by Daniel Nardini
In an interview with the TV program 60 Minutes, former U.S. hostage Alan Gross explained that he had been used by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in a diplomacy program that had been ill-thought-out and had gone badly wrong. He also said that the Cuban government knew full well what he was doing and yet permitted him to make five separate trips to Cuba before they arrested and imprisoned him. With the kind of equipment that he was bringing in, the Cuban officials who watched him at every turn could have arrested him at any time, or simply confiscated the equipment, or kicked him out of the country.
I have said it before, and I will say it again, Alan Gross was closely watched by the Cuban secret police and that the Cuban government had intended to use him as a hostage, a bargaining chip for their actions. That is exactly what played out. What is sad is that the USAID agency played right into Havana’s hands. They gave Gross special government-licensed equipment that could bypass Cuban government censorship programs. Worse, the U.S. government had set up no protocol in how to deal with protecting any American personnel who are in a country with no diplomatic relations with the United States. This whole program Alan Gross was in was what indeed Gross himself describes as “cockamamie.”
There is no question that Gross had no protection, no guarantee that he might be jailed, might be tortured, and could very well have died in a Cuban prison. It is very clear that the USAID agency had handed Alan Gross on a silver platter to the Cuban government to do whatever they wanted with him. And they did. They used Gross as a bargaining chip. Unfortunately, they treated him poorly, and it was questionable whether Gross would survive the Cuban prison hell hole he was put in. The only good news was that he did survive, and finally the U.S. government did get him out. But the U.S. government did a poor job of getting him out, and put him into a situation that got him imprisoned in the first place. In the end, the Communist Party of Cuba gained way more than the United States. We thankfully got Alan Gross back. However, the Cuban government got its three remaining spies back along with diplomatic relations, possible billions of dollars in investments, and a new legitimacy that in my view it does not deserve. It is a sad day for freedom and democracy.
The Two-sided Set-up
by Daniel Nardini
In an interview with the TV program 60 Minutes, former U.S. hostage Alan Gross explained that he had been used by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in a diplomacy program that had been ill-thought-out and had gone badly wrong. He also said that the Cuban government knew full well what he was doing and yet permitted him to make five separate trips to Cuba before they arrested and imprisoned him. With the kind of equipment that he was bringing in, the Cuban officials who watched him at every turn could have arrested him at any time, or simply confiscated the equipment, or kicked him out of the country.
I have said it before, and I will say it again, Alan Gross was closely watched by the Cuban secret police and that the Cuban government had intended to use him as a hostage, a bargaining chip for their actions. That is exactly what played out. What is sad is that the USAID agency played right into Havana’s hands. They gave Gross special government-licensed equipment that could bypass Cuban government censorship programs. Worse, the U.S. government had set up no protocol in how to deal with protecting any American personnel who are in a country with no diplomatic relations with the United States. This whole program Alan Gross was in was what indeed Gross himself describes as “cockamamie.”
There is no question that Gross had no protection, no guarantee that he might be jailed, might be tortured, and could very well have died in a Cuban prison. It is very clear that the USAID agency had handed Alan Gross on a silver platter to the Cuban government to do whatever they wanted with him. And they did. They used Gross as a bargaining chip. Unfortunately, they treated him poorly, and it was questionable whether Gross would survive the Cuban prison hell hole he was put in. The only good news was that he did survive, and finally the U.S. government did get him out. But the U.S. government did a poor job of getting him out, and put him into a situation that got him imprisoned in the first place. In the end, the Communist Party of Cuba gained way more than the United States. We thankfully got Alan Gross back. However, the Cuban government got its three remaining spies back along with diplomatic relations, possible billions of dollars in investments, and a new legitimacy that in my view it does not deserve. It is a sad day for freedom and democracy.