U.S. Official: Gross Detention Limiting US-Cuba Relations
U.S. Official: Gross Detention Limiting US-Cuba Relations
At a public presentation organized by AS/COA, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson discussed the limitations of U.S.-Cuba relations given the imprisonment of U.S. citizen Alan Gross.
NEW YORK - There’s no chance for broadening American-Cuban relations until Cuba releases American subcontractor Alan Gross from prison, Roberta Jacobson, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. said Tuesday.
During a presentation at the Council of the Americas in New York, Jacobson reiterated the State Department’s belief that the Cuban government has no basis for refusing to release Gross, but remains optimistic that the Cuban people’s desire for a more open society might influence a decision on his release.
“While we really wished that we could have moved forward with a broader agenda with the Cuban government, it is the Cuban government that has made that extremely difficult,” Jacobson said. “There is a very easy way to resolve that part of the agenda and that is to release Alan Gross…”
Jacobson also highlighted some of the Obama administration’s key priorities in the Western Hemisphere; including energy development, expanding educational exchange opportunities for students, and encouraging freedom of expression and the press….
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