John Kerry Met with Cuban Officials Secretly to Discuss Alan Gross Release

 

Sen. John Kerry met secretly with Cuba’s foreign minister in 2010 to discuss the release of jailed American contractor Alan Gross, according to a report published by Foreign Affairs magazine.

The recently nominated secretary of state held a meeting with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez for what was a failed bid to have Gross released from a Cuban prison. Gross was setting up wireless Internet connections for Cuba’s Jewish community as a subcontractor for USAID, the U.S. government agency in charge of foreign economic development, where he was arrested in December 2009.

The project he was working on was part of a $40 million-a-year program to promote democracy.

U.S. officials have portrayed the work as purely humanitarian. But Gross was violating Cuban law by doing work for USAID in the country, since under Cuban law such activities must be authorized….

"Maybe there will be an expansion of the scope in some of the initiatives that the U.S. government has already opened," said Christopher Sabatini, the senior policy director at the Council of the Americas. "The focus should be less about regime change and more about expanding the people-to-people contact with Cubans."

While Kerry’s appointment could herald some change in U.S.-Cuban relations it will not be an easy one, as there are still many opponents to the loosening of restrictions with Cuba. If New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez takes over the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations from Kerry, the new secretary of state will a face Cuban-American who favors buckling down on Cuba instead of loosening up.

There are are rumors that Menendez has promised to help speed the Massachusetts senators appointment if Kerry promises to not broach the topic of the decades old U.S. embargo on Cuba that Menendez vehemently supports.

"Kerry has to get past Menendez and we all know where he stands on these things," Sabatini said….

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