Around 100 supporters of a Maryland man entering his third year of captivity in Cuba held a vigil for his release at the Cuban Interests Section Monday in northwest Washington.
Alan Gross, 62, of Potomac, was arrested at the Havana airport in 2009 and was sentenced to 15 years in jail by a Cuban court for crimes against the state. At the time of his arrest, Gross was working for a Bethesda company called Development Alternatives, which recently won a government contract to promote democracy in Cuba. Family and U.S. officials said that Gross' job was to distribute computer and satellite phone equipment to Cuba's small Jewish community. The Cuban government claims that such programs, which are sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), are aimed at undermining the Communist government of Raul Castro.
The most recent vigil came after Cuba announced Friday that it was releasing 2,900 prisoners in advance of a visit by Pope Benedict XVI early next year. A Foreign Ministry official confirmed to the Associated Press that Gross was not among those who would be released.
U.S. officials have been lobbying for Gross' release on humanitarian grounds, citing his deteriorating health and the cancer diagnoses that both his elderly mother and daughter have received. American Jewish leaders have also stepped up calls for Gross' release, which would have coincided with the beginning of Hannukah.
NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell tweeted Monday afternoon that the Cuban government had responded to the latest State Department appeal. According to Mitchell, the Cuban government restated its belief that Gross was engaging in covert activities aimed at disrupting Cuba's government, and not helping Cuban Jews.
