United States and Cuban officials met to discuss the case of Alan Gross, but the U.S. did not offer to release convicted Cuban spies, a State Department official said.
Victoria Nuland confirmed that the U.S. position is that Gross must be freed. “But we are very firm in reaffirming that we were not looking at the release of any” members of the so-called “Cuban Five,” spies arrested in the United States in 1998, the spokeswoman said.
Nuland added that she was not aware of any other proposed prisoner swaps.
Gross, 62, is serving a 15-year prison sentence in Cuba for “crimes against the state” for reportedly distributing laptop computers and connecting Cuban Jews to the Internet.
Gross’ family and State Department officials say that Gross was in the country on a U.S. Agency for International Development contract to help the country’s 1,500 Jews communicate online with other Jewish communities. — jta