• Submitted by: manso
• Politics and Government
• 08 / 21 / 2011

---

By CHELSEA HAWKINS.08/21/2011 01:30:39 AM PDT. SANTA CRUZ -- With the recent sentencing of Alan Gross and the continued tension between the United States and Cuba, Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, remains steadfast in his call to normalize relations between the two nations.

Gross was arrested in December 2009 was recently sentenced to 15 years in prison in Cuba. According to reports by the Associated Press, Gross had been working for a company backed by the U.S. Agency for International Development, and was accused of illegally distributing satellite equipment and technology to Jewish communities in Cuba. Gross was charged with crimes against the state.

"We're all concerned that [Gross] shouldn't be there," Farr said. "And we're also concerned that USAID is lending contracts out to people to do these things which are in violation of those country's laws, We want to look into that, our government's role in that."

Gross recently lost his appeal and his only remaining option for release is clemency. Farr said that he and other members of congress hope to bring Gross home through humanitarian means.

Farr, who advocates lifting the travel ban between Cuba and the U.S., said that if relations between the two countries were normalized, Gross may not be in the situation he is in now.

"I think Alan Gross is a political pawn and his arrest is essentially because of the arrests of the five Cubans, who were given an allegedly unfair trial in Miami and have been serving time in federal prison," Farr said.

"There's a lot of politics going into Alan Gross's arrest."Last week, Farr traveled to Cuba with congresswomen Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, and Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma.

Lee, who has visited Gross before, met with imprisoned American and was able to offer forth a perspective on his situation.

Source: www.santacruzsentinel.com/rss/ci_18726778?source=rss