White House officials are urging Cuba’s socialist government to release American Alan Gross, only a few hours after his 15-year sentence was confirmed by island’s top court.
“We call on the government of Cuba to release Alan Gross immediately and unconditionally, to allow him to return to his family and bring to an end the long ordeal that began well over a year ago,” a White House statement read. (RELATED: Obama won debt ceiling fight, says DNC)
Gross was arrested in December 2009 and jailed after he secretly supplied the island’s small Jewish community with satellite TV gear.
He was working for Development Alternatives, a company in Bethesda, Md. which had a $6 million federal contract to promote democracy in Cuba.
In recent months the White House has stepped up calls for the Cuban government to accept democracy. During his March visit to South America, President Barack Obama said Cubans deserve the same freedom “as everyone else in this hemisphere.”
Fidel Castro, his brother Raul, and their deputies have ruled the island nation since 1959, when Castro’s guerilla army took power, and subsequently purged democratic and communist allies. Since the 1980s the country’s socialist government has focused on ruling Cuba itself, limiting its efforts to export socialism to other countries.