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Cuba sentences USAID worker to fifteen-year prison term
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March 13, 2011
Original URL: http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Cuba_sentences_USAID_worker_to_fifteen-year_prison_term



A 15-year prison sentence was handed down by a Cuban court to US Agency
for International Development (USAID) worker Alan Gross for crimes
against the state.

Gross was arrested in December 2009 while on a USAID mission intended to
promote democracy by distributing satellite communications equipment to
Jewish groups; these groups have denied any involvement in the matter.
Such equipment, and distributing it, is illegal in Cuba.

According to a Cuban court, Gross's activities were part of "a
subversive project of the US government that aimed to destroy the
Revolution through the use of communications systems out of the control
of authorities."

In response to the decision, a US National Security Council spokesperson
said that the "sentencing adds another injustice to Alan Gross’s ordeal.
He has already spent too many days in detention and should not spend one
more."

Gross's wife has requested that Cuba release her husband on humanitarian
grounds; some political analysts expect this to eventually occur. Gross,
aged 61, is reported to have lost 90 pounds while imprisoned since his
arrest, and is affected by ulcers, gout and arthritis.

== Sources == 

* http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12724632
* http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/world/americas/13cuba.html?partner=rss&emc=rss



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