Rare News Desk
When many Americans heard the news this week that Alan Gross had been released from a Cuban jail, they were left to ask: “Who the heck is Alan Gross?”
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And as President Obama continued the day by announcing his plans to normalize U.S. relations with the Castro Regime, Gross’ story sadly became secondary.
Alan Gross is an American U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) contractor. A husband and father of two daughters, Gross worked for a company in Maryland that sent him to Cuba to deliver cell phones and computers to the island’s Jewish community. He made five trips to Cuba in nine months. According to an article in the Washington Post, Gross “also helped the Cubans download music, Wikipedia and the Encyclopedia Britannica off flash drives.”
In Cuba, such was the heinous nature of his crime. Alan Gross was arrested in 2009 as he tried to leave the island. The Cuban government held Gross for a long time without charges, but when they did, he was accused of spying, convicted in a kangaroo court and sent to jail.
Thereafter, Alan Gross became a pawn in a high-stakes chess game between Obama and the Castro Brothers. There were numerous opportunities for him to be released on humanitarian grounds, while the U.S. inched policy towards this week’s announcement. The result of the painstaking negotiation was five years forever lost to Gross and his family.
The fiery debate over normalizing relations with Cuba has started. The rhetoric will get hotter long before it cools down. But before jumping into the debate, give Alan Gross his moment of due for paying a huge personal price for pursuing “libertad” in Cuba
Welcome home, Alan Gross. And Happy Hanukkah to you and your family.
As you and your family gather around the Menorah, may you reap the light, wisdom and Divine inspiration intended by the season.
