AJC Welcomes Cuba's Release of Alan Gross

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Dec 17, 2014, 04:01 ET

NEW YORK, Dec. 17, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC welcomed the release of 65-year-old Alan Gross from a Cuban jail. Gross, an American Jew working in Cuba for the U.S. Agency for International Development, was arrested in December 2009, charged with bringing in banned technology to set up an illegal internet service for the Jewish community, and sentenced to 15 years. Mr. Gross's health has been failing, and there was great concern about his future well-being.

While his release was explained as a humanitarian gesture, it is part of a larger series of exchanges. The entire package is seen as expressing a desire on both sides to renormalize U.S.-Cuba relations. In televised remarks to the nation, President Obama thanked the government of Canada for hosting the talks that led to the breakthrough, and the Vatican for its diplomatic help in reaching an agreement.

AJC Executive Director David Harris said that "the political and strategic implications of this move take a back seat, at this moment, to our immediate emotion of relief at the news of Mr. Gross's freedom, opportunity to rejoin his family, and chance to celebrate Hanukkah and its message of freedom."

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SOURCE American Jewish Committee