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Cuba's Jewish Hostage

(Washington Post) Editorial - Raul Castro's attempt to win foreign favor and investment for Cuba's moribund economy took a particularly cynical turn on Sunday, when the dictator celebrated Hanukkah with Havana's tiny Jewish community. No mention was made of Alan P. Gross, an American who passed the holiday in a Cuban military facility, where he has been imprisoned for a year without trial because he tried to help Cuba's Jews. Gross, 61, a specialist in international development, traveled to Cuba under a contract from the State Department's Agency for International Development. His mission was to connect members of the Jewish community to the Internet, using laptops and satellite equipment, so that they could contact other Jewish communities and download information from sites such as Wikipedia. Though that is normal activity in most of the world - and Gross declared his garden-variety equipment to Cuban customs - he was arrested on Dec. 3, 2009. Senior Cuban officials claimed that Gross, who is himself Jewish but speaks little Spanish, was sent to Cuba as a spy. Yet a year later, not a single charge has been brought against him. Appeals by the State Department and congressional leaders for Gross's release on humanitarian grounds - or at least the detailing of charges against him - have fallen on deaf ears in Havana. Instead the regime appears to be intent on forcing an exchange for one or more of five Cuban intelligence agents who are serving federal prison terms after being tried and convicted on espionage charges. This makes Gross not a prisoner but a hostage - one whose continued detention is a flagrant violation of international law and human decency. To its credit, the Obama administration has put further improvement of relations with Cuba on hold while pressing for Gross's release. A statement released last Friday said the State Department had "made it very clear to the Cuban government that the continued detention of Alan Gross is a major impediment to advancing the dialogue between our two countries."
2010-12-10 08:26:03
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