Alan Phillip Gross
Alan Phillip Gross ( born 2 May 1949 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American IT specialist, social workers and development workers. He was arrested in Cuba in December 2009 after he, himself a Jew, illegal communication material was distributed to the Jewish communities of Cuba as a subcontractor of the development organization of the U.S. government USAID. In March 2011 he was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 15 years for " acts against the independence and integrity of the national territory " of Cuba.
Career
Gross studied social work at the University of Maryland and at Virginia Commonwealth University. As a development worker, he was later active in over 50 countries around the world. In 2001 he founded his own company Joint Business Development Center ( JBDC ). This will bring the Internet to places where it previously had little or no access. His work took him, among other countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Armenia and Kuwait.
Arrest and trial
On 3 December 2009 Gross was arrested in Cuba when leaving the Havana airport. According to his wife he was in Cuba to " communication within the Jewish communities of Cuba and to improve their Internet access ." In the same year he was, allegedly, already entered for the same reason four times on a tourist visa to Cuba, which is a violation of the Cuban immigration regulations. His company, the JBDC is about the company Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI ), a subcontractor of State U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID ). Among other things, he is said to have distributed satellite phones, the importation of which is prohibited to Cuba without proper government approval. Also, the distribution of money and other materials which originate from the U.S. government or its representatives, subject to a penalty of three to eight years. According to the charges against him, he should be already traveled to Cuba in 2004 to a leader of the Cuban Freemasons to bring a video camera and medications. This worked for the Cuban intelligence and was in the subsequent proceedings against a large main prosecution witness.
According to an AP report in February 2012, Gross in Cuba not have occurred as a representative of a U.S. government organization, but as a representative of a Jewish humanitarian organization. He also said to have smuggled devices using American Jews, who brought with them certain parts in their hand luggage to Cuba. From the reports of Gross' to the USAID show that he was aware of the risks and dangers associated with its activities in Cuba aware. In its final report, referred to as report on his fourth trip, he summarizes his activities together as " created in three municipalities Wireless networks, which are used by 325 users ." Upon his arrest in Cuba in December 2009, he had a microchip with him, which prevents satellite phone calls can be localized. The chip is not available on the open market and is mainly used by the CIA and the U.S. Defense Ministry.
In March 2011, Gross was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 15 years for " acts against the independence and integrity of the national territory " of Cuba. The sentence was confirmed in August of the same year by Cuba 's Supreme Court. According to the court, he was proven to have smuggled technical equipment to build internal networks to the country. This activity was part of a U.S. government programs intended to lead to the destabilization of Cuba and undermining the constitutional order of the country.
Efforts to release
Immediately after confirmation of the conviction Gross ' by the Supreme Court, a White House spokesman criticized this and called for the "immediate and unconditional release " Gross'. Since then, numerous diplomatic efforts run by Gross' release or for an exchange of prisoners. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson ex- traveled example, in September 2011 in a "private mission" to Cuba. His offer was that the supporting USA Cuba from the list of terrorist states sweeps, is listed in the Cuba since the Reagan era. The costs incurred for Cuba gains would be have been rather low. All there specific penalties are also part of the U.S. embargo against Cuba. Also a replacement for the espionage to long prison terms in the United States condemned the Miami Five was talking. However, Richardson was forced to return home empty-handed. He was not even allowed to visit Gross in jail. Later, Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon made it clear that Cuba Gross will not release unilaterally. A Service of the U.S. government, United against the 7 October 2011 on parole released, but occupied with a valid for the three-year probation travel ban Cuban- Americans René González, one of the Miami Five, exchange, the Cuban government refused to anonymous sources, according to than from inadequate. End of October 2011 is large even after he had learned from the exchange of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit from more than 1,000 imprisoned Palestinian prisoners, have a from Washington to a detention visit had traveled U.S. rabbis expressed to the desire to be exchanged for the five Cuban spies be.
According to the ex- interest representative of the United States in Cuba, Wayne S. Smith is big victims of the U.S. continuing under President Barack Obama 's policy towards Cuba and its supported by the USAID unfortunate and outdated programs to "promote democracy in Cuba ," whose the aim is to eliminate the current Cuban government. The Cuban- American political scientist Arturo López- Levy of the University of Denver, a connoisseur of the Cuban relations and a Jew himself emphasizes that Gross was not arrested because he was a Jew or because he had helped the Jewish community to better cross-linked, but because he was on the pay slips of the U.S. government. , This explains but he was merely a harmless development workers.
Private life
Gross is married and has two grown daughters.