Gross gets 15 years

[rabs]

Reuters) - American Alan Gross has been sentenced to 15 years in jail in Cuba for working to set up clandestine Internet networks under a U.S. program outlawed on the communist-led island.

The United States has demanded his immediate release and his lawyer, Peter Kahn, said an appeal of the decision that followed a two-day trial last week would be explored.

Gross, 61, already has been imprisoned for 15 months. His daughter and mother have both been diagnosed with cancer since his arrest.

Some observers believe Cuba will release him early on humanitarian grounds but the government could hold him for a long time to send a message that the United States must stop activities it views as subversive.



http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/12/us-cuba-usa-contractor-fb-idUSTRE72B3NK20110312

---------------

Note Reuters reporter throws in that his daughter and mother have come down with cancer since he was arrested. Non-sequitur or what?

[Wilms]

1. And his US-AID handlers will dine at a posh DC bistro this evening. n/t

[Bacchus39]

6. they are probably talking on cell phones and discussing it online right now

with all their fancy sophisticated satellite equipment. probably drinking Cuba Libres too. disgusting.

[dipsydoodle]

2. Is Non-sequitur

Latin for sweet fuck all to do with the issue ? :shrug:

[Peace Patriot]

3. Oh, those cruel communists, convicting a man whose wife and daughter have come down with cancer!

Typical Rotters -- and actually it makes me wonder if it's true (that they have cancer). Could be just Rotters copy and pasting CIA suggested text (re some kind of prisoner exchange). But could also be a lie. Wouldn't put it past any of them (Rotters, CIA, USAID).

[rabs]

4. Development Alternatives, Inc.

Perhaps you have read that Gross worked for Maryland-based DAI, which subcontracts to USAID. At his trial, Gross said he had been duped by both.

Link is to an Eva G. story that came out when Gross was first arrested in 2009. Eva gives a lot of details about DAI both in Cuba and Venezuela that will never show up in AP, Reuters etc.

http://www.chavezcode.com/2009/12/cia-agent-captured-in-cuba-employee-of.html

Check out the comments too.

(edit to correct DAI name in subject line)

[Bacchus39]

5. lets hope Cuba never gets internet and cell phone service not controlled by the government n/t

s

[joshcryer]

7. Well, it will be alarming, to some degree and it's probably best they don't have it.

Once they start sharing their thoughts to a wider audience Cuba will have to start changing its policies, or put them away. The last position is untenable.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Thanks for that link. It reminded me of learning about the REAL pressure the U.S. gov't puts

on U.S. citizens who go to Cuba and DON'T give spy equipment to Cuban citizens! Ha ha <sneeze> ha.

I know you remember this story from reading it back at CNN's message boards, around 2000::

Kip (73) and Patrick (58) Taylor of Michigan sailed to Cuba in 1996. Knowing that U.S. law prohibited spending money in Cuba, the Taylors stocked their sailboat with enough provisions to last for the duration of their three-month trip. While sailing back to Florida, their boat was caught in a storm and struck by lightning, destroying their mast. After being rescued by the Cuban Coast Guard, the boat was towed back to Cuba. When the Taylors applied to the U.S. Treasury Department for permission to repair it, they were told to abandon their boat and leave their two dogs in Cuba. After weeks of attempting to negotiate, and unwilling to leave behind their dogs and a sailboat worth more than the costs of repairs, the Taylors fixed their boat mostly by themselves and with the help of visiting sailors who donated parts.

Upon their return to the U.S., the Taylors faced a civil charges from OFAC for disclosing that they gave a band-aid to a Cuban cook who had hurt his finger. They were charged with providing "nursing services to a Cuban national," which is forbidden under the embargo. For the next four and a half years, the Taylors, who are on a fixed income, were unsuccessful in requesting a hearing or a reduction of the penalty. In 2001, the government froze Patrick Taylor's tax refund, which he needed to pay for urgent medical care, and applied it to his fine. In 2003, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed suit claiming that the Taylors were unfairly penalized under the Cuba embargo regulations. Lawyers also say the two were not informed of their Fifth Amendment rights which protect them from self incrimination. The suit was eventually settled.

More:
http://www.righttotraveltocuba.org/defending/victories_vs_travel_ban

[Wilms]

9. That is one messed up story. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

10. Almost impossible the US gov't tried to force them to give up their boat, and leave their dogs.

That's not even basic common sense.

We've been governed by idiots, fools, and scum far too long.

[joshcryer]

11. And people made fun of me for "visiting on the lam."

There were a lot of stories like that I was hearing.

[Wilms]

15. Actually it's very common, teabagged, sense.

Childishness as a federal policy.

We see a version on this board every day.

[naaman fletcher]

17. wow, thanks for the link. this stuff is insane. nt

[Peace Patriot]

18. Thanks for the link. I'm going to quote part of it...

I knew that the USAID--with millions of our tax dollars--was funding the rightwing opposition in Venezuela, but for those who don't know about this, it is shocking. I'm quoting some of it here for anyone who doesn't have time to read the whole thing. These USAID programs should be banned!

-------------------------------------------
(SNIP)

DAI IN VENEZUELA

DAI (Development Alternatives, Inc.) was contracted in June 2002 by USAID to manage a multimillion dollar contract in Venezuela, just two months after the failed coup d’etat against President Hugo Chávez. Prior to this date, USAID had no operations in Venezuela, not even an office in the Embassy. DAI was charged with opening the Office for Transition Initiatives (OTI), a specialized branch of USAID that manages large quantities of liquid funds destined for organizations and political parties favorable to Washington in countries of strategic interest that are undergoing political crises.

The first contract between USAID and DAI for its Venezuela operations authorized $10 million for a two year period. DAI opened its doors in the Wall Street of Caracas, El Rosal, in August 2002, and began to immediately fund the same groups that just months earlier had executed - unsuccessfully – the coup against President Chávez. The USAID/DAI funds in Venezuela were distributed to organizations such as Fedecámaras and the Confederación de Trabajadores Venezolanos (CTV), two of the principal entities that had led the coup in April 2002 and that later headed another attempt to oust Chávez by imposing an economic sabotage and oil industry strike that crippled the nation’s economy. One contract between DAI and these organizations, dated December 2002, awarded more than $10,000 to help design radio and television propaganda against President Chávez. During that time period, Venezuela experienced one of the most viscious media wars in history. Private television and radio stations, together with print media, devoted non-stop programming to opposition propaganda for 64 days, 24 hours a day.

In February 2003, DAI began to fund a recently created group named Súmate, led by Maria Corina Machado, one of the signators of the “Carmona Decree”, the famous dictatorial decree that dissolved all of Venezuela’s democratic institutions during the brief April 2002 coup d’etat. Súmate soon became the principal opposition organization directing campaigns against President Chávez, including the August 2004 recall referendum. The three main agencies from Washington operating in Venezuela at that time, USAID, DAIand the National Endowment for Democracy (“NED”), invested more than $9 million in the opposition campaign to oust Chávez via recall referendum, without success. Chávez won with a 60-40 landslide victory.

(SNIP)

...the OTI still remains in Venezuela, with DAI as its principal contractor.... the OTI funds more than 533 organizations, political parties, programs and projects, mainly in opposition sectors, with an annual budget surpassing $7 million. (MORE)

http://www.chavezcode.com/2009/12/cia-agent-captured-in-cuba-employee-of.html

----------------------------------------------

WHAT are our tax dollars DOING funding the rightwing opposition in Venezuela, when thousands of teachers, emergency responders, police officers and other essential personnel are being fired across the U.S. (not to mention their labor rights being attacked), cities and counties are going bankrupt, the Scumbag Congress is slavering over cuts to Social Security and Medicare, there is "no money" for anybody but banksters and war profiteers, and the U.S. is occupying two foreign countries and contemplating attacking and occupying a third?

What's wrong with this picture?

[dipsydoodle]

12. Not only that

Judy Gross has pleaded with the Cuban government for her husband's release on humanitarian grounds.

Her husband suffers from gout, ulcers and has developed arthritis in prison.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12724632

Sounds like they maybe should've used the gout defense.

[Judi Lynn]

13. Definitely! They should have used the very familiar Gout Defense.

Everyone knows the nightmarish pain of the Gout has driven men to do terrible things!

From a search:

1.Typically, gout patients are about 95% men, 5% women. An initial attack of gout (50% of initial attacks involve the big toe) may last several days and disappear even if untreated. Subsequent attacks may not occur for weeks, months, years, or not at all. In severe cases, repeated attacks occurring over a long period may cause damage to the joints and loss of mobility. The big toe is eventually affected in 90% of cases. Knowing how to treat gout is important for preventing attacks.

2.Gout is often related to an inherited abnormality in the body to process uric acid. Uric acid levels can become elevated by eating a lot of purine-rich foods such as meats, by the overproduction of uric acid by the body, or if the kidneys do not eliminate excess uric acid.

3.Treatment goals include terminating acute gout attacks, rapid and safe relief of pain and inflammation, preventing future attacks, and avoiding complications (formation of tophi, kidney stones, and joint destruction).

4.Though gout treatment is most often treated successfully and without complications, it becomes more of a challenge if other conditions exist along with gout or if there is poor patient compliance to recommended lifestyle changes or a medication regimen.

More, if you dare:
http://arthritis.about.com/od/gout/ht/treatgout.htm

Lifestyle changes, such as taking up Salsa Dancing can elicit tremendous healing effects, I have heard!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxXOX-i_I5I

Or Hillbilly dancing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGg0SAYcGlE

He should give UP that criminal life and start living a more wholesome "lifestyle."

[dipsydoodle]

14. Gout is generally aggravated

by excessive consumption of beer but in this case it may have been worse by the strain of importing non beer products, he knew to be banned ,into Cuba.

I'll inform the Lancet immediately. :rofl:

[bemildred]

16. Let's make a deal!

http://www.freethefive.org/