• Submitted by: manso
• Politics and Government
• 03 / 27 / 2011

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Xinhua. 2011-3-27. ONLINE EDITION. CUBA'S government confirmed yesterday that former US President Jimmy Carter will travel to the island Monday to meet with President Raul Castro, religious leaders and members of the Jewish community.

A press note released yesterday by the Cuban Foreign Ministry said Carter will arrive here Monday morning and meet with Castro Tuesday at the Palace of the Revolution.

On Monday, Carter is expected to visit the board of the Jewish Community of Cuba and meet with other Cuban religious leaders.

On Tuesday the US politician is scheduled to visit the former Convent of Belen, where the local government develops a social aid program involving hundreds of volunteers before meeting with Raul Castro.

On the third and final day of his visit to the island, Carter's agenda includes a press conference at the Convention Palace in Havana.

The Carter Center announced Friday that Carter will discuss with Cuban leaders Cuba-US relations, Cuba's economic reforms and the 6th congress of the Communist Party of Cuba to be held from April 16 to 19.

According to the Carter Center, the trip will be a "private and non-government mission." This would be Carter's second visit to the island. He last visited Cuba in May 2002, becoming the most important political figure to visit the country since the triumph of the Cuban revolution in 1959.

Some observers in Havana see Carter's visit a chance to appeal for the release of US contractor Alan Gross, sentenced to 15 years in prison in Havana for allegedly helping anti-Castro groups on the island.

However, neither the Carter Center nor the Cuban authorities mentioned the case. Gross, a 61-year-old technician working for a company subcontracted by the US State Department, was arrested while distributing satellite communication devices. The Cuban authorities accused him of being a spy, something denied by Washington.

US authorities maintain that Gross's mission was to provide Internet access to Cuban Jewish groups and said that his imprisonment is a serious obstacle for a rapprochement between the two countries without diplomatic relations for 50 years. But Cuban Jewish leaders said Gross never contacted them.

Cuba insists that a rapprochement to Washington requires the lifting of the decades-old embargo and the release of five Cuban agents sentenced to high prison terms in the United States on espionage charges. Cuban authorities consider them political prisoners and give them the treatment of "anti-terrorist heroes." However, the State Department refused months ago a possible exchange between Gross and one of the five Cubans.

Source:/www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=467361