The interesting case of Alan Gross

What follows is a commentary sent to me by John McAuliff, executive director of the Fund for Reconciliation and Development, an NGO out of New York. John was very involved in the re-establishment of relations between the U.S. and Vietnam and is currently a tireless worker for the same purpose on U.S.-Cuba relations. His view on the arrest in Havana of Alan Gross is worth reading. Although he comes to no conclusions he does ask pertinent questions.

Alvaro F. Fernandez

Oddities involved in the Alan Gross case in Cuba

By John McAuliff

There are a number of oddities about the explanation of the activities in Cuba of Alan Gross, the American detained by Cuba.

Some were explored in the newsletter of the Cuban American Alliance Education Fund and can be read here: http://uscubanormalization.blogspot.com/2010/01/questions-about-detained-dai.html

The anomally that struck me is reflected in the New York Times yesterday:

“Mr. Gross has visited Cuba several times, delivering computer and satellite equipment to three Jewish community groups, according to people with knowledge of his work.

“In December, they said, he was on a follow-up trip for Development Alternatives Inc., a contractor working with the United States Agency for International Development. The people who know about his work, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the matter, said Mr. Gross was sent to research how the groups were making use of the equipment he had previously distributed to them.”

However, a highly regarded international NGO called ORT is credited with the excellent and substantial computer program assisting the Jewish community in Cuba. Unless they are being funded by DAI / USAID, which seems unlikely, the story given out about Mr. Gross’s activities merits further investigation.

Was he adding on to or hiding behind well established credible work or is this a cover story meant to confuse the debate over foreign assistance to dissidents?

I find no reference to him in any of ORT’s releases about its program: http://www.ort.org/asp/search.asp?search=Cuba&batch=1

Note the following in a post by Richard Cheeseman quoting a question posed by Christopher Sabatini of the Americas Society in a Foreign Policy blog:

“In what other country in the hemisphere would it be considered a crime for a foreigner to give out a cell phone, laptop, or any other modern tool of communication?”

That’s an easy question to answer: the USA.

The Foreign Agents Registration Act criminalizes any unregistered agent of a foreign power (which this “contractor” certainly was) who “within the United States solicits, collects, disburses, or dispenses contributions, loans, money, or other things of value for or in the interest of such foreign principal.”

In the U.S. such a foreign agent would be liable to a sentence of 5 years in jail and a fine of $10,000.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/01/07/our_hapless_man_in_havana?page=0,1