID).
Testimonio clave
El testimonio de Collera Vento fue clave en el juicio contra Gross, según revela la sentencia. Otro agente destapado por la Seguridad del Estado, Raúl Antonio Capote Fernández, también sirvió como testigo en el proceso contra el contratista, condenado a 15 años de cárcel en marzo del 2011.
El documento -de 18 páginas- señala que Gross “arribó a La Habana el 26 de junio del 2004 y en esta ciudad cumplió el encargo, recibiendo a cambio la suma de 400 dólares estadounidenses aproximadamente, provenientes de los fondos de la FUPAD, cuando días después regresó a Estados Unidos”.
Para esa fecha Collera Vento, el “agente Duarte” devenido luego “agente Gerardo”, rendía ya cuentas a la Seguridad del Estado y conocía de los planes de la FUPAD por boca del propio Wachtenheim.
Collera Vento conoció a Wachtenheim durante una visita a Washington el 2001. En esa oportunidad ambos visitaron el Consejo de Seguridad Nacional y el Departamento de Estado, y se entrevistaron con el entonces subsecretario de Estado, Otto Reich, y Frank Calzón, director del Centro para una Cuba Libre. La visita sirvió también para que Collera Vento recibiera la Medalla de la Libertad del Congreso de Estados Unidos.
La sentencia relata que durante esas reuniones se manifestó abiertamente “la necesidad de poner fin al proceso revolucionario cubano y crear las condiciones para una transición política en Cuba”, y que Wachtenheim le habló de planes para instalar redes informáticas inalámbricas en las logias masónicas de la isla, sin ser detectadas por las autoridades cubanas.
Misión de alta tecnología
Fue Wachtenheim quien en 2007 contactó nuevamente a Gross para que adquiriera equipos de telecomunicaciones de alta tecnología para introducirlos en Cuba, entre ellos un equipo de conexión satelital BGAN.
El equipo BGAN permitía el acceso a internet a través de satélites del operador Inmarsat, obviando los canales nacionales de conexión sin que pudiera ser detectado. Para la adquisición del equipamiento, Gross recibió $5,500 dólares provenientes de las cuentas de FUPAD.
A partir del 2008, Gross se sumó al programa Democracia para Cuba, auspiciado por la empresa Development Alternative Inc (DAI), con sede en Maryland. El proyecto, impulsado por la USAID, buscaba romper el bloqueo del régimen cubano sobre el libre acceso a la información.
En total, Gross realizó siete viajes a Cuba y logró crear tres redes inalámbricas con BGAN en la Comunidad Hebrea de La Habana, la Comunidad Hebrea de Camagüey y la Congregación Hebrea de Santiago de Cuba. Tras la puesta en práctica del proyecto, la remuneración se elevaba a $258,274 dólares.
Representantes de esas congregaciones hebreas brindaron testimonio para la acusación judicial. De acuerdo con la sentencia, Gross les hizo creer que se trataba de una donación para mejorar la comunicación entre la comunidad judía.
Arresto nocturno
El funcionamiento de las redes inalámbricas entre las comunidades judías estimuló la iniciativa de un proyecto similar para las logias masónicas en la isla.
El documento judicial añade que el 2 de diciembre del 2009, Gross se citó con el ciudadano estadounidense Akram Elias, ex Gran Maestro de la Logia Masónica de Washington, para una reunión que se realizaría al día siguiente en el Hotel Nacional de La Habana. En ese encuentro, ambos pretendían ultimar detalles para implementar el plan en instituciones de la masonería cubana.
Pero Gross fue la noche del 3 de diciembre del 2009, un día antes de su regreso a Estados Unidos.
En la sentencia se menciona además la declaración de Capote Fernández, “agente Daniel” de la Seguridad del Estado, quien dice haber recibido un equipo BGAN en abril del 2008. El agente se servía del equipo satelital para comunicarse con Wachtenheim y supuestamente pasarle información de la actualidad cubana.
El BGAN de Capote Fernández se averió y debía ser cambiado, pero Rene Greenwald, asistente de Wachtenheim, lo llamó para advertirle que la persona designada para el reemplazo “había sido detenido en La Habana por haber cometido una serie de descuidos".
Agentes destapados
Collera Vento y Capote Fernández fueron destapados por los órganos de la Seguridad del Estado a través de la serie especial Las razones de Cuba, transmitida por la televisión nacional en marzo del 2011.
A raíz de la detención de Gross, las autoridades cubanas desataron un meticuloso rastreo para tratar de localizar otros equipos BGAN que pudieran haberse introducido en el país burlando los controles de aduana o mediante vías alternativas.
Agencias internacionales de prensa, entidades extranjeras y organismos no gubernamentales acreditados en La Habana fueron objeto del escrutinio de la inteligencia cubana, según testimonios obtenidos por CaféFuerte.
El dictamen judicial refleja además que Judy Gross, esposa del contratista, habría interpuesto una demanda contra la DAI a nombre de su familia, según declaración jurada en poder del tribunal.
El documento contiene una detallada relación de los testigos y expertos interrogados en la causa, así como de los equipos y pertenencias incautados al acusado.
Gross, de 62 años, se encuentra cumpliendo condena en el Hospital Militar "Carlos J. Finlay" de La Habana, afectado por numerosos problemas de salud. Dos representantes de la comunidad judía cubana lo visitaron en ocasión de las celebraciones de Hannukah, a fines de diciembre.
La pasada semana, las autoridades cubanas salieron al paso a un reciente editorial de The Washington Post que exige la liberación inmediata del contratista y afirma que Estados Unidos no debe ceder a la extorsión del régimen de La Habana.
El gobierno de Raúl Castro ha manifestado disposición a buscar una "salida humanitaria" al caso de Gross a cambio de que Washington acceda a excarcelar a los cinco espías cubanos que cumplen largas condenas en Estados Unidos. El Departamento de Estado ha rechazado insistentemente la opción de un canje.
Friday, December 30, 2011
The Privatization of U.S. Foreign Policy
The American imperialists have come up with a new twist when they are trying to subvert the internal affairs of a country they dislike.
The Cuba case is a very good example. The dislike of the imperialists has been transmorphed into regular vanilla flavor of hate.
The imperialists always think that the rest of the world is stupid and that they can hide their never-ending policies of greed and rapaciousness’ by coining new terminology.
The covert agents of the American empire are no longer called “assets” or “spooks.” Hillary and Obama now call them contractors.
Allan Gross was fooled by the Washington D.C. dynamic duo into believing this new word that they minted recently, in an effort to curry favor with corporate CEO’s, who apparently are now in charge of directing U.S. foreign policy, in exchange for 12 gold coins.
Gross deserves the 15 years that he got for allowing himself to be used by the smelly pair of the Potomac.
The Cuba case is a very good example. The dislike of the imperialists has been transmorphed into regular vanilla flavor of hate.
The imperialists always think that the rest of the world is stupid and that they can hide their never-ending policies of greed and rapaciousness’ by coining new terminology.
The covert agents of the American empire are no longer called “assets” or “spooks.” Hillary and Obama now call them contractors.
Allan Gross was fooled by the Washington D.C. dynamic duo into believing this new word that they minted recently, in an effort to curry favor with corporate CEO’s, who apparently are now in charge of directing U.S. foreign policy, in exchange for 12 gold coins.
Gross deserves the 15 years that he got for allowing himself to be used by the smelly pair of the Potomac.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Cuban parliament chief downplays unilateral release of American, possible swap for Cuban Five
The Washington Post
By Associated Press, Published: November 11
HAVANA — The president of Cuba’s parliament said Friday no one should expect the island to unilaterally free an imprisoned American aid contractor and threw cold water on hopes he could be swapped for five Cuban agents held for more than a decade in the U.S.
Ricardo Alarcon’s comments, similar to ones he has expressed in the past, maintained Havana’s firm line in a case that has been a thorn in already prickly relations between the Cold War rivals. He spoke in response to comments by a U.S. rabbi who recently visited prisoner Alan Gross at a Cuban military hospital and said the Maryland man hoped for such an exchange.
“They are different situations,” Alarcon told journalists at a convention on fighting corruption.
“I read the statement from Rabbi (David) Shneyer ... I think it is a very measured, respectful statement expressing a legitimate humanitarian concern that I understand.” But, he said, “I don’t think people should expect unilateral gestures.”
Gross, 62, has been behind bars for nearly two years since his arrest in early December 2009, accused of illegally bringing communications equipment into Cuba while on a USAID-funded democracy-building program. Cuba’s Communist government considers such programs tantamount to efforts at regime change.
In March, Gross was sentenced to 15 years in prison for crimes against the state. He maintains he was trying to help members of Cuba’s tiny Jewish community get online.
His imprisonment has put a damper on any likelihood of improved ties between Cuba and the United States, which do not have formal diplomatic relations and are divided by five decades of mutual suspicion and distrust.
Gross’ case was raised earlier this week when Roberta S. Jacobson, President Barack Obama’s nominee to be assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“We ... continue to seek the unconditional release of American citizen Alan Gross, a dedicated development worker who has been unjustly imprisoned in Cuba for nearly two years,” Jacobson told the committee.
Family members have expressed concern for Gross’ health and urged his release on humanitarian grounds, but Alarcon’s words suggest that is unlikely to happen anytime soon.
Talk of possibly swapping Gross for one or more of the “Cuban Five” agents imprisoned in the United States has similarly gone nowhere. One of the men, Rene Gonzalez, was paroled last month but ordered to remain in the U.S. while he serves three years of probation.
On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department said officials at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana continue to have regular consular access to Gross and visited him most recently on Nov. 3.
His wife, Judy Gross, has urged Americans to contact members of Congress and write letters to newspapers pressing for her husband’s return.
___
Associated Press writer Peter Orsi contributed to this report.
By Associated Press, Published: November 11
HAVANA — The president of Cuba’s parliament said Friday no one should expect the island to unilaterally free an imprisoned American aid contractor and threw cold water on hopes he could be swapped for five Cuban agents held for more than a decade in the U.S.
Ricardo Alarcon’s comments, similar to ones he has expressed in the past, maintained Havana’s firm line in a case that has been a thorn in already prickly relations between the Cold War rivals. He spoke in response to comments by a U.S. rabbi who recently visited prisoner Alan Gross at a Cuban military hospital and said the Maryland man hoped for such an exchange.
“They are different situations,” Alarcon told journalists at a convention on fighting corruption.
“I read the statement from Rabbi (David) Shneyer ... I think it is a very measured, respectful statement expressing a legitimate humanitarian concern that I understand.” But, he said, “I don’t think people should expect unilateral gestures.”
Gross, 62, has been behind bars for nearly two years since his arrest in early December 2009, accused of illegally bringing communications equipment into Cuba while on a USAID-funded democracy-building program. Cuba’s Communist government considers such programs tantamount to efforts at regime change.
In March, Gross was sentenced to 15 years in prison for crimes against the state. He maintains he was trying to help members of Cuba’s tiny Jewish community get online.
His imprisonment has put a damper on any likelihood of improved ties between Cuba and the United States, which do not have formal diplomatic relations and are divided by five decades of mutual suspicion and distrust.
Gross’ case was raised earlier this week when Roberta S. Jacobson, President Barack Obama’s nominee to be assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“We ... continue to seek the unconditional release of American citizen Alan Gross, a dedicated development worker who has been unjustly imprisoned in Cuba for nearly two years,” Jacobson told the committee.
Family members have expressed concern for Gross’ health and urged his release on humanitarian grounds, but Alarcon’s words suggest that is unlikely to happen anytime soon.
Talk of possibly swapping Gross for one or more of the “Cuban Five” agents imprisoned in the United States has similarly gone nowhere. One of the men, Rene Gonzalez, was paroled last month but ordered to remain in the U.S. while he serves three years of probation.
On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department said officials at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana continue to have regular consular access to Gross and visited him most recently on Nov. 3.
His wife, Judy Gross, has urged Americans to contact members of Congress and write letters to newspapers pressing for her husband’s return.
___
Associated Press writer Peter Orsi contributed to this report.
Monday, October 10, 2011
AP Interview: Cuba won't unilaterally free Allan Gross
Associated Press
By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ , 10.10.11, 08:21 AM EDT
MEXICO CITY -- The United States should not expect Cuba to make a unilateral humanitarian gesture to release an imprisoned American government contractor, a senior Cuban official said Sunday.
Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon told The Associated Press in an interview that to expect such a gesture on behalf of Alan Gross "would not be reasonable."
Gross was sentenced to 15 years in prison in March for crimes against the Cuban state. He was arrested in December 2009 after getting caught illegally bringing communications equipment onto the island while on a USAID-funded democracy building program.
Cuba's Supreme Court upheld Gross' sentence in August, and U.S. efforts turned to winning his release on humanitarian grounds. Both his elderly mother and adult daughter are battling cancer and his family has suffered financial hardship since his arrest, says his wife, Judy Gross.
During a visit to Mexico, Alarcon said the U.S. government "should get a good armchair and sit down to wait" if it is hoping for a humanitarian release.
"To expect a unilateral gesture wouldn't be reasonable," Alarcon said.
He also had harsh words for former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who visited Cuba in early September to negotiate Gross' release. Cuban officials rebuffed his efforts, and Richardson went home without seeing Gross.
Alarcon said Richardson went to Cuba on a private trip and not as part of a U.S. mission. Richardson's trip "was like doing amateur diplomacy, and that doesn't exist, that's Bill's invention," Alarcon said.
Richardson has said he was invited to the island by Cuban officials to negotiate Gross' release.
Alarcon said Richardson suggested the U.S. and Cuba conduct a swap between Gross and Rene Gonzalez, one of five Cuban nationals convicted in 2001 as part of the "Wasp Network" that sought to spy on U.S. military installations in South Florida. Gonzalez has dual U.S.-Cuban citizenship.
Gonzalez was released Friday after 13 years in prison but a judge has ordered him to serve three years probation in the U.S. before returning to Cuba.
Cuban officials say the five attempted to prevent terrorist attacks on the island by monitoring Cuban exiles and tried to place operatives inside the campaigns of anti-Castro politicians. They were convicted of espionage and of trying to infiltrate U.S. military bases.
"Richardson has entangled everything because I can't believe someone would seriously think that there could be a negotiation between Rene Gonzalez ... a man who was about to complete his sentence ... and a man who is just about to start serving his," Alarcon said.
He said Gonzalez's life is at risk if he remains in South Florida, especially after U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican from Florida, said Gonzalez "has American blood on his hands."
"Not only is his life at risk ... but someone could be interested in provoking an incident with him to have the judge send him back to prison," Alarcon said.
Alarcon said sending Gonzalez back to Cuba would be in the best interests of both the United States and Cuba, and he also urged the Obama administration free the four other members of the ring still in prison.
By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ , 10.10.11, 08:21 AM EDT
MEXICO CITY -- The United States should not expect Cuba to make a unilateral humanitarian gesture to release an imprisoned American government contractor, a senior Cuban official said Sunday.
Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon told The Associated Press in an interview that to expect such a gesture on behalf of Alan Gross "would not be reasonable."
Gross was sentenced to 15 years in prison in March for crimes against the Cuban state. He was arrested in December 2009 after getting caught illegally bringing communications equipment onto the island while on a USAID-funded democracy building program.
Cuba's Supreme Court upheld Gross' sentence in August, and U.S. efforts turned to winning his release on humanitarian grounds. Both his elderly mother and adult daughter are battling cancer and his family has suffered financial hardship since his arrest, says his wife, Judy Gross.
During a visit to Mexico, Alarcon said the U.S. government "should get a good armchair and sit down to wait" if it is hoping for a humanitarian release.
"To expect a unilateral gesture wouldn't be reasonable," Alarcon said.
He also had harsh words for former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who visited Cuba in early September to negotiate Gross' release. Cuban officials rebuffed his efforts, and Richardson went home without seeing Gross.
Alarcon said Richardson went to Cuba on a private trip and not as part of a U.S. mission. Richardson's trip "was like doing amateur diplomacy, and that doesn't exist, that's Bill's invention," Alarcon said.
Richardson has said he was invited to the island by Cuban officials to negotiate Gross' release.
Alarcon said Richardson suggested the U.S. and Cuba conduct a swap between Gross and Rene Gonzalez, one of five Cuban nationals convicted in 2001 as part of the "Wasp Network" that sought to spy on U.S. military installations in South Florida. Gonzalez has dual U.S.-Cuban citizenship.
Gonzalez was released Friday after 13 years in prison but a judge has ordered him to serve three years probation in the U.S. before returning to Cuba.
Cuban officials say the five attempted to prevent terrorist attacks on the island by monitoring Cuban exiles and tried to place operatives inside the campaigns of anti-Castro politicians. They were convicted of espionage and of trying to infiltrate U.S. military bases.
"Richardson has entangled everything because I can't believe someone would seriously think that there could be a negotiation between Rene Gonzalez ... a man who was about to complete his sentence ... and a man who is just about to start serving his," Alarcon said.
He said Gonzalez's life is at risk if he remains in South Florida, especially after U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican from Florida, said Gonzalez "has American blood on his hands."
"Not only is his life at risk ... but someone could be interested in provoking an incident with him to have the judge send him back to prison," Alarcon said.
Alarcon said sending Gonzalez back to Cuba would be in the best interests of both the United States and Cuba, and he also urged the Obama administration free the four other members of the ring still in prison.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Washington and Obama continue repeating their lies
If you believe that Alan P. Gross was only a "contractor" you are an extremely gullible person.
The imperialists would like to recover the very valuable "real estate" which they lost when, on Jan 1st, 1959, Fulgencio Batista, put his tail between his legs and hightailed it to a nation governed by another imperialist favorite son, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo.
For 52 years the imperialist have thrown everything but the kitchen sink at the Republic of Cuba, including assassination attempts. This comes from a country and government that tells the world that "we are a nation of laws." Another huge lie!
AFP reports today that:
Alan Gross, 62, an independent contractor employed by the State Department, was arrested in December 2009 and sentenced in March to 15 years in prison for violating "the independence or territorial integrity" of Cuba.
Washington rejects the espionage charges and says Gross was bringing satellite phones and other equipment to Cuba's Jewish community while working for the US Agency for International Development's democracy-building program.
Cuba claims that the United States continues to imprison five Cuban anti-terrorist agents who were convicted of espionage in 2001. Havana considers the "Cuban Five" political prisoners and says their aim was not to spy on the US government but to gather information on "terrorist" plots by Cuban expatriates in Florida, a bastion of anti-Castro fervor.
What Washington, Bush and Obama can not stand, or understand, is that Cuba has a government dedicated to defending its national interests and sovereignty.
The Cuban people and government are not stupid. When Bush and Obama say that they want to bring democracy to Cuba, what they really mean is that they would like to return dog-eat-dog capitalism to the island.
Want to free Gross? Release the Cuban Five!
The imperialists would like to recover the very valuable "real estate" which they lost when, on Jan 1st, 1959, Fulgencio Batista, put his tail between his legs and hightailed it to a nation governed by another imperialist favorite son, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo.
For 52 years the imperialist have thrown everything but the kitchen sink at the Republic of Cuba, including assassination attempts. This comes from a country and government that tells the world that "we are a nation of laws." Another huge lie!
AFP reports today that:
Alan Gross, 62, an independent contractor employed by the State Department, was arrested in December 2009 and sentenced in March to 15 years in prison for violating "the independence or territorial integrity" of Cuba.
Washington rejects the espionage charges and says Gross was bringing satellite phones and other equipment to Cuba's Jewish community while working for the US Agency for International Development's democracy-building program.
Cuba claims that the United States continues to imprison five Cuban anti-terrorist agents who were convicted of espionage in 2001. Havana considers the "Cuban Five" political prisoners and says their aim was not to spy on the US government but to gather information on "terrorist" plots by Cuban expatriates in Florida, a bastion of anti-Castro fervor.
What Washington, Bush and Obama can not stand, or understand, is that Cuba has a government dedicated to defending its national interests and sovereignty.
The Cuban people and government are not stupid. When Bush and Obama say that they want to bring democracy to Cuba, what they really mean is that they would like to return dog-eat-dog capitalism to the island.
Want to free Gross? Release the Cuban Five!
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