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Fears grow for health of US aid worker Alan Gross after five years in Cuban jail
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American foreign aid worker Alan Gross has completed his fifth year in a Cuban prison with his wife warning he is in a terrible condition, while any hopes for improving hostile US-Cuban relations hinge largely on his fate.
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“I am afraid that we are at the end. After five years of literally wasting away, Alan is done,” his wife, Judy Gross, said in a statement in which she described him as gaunt, hobbling and missing five teeth.
Cuba arrested Gross, now 65, on 3 December 2009, and later convicted the US Agency for International Development (USAid) subcontractor to 15 years in prison for importing banned technology and trying to establish a clandestine internet service for Cuban Jews.
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The case is emblematic of bitter US-Cuban relations dating to the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, and any potential breakthrough appears remote while Gross remains in jail.
The White House has demanded his unconditional release and rejected offers to discuss swapping him for three Cuban intelligence agents serving prisons terms in the US.
American officials say it would be wrong to equate Gross with Cuban spies. Havana regards the three agents as heroes who defended Cuba by infiltrating anti-Castro extremist groups in Florida.
President Barack Obama has the authority to conduct a prisoner swap and rewrite US policy on Cuba. Although he said more than a year ago that “we have to continue to update our policies” on Cuba, he has yet to signal any change.
Gross’s wife is urging Obama to take action. “It is time for President Obama to bring Alan back to the United States now; otherwise it will be too late,” she said.
Gross’s lawyer, Scott Gilbert, said his client’s mental and physical health had declined, he could barely walk or see out of his right eye and he had grown increasingly suicidal.
After his 65th birthday in May, Gross vowed not to turn 66 in prison, telling visitors he would rather die. He said goodbye to his wife and daughter in July and has refused to see either them or US diplomats in Havana, Gilbert said.
He weighed 115kg (254lbs) five years ago and has since lost more than 46kg (100lbs).
