Alan Gross is being released from Cuba after spending five years in a prison cell. The terms of the 65-year-old Maryland native’s release will be discussed at a noon press conference with President Barack Obama. Fox News’ host Bill Hemmer said that White House sources indicate three Cubans being held in America will be exchanged for Alan Gross. The three Cubans in the prison swap for Gross are allegedly the last members of “The Cuban Five” being held on espionage in the United States.
Gross was charged with espionage. He allegedly brought satellite phones and computers into Cuba and gave them to members of the Jewish community – such activity is illegal in the island nation. Alan Gross had reportedly made several trips in and out of Cuba with the American AID group. He was working to establish internet networks for the Jewish community in Cuba while on a contract with the U.S. government’s Agency for International Development. Washington has always maintained that his Gross’ activities were of a humanitarian nature and said he posed no threat to the Cuban government. Discussions about the humanitarian release of Gross from Cuba have reportedly been in the works for at least the past week.
If not released from Cuba by his birthday in May, Alan Gross said he would kill himself rather that be kept in the prison any longer. Gross’ health had reportedly deteriorated during the incarceration. His health issues reportedly include a badly injured hip which makes walking difficult. He staged a hunger strike in April to prompt President Obama and the officials in Havana to resolve his situation. He ended the hunger strike after nine days at the request of his mother, Evelyn Gross, 92, who died in June.
Alan Gross’ attorney said his client “nearly toothless” and barely able to walk due to arthritis in his hips. Gross is also now reportedly blind in one eye. Gross has reportedly been kept in a small room at a military hospital with two other political prisoners that are Cuban natives.
The National Committee To Free The Cuban Five had this to say about the men arrested and charged with espionage in the United States, “The Cuban Five are five Cuban men who are unjustly imprisoned in the United States after being arrested by the FBI on Sept. 12, 1998 and convicted in U.S. federal court in Miami in 2001, in a political prosecution by the U.S. government. They are Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González. The Five were falsely accused by the U.S. government of committing espionage conspiracy against the United States, and other related charges. The Five’s actions were never directed at the U.S. government. They never engaged in nor planned any conspiracy against the government. As the Cuban Five pointed out in their defense, they were on a mission in Miami, beginning in 1990, to monitor the actions of Miami-based terrorist groups, in order to prevent those groups from carrying out attacks on their country of Cuba.”
Check back with the Inquisitr for more details about Alan Gross as information in this breaking news story becomes available.
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[Image via: ABC News ]