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| Alan Gross case: Cuba releases US prisoner in exchange for three agents | Alan Gross case: Cuba releases US prisoner in exchange for three agents |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Cuba has released an American man held as a spy for five years as part of deal that saw the setting-free of three Cubans held in US custody for more than a decade. Their imprisonment had become as much of a cause celebre as that of the American. | Cuba has released an American man held as a spy for five years as part of deal that saw the setting-free of three Cubans held in US custody for more than a decade. Their imprisonment had become as much of a cause celebre as that of the American. |
| Reports said US officials had confirmed that Alan Gross, who had been employed as a contractor with the US Agency for International Development, (USAid) had been released on Wednesday morning. There had been increasing concerns for his health. | Reports said US officials had confirmed that Alan Gross, who had been employed as a contractor with the US Agency for International Development, (USAid) had been released on Wednesday morning. There had been increasing concerns for his health. |
| “Mr Gross was released on humanitarian grounds by the Cuban government at the request of the United States,” an unidentified government official said in a statement. | “Mr Gross was released on humanitarian grounds by the Cuban government at the request of the United States,” an unidentified government official said in a statement. |
| Reports in the US media said that in exchange for the release of Mr Gross, the US had agreed to release three Cuban agents – the three remaining members of the so-called Cuban Five – who had been detained in 1998 and convicted of espionage. The men insisted they had been spying on anti-Castro elements within the Cuban community in Miami and not on the US government. | |
| Spanish activists pictured demanding the release of Cuban anti-terrorist fighters, Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino and Antonio Guerrero, members of the Cuban Five, held in U.S. jails since 1998 (Jorge Sanz/Demotix/Corbis) | Spanish activists pictured demanding the release of Cuban anti-terrorist fighters, Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino and Antonio Guerrero, members of the Cuban Five, held in U.S. jails since 1998 (Jorge Sanz/Demotix/Corbis) |
| Woman campaigns for release of Alan Gross, held in Cuban jail for five years (Getty) | Woman campaigns for release of Alan Gross, held in Cuban jail for five years (Getty) |
| ABC News said all three were most recently held in North Carolina at a federal medical facility operated by the US Bureau of Prisons. | ABC News said all three were most recently held in North Carolina at a federal medical facility operated by the US Bureau of Prisons. |