Granma just posted a note (English here) indicating that USAID contractor Alan Gross will be tried “for the crime of ‘Actions Against the Independence and Territorial Integrity of the State,’” with prosecutors seeking a 20-year sentence.
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10 comments:
a ridiculously long time waiting for the charges to be laid, but at least now it's set to proceed. and of course the US will continue to use this as a wedge issue not to expand dialogue.
I think is the other way around. Cuba is using this as a wedge issue not to expand dialogue. There is no reason for Alan Gross to be tried.
no reason? then you are either unaware of the information and evidence already out, or are just being disingenuous(standard practice for those who refuse to see both sides). It is beyond rational doubt that Gross violated Cuban law (think of it what you will), and i suppose that's what took so long to make certain. Just based on the facts what he brought into cuba(the communication equipment) is in violation. are you saying he shouldn't be tried because you don't agree with cuban law, or that he didn't violate it? anyone who attempts to dispute that is not being honest in this discussion. and when has the Cuban govt ever said they don't want to expand dialogue with the US based on this case?
According to Reuters a couple weeks ago:
A Western diplomat in Havana said on Thursday Gross would likely plead guilty at a trial in the next few weeks and then be sent back to the United States.
Can anybody provide a reference to the "communication law" Mr. Gross violated?
Is it possible that elements on both sides want to keep the status quo (ie embargo)? I think so.
I feel sorry for Alan Gross. Was he unaware of the implications of what he was doing? Even if he was, even if he is an adventurer, which I think he is not, I feel sorry for him. But the Cuban perspective is quite clear. You can not have it both ways. You can not embargo and have record of hostilities and at the same time expect that an activity like the one that Alan Gross was developing be not considered subversive by the goverment that have been forced to play defense for half a century.
That's too much.
Anyway, I would like he can get together with his family soon.
Omar
like a previous commenter said: this case serves both sides.
the best questions to ask in complex situations remains "cui bono?".
I wouldn't be surprised, if the 'cuban'-american exile mafia manoeuvred poor Gross into this position, certain (maybe they helped) that he would be caught,
equally certain that the Cuban regime, very much afraid of any normalization of relations with the US, could be counted on to used the case in the same way the exile mafia intended:
a perfect block to sabotage any serious normalization of relations.
there is no equivalency, time and time again the Cuban side has asked for the end of embargo and normalization. Hilary Clinton said the Cubans use the embargo for all their own ills, so Alarcon said lift the embargo for a year and see what happens. The bluff was called and the Americans showed it is their fear of normalization that far outweighs the Cuban side. To suggest the Cubans are sabotaging American intentions, what little there are, is not true. And there is a logical gap that i've never been able to understand -- if the Cubans are afraid of normalization (due to collapse of regime through influx of american interaction etc) then why wouldn't the americans immediately move towards normalization?
1.
alarcon said this because he could be sure, that the US would never do it anyhow.
2.
if Cuba is so desperate to improve relations with the US, how come they sabotage each and every time a normalization looks possible:
e.g. shooting down the planes in 1996 to force Clinton to sign Helms/Burton, keeping Gross locked up for a year without charge, insulting Obama (through none less than their foreign minister) as a lier etc.
3.
everyone with an IQ higher than a chimpanzee's knows that the US embargo is counterproductive.
yet no politician in power dares do anything about it because
a)
they all get bribed by the 'cuban'-american exiles, who have their own agenda of taking control in a post-castro Cuba and need an explosion there, not the gradual liberalization a normalization of relations would (as they know full well) almost ensure, so that they can ride into havanna on the coat tails of the marines
b)
just like in Egypt the US prefers stability and quiet in Cuba to any liberalization - what would happen if no one kept the Cuban masses on the island by force? 50% would be hightailing it to South Florida to improve their living conditions over night, instead of over 10 years.
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