Carter says can't bring home jailed US contractor
By PETER ORSI
Associated Press
HAVANA -- Former President Jimmy Carter met with a jailed American
contractor but said Wednesday that Cuban authorities had made it clear
they do not plan to release him.
The announcement was a disappointment to supporters of Alan Gross after
the trip had raised expectations the 86-year-old former American leader
would be allowed to bring the Maryland native home. Gross is serving a
15-year sentence after being convicted earlier this month of bringing
communications equipment into Cuba illegally.
State Department officials have said privately that Cuban authorities
indicated they might release Gross on humanitarian grounds following the
trial. But Carter said that even before he arrived, Cuban authorities
told him that "the freedom of Alan Gross would not be granted."
He said he met with Gross at an undisclosed location Wednesday morning,
and that the 61-year-old contractor told him he had lost 40 kilograms
(88 pounds) since his arrest in December 2009.
Carter said Gross's lawyer plans to appeal his conviction, and if that
fails, he hopes Gross will be granted an "executive pardon" on
humanitarian grounds. Gross's 26-year-old daughter and elderly mother
are both suffering from cancer.
The former U.S. president said he believes Gross is "innocent of any
serious crime."
In addition to meeting Gross, Carter also sat down Wednesday with Cuban
revolutionary icon Fidel Castro, a day after holding talks with
President Raul Castro.
"We welcomed each other as old friends," Carter said of the meeting with
the 84-year-old former Cuban leader.
During the three-day visit, Carter also met with other senior government
and religious leaders. On Wednesday, he had breakfast with members of
the island's small opposition community, including 10 dissidents
recently released from prison by the Cuban government and members of the
Ladies in White opposition group.
Human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez said Carter told the dissidents
he "wanted to express his solidarity and his recognition of the movement
for civil rights and also the emerging civil society.
"Hopefully his visit will be useful even if it is just one step toward
the normalization of bilateral relations between the governments of
Washington and Havana."
"We can't comment on the content" of the meetings added blogger Yoani
Sanchez. "My words were dedicated to the need for freedom of expression
and free Internet access for Cubans."
Before Carter's press conference, hope had been rising in Washington
that the former leader would bring Gross home. Last August, the 39th
U.S. president and winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize traveled to
North Korea to secure the release of an imprisoned American, and many
expected the same sort of result in Cuba.
"It is what everyone is hoping for and many of us are expecting," a
congressional staffer who deals with U.S.-Cuba relations told AP. "To
invite Carter to visit Havana strongly suggests a willingness to make a
humanitarian release of Alan Gross, but the Cuban government is also
looking for signals from Washington, and those signals haven't always
been clear."
The staffer spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of
the issue.
Gross was arrested while working on a USAID-backed democracy-building
project and convicted of crimes against state security earlier this
month in a case that has blocked improved ties between the U.S. and Cuba.
Gross has said he was working to improve Internet communications for
Cuba's tiny Jewish community. Havana considers such U.S. projects to be
aimed at toppling the government.
Carter said Tuesday that he discussed the Gross case with Cuban
officials but was visiting to talk about strained ties.
"I am not here to take (Gross) out of the country," Carter said in Spanish.
"We are here to visit the Cubans, the heads of government and private
citizens. It is a great pleasure for us to return to Havana," he added.
"I hope we can contribute to better relations between the two countries."
Accompanied by former first lady Rosalynn Carter, the ex-president met
with Raul Castro at the Government Palace for private talks Tuesday, but
there was no word on what they talked about.
Castro and Carter later arrived by motorcade for an apparent late dinner
at an upscale restaurant in Old Havana.
Washington and Havana have not had formal diplomatic relations since the
1960s, and the United States maintains economic and financial sanctions
on the island.
U.S. officials say no thaw in relations is possible while Gross is in
prison.
Carter, who was president from 1977 to 1981, previously visited Cuba in
2002, becoming the only former U.S. president to do so since the 1959
revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power.
Associated Press writer Andrea Rodriguez and Paul Haven in Havana
contributed to this report.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/30/2141368/report-carter-may-meet-imprisoned.html
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