U.S. must raise stakes to get hostage Alan Gross returned by Cuba

U.S. must raise stakes to get hostage Alan Gross returned by Cuba
BY FRANK CALZONFRANK.CALZON@CUBACENTER.ORG
09/30/2014 3:00 PM 09/30/2014 7:09 PM

Confronted with the barbaric beheadings of journalists James Foley and
Steven Sotloff by the terrorists of the Islamic State, President Obama
has rightly changed course and announced a new strategy.

After six lackluster and bewildering years, the president would do well
to reappraise his strategy for dealing with Cuba and North Korea, as
well. Cuba is still holding hostage a USAID contractor. Alan Gross is
ill and has lost 100 pounds in harsh Cuban prisons.

Havana wants "to exchange" Gross for release of Cuban spies in U.S.
prisons who have been convicted of "conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals,
destruction of aircraft, and murder." They not only infiltrated Florida
military bases, but also set up the killing of four Miami men, members
of Brothers to the Rescue, who were flying unarmed civilian aircraft
over the Florida Straits to spot fleeing Cubans aboard rafts in need of
help.

Raúl Castro, now president of Cuba but then head of its military forces,
personally gave the order to the pilots of the Cuban MiG aircraft that
shot down the small planes. Today, Castro's proposed deal to swap
"prisoners" pits the desire of Gross' loved ones to see him free and
home against Cuban-American families in Miami who sought and got justice
for their loved ones murdered in the Florida Straits.

Since his election President Obama has pursued a policy of extending a
"hand of friendship" to Cuba and to North Korea, an equally brutal
communist regime. Nothing's changed for the better in Cuba or North Korea.

As Bloomberg News reported a year ago, North Korea even announced its
military has been given "final authorization to attack the United
States, possibly with nuclear weapons." With U.S. troops still stationed
on the border between North and South Korea that's no idle threat.

Alan Gross committed no crime. He gave a laptop computer and satellite
telephone to a group of Cuban Jews wanting to connect to the Internet
and had boarded a plane to head home when he was taken hostage. For
weeks after he was "arrested," no charges were presented. Then a
kangaroo court imposed a 15-year prison sentence, of which he's served
four years.

The draconian sentence can be explained only as another Cuban attempt to
force U.S. leaders to comply. The Obama administration has bent over
backward pleading for Gross' release, to no avail.

In the past, Havana extorted ransom from the United States to free
Cubans captured during the Bay of Pigs invasion; our government had
trained and equipped the men. Havana subsequently engineered a series of
refugee crises.

President Clinton was maneuvered into re-interpreting American law to
intercept refugees on the high seas and return them to Cuba instead of
U.S. ports and freedom. To free the convicted Cuban spies, Havana once
offered to exchange 75 human-rights activists that were in its prisons.
The dissidents refused to leave Cuba, declaring they weren't spies but
patriots seeking political and economic changes in Cuba. A few years
later Castro, responding to international pressure, banished the
dissidents and their relatives to Spain with "no right of return."

Which brings us back to Gross: He is innocent. Freeing him requires
severing Cuba's extortionate link between him and release of the Cuban
spies. The Obama administration and Gross' advocates ought to join in
rejecting any "deal" likely to result in the taking of more American
hostages and loss of life.

Castro holds on to Gross because he perceives that it's a way of getting
what he wants from the United States. It's the same worldwide. And, just
last month, there were press reports of a "yet unidentified Cuban spy"
caught targeting an intelligence system being "sentenced to 13 years in
prison."

It won't be long before Havana — and other unfriendly countries — will
take another American hostage and start the barter anew.

Pursuing diplomatic channels and negotiating is civilized and useful.
There also comes a time when something more is needed. That time is now
in Cuba. Only when U.S. government raises the stakes — the political and
economic risks facing Cuba — will Alan Gross be allowed to come home,
and only then will Havana have to think twice before taking another hostage.

FRANK CALZON IS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AT THE WASHINGTON-BASED CENTER FOR A
FREE CUBA.

Source: U.S. must raise stakes to get hostage Alan Gross returned by
Cuba | The Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article2359745.html