at 12:04 AM Saturday, August 6, 2011
The Castro regime's "Supreme Court" has just upheld the conviction and
15-year prison sentence of jailed American development worker Alan Gross.
The time has come for the Obama Administration to put some teeth into
its rhetorical demands for the release of Alan Gross.
In the year-and-a-half that Mr. Gross has been held hostage by the
Castro regime, the Obama Administration has continued to make unilateral
and conciliatory concessions, including easing sanctions.
It's time to make it clear to the Castro regime that the taking of
American hostages is unequivocally unacceptable.
Otherwise, it risks sending a very dangerous message, which further
endangers Mr. Gross and other American lives: hostage-taking pays.
http://www.capitolhillcubans.com/2011/08/castros-supreme-court-upholds-alan.html
Time to Take Action on Alan Gross, Pt. 2
at 1:27 PM Saturday, August 6, 2011
By Elliott Abrams of the Council on Foreign Relations:
Obama and Castro
Fidel and Raul Castro have decided not to free the American hostage they
now hold. Or, as the newspapers put it in legal language "Cuban court
rejects appeal by U.S. contractor."
Alan Gross was a USAID contractor sent to Cuba to help the tiny Jewish
community there connect to the internet and thereby to Jewish
communities around the world. For this "crime" he has been in prison
since December 2009. Now Cuba's "Supreme Court" has rejected his appeal
of a fifteen year sentence. The term "court" must always be put in
quotes regarding Cuba, for as in all communist states the "courts" are
not independent of party control. It was Fidel and Raul Castro who
decided to jail Gross, who determined his sentence, who keep him in
prison, and who have just rejected his appeal.
Cuba's "laws" permit clemency, so Gross could be released by the Castros
any day they please. In that sense the ball is now squarely in their
court, all of Gross's "legal" appeals having run out. But in another
sense the ball is now in President Obama's court. How will he respond to
this action by the Castros? His spokesman said "We call on the
government of Cuba to release Alan Gross immediately and
unconditionally, to allow him to return to his family and bring to an
end the long ordeal that began well over a year ago." That's fine. But
in fact the Obama Administration has given the Castro regime numerous
benefits, for example allowing more Americans to travel to Cuba and
thereby help its economy. Some of those benefits were awarded in 2009
soon after coming into office, but others were put into place this year,
even as Alan Gross sat in a Cuban prison.
Now what? Running for office in 2008, Mr. Obama told audiences in Miami
that his policy toward Cuba would be based on "libertad," and said "The
road to freedom for all Cubans must begin with justice for Cuba's
political prisoners…."
It is time to make good on that promise, for like the Cubans who sit for
decades in the Castros' jails Mr. Gross is a political prisoner. The
hope that measures relaxing the American embargo would lead the Castro
brothers to release Mr. Gross seems near an end. There is one further
step to take through diplomatic channels now: the Castro brothers should
quietly be told that unless their "clemency" is exercised the relaxation
of travel restrictions will be reversed and greater pressure brought on
the government of Cuba. And after giving them a short time to respond,
Mr. Obama should act if they do not. It would be intolerable for the
Castros to benefit from Obama policies while Alan Gross sits, month
after month, in their prisons.
http://www.capitolhillcubans.com/2011/08/time-to-take-action-on-alan-gross-pt-2.html
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