A CUBAN court has found US contractor Alan Gross guilty of crimes against the state and sentenced him to 15 years in prison, a verdict that’s sure to have sweeping repercussions for already-sour relations between Washington and Havana.
The court said yesterday prosecutors had proved their case that Gross, 61, was working on a “subversive” program paid for by the United States that aimed to bring down Cuba’s revolutionary system. Prosecutors had sought a 20-year sentence.
The Maryland native was arrested in December 2009 while on a USAID backed democracy-building project. The US government and Gross’s family say he was working to improve Internet access for the island’s Jewish community, and should be released.
Cuban officials called him a mercenary and maintained his motives were more nefarious. The court said the program that Gross worked on – part of a $US20 million ($A20.04 million) Washington effort to support democracy on the island – showed the US government continues to seek the government’s overthrow.
The court found that evidence “demonstrated the participation of the North American contractor in 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”, according to a statement read out on the afternoon news.
Bethesda, Maryland-based Development Alternatives Inc, or DAI, was awarded a multi-million-dollar contract for the program in which Gross was involved, and Gross received more than $US500,000 ($A501,100) through his company, despite the fact he spoke little Spanish and had no history of working in Cuba. Gross travelled to the island several times over a short period on a tourist visa, apparently raising Cuban suspicions.
The USAID programs have been criticised repeatedly in congressional reports as being wasteful and ineffective, and funding was held up briefly in 2010 over concerns following Gross’ arrest. The money has begun flowing again, though US officials say DAI is no longer part of the program.
Now that Gross has been convicted, his backers will try to get him released through a court action or executive pardon, possibly on humanitarian grounds. His wife Judy says Gross has lost more than 40kg since his arrest, and that his 26-year-old daughter and 88-year-old mother are both suffering from cancer.
Several Cuba experts have said Havana hoped to use Gross’s case to shine a light on the democracy-building programs. Now that he has been convicted, they argue, Cuba has no strategic reason to keep him in prison much longer.
However, such a process could take weeks or months to play out, if it happens at all. In the meantime, the conviction is sure to plunge relations to a new low. US officials have said repeatedly that no rapprochement is possible while Gross remains jailed.
There was no immediate reaction to the verdict from Washington, or Gross’s family.
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