Since the demise of Cuba's Soviet protector nearly two decades ago, the lone communist dictatorship in the Western Hemisphere has become almost an afterthought in Washington, the media and the public. Aside from the yawning transition from Fidel to brother Raul, Cuba hasn't exactly been on anyone's radar of late.
Now just when we thought that the Cuban dilemma would gradually give way to reconciliation with the United States, along comes a painful reminder that there's still one country in our hemisphere that hasn't yet heard that the Cold War is over and the communists lost.
A 61-year-old American Jew named Alan Gross was sentenced last week by a kangaroo court in Havana to 15 years in Cuba's notorious Villa Marista prison "for acts against the independence and territorial integrity of the state." Gross was arrested by Cuban security in December 2009 at Havana's Jose Marti Airport on charges of spying for the American government. He had been to Cuba several times working for Development Alternatives, a Maryland-based contractor for the US Agency for International Development. This was part of the Cuban Democracy Program set up by the Clinton Administration to deliver "humanitarian aid and information" to "human rights and political activists."
At some point, Gross veered away from USAID's goal of working with the Cuban "human rights and political activists" and turned his focus to the Jewish community of Cuba. Prior to his arrest, he would use his visits to bring over cell phones and computer equipment. Numbering about 1,500, Cuba's Jews are one of the most isolated Jewish communities in the world. Cuba has no diplomatic ties with Israel; and the US enforces a travel and trade ban with Cuba.
Presumably, Gross sought to reconnect the Cuban Jewish community with the rest of the world. For this he was sentenced to 15 years in prison, which for a 61-year-old man amounts to a life sentence. Gross already had been languishing in jail for 15 months when he went before a tribunal of Cuban judges (no jury). His health had deteriorated, and he had lost 90 pounds. Meanwhile, compounding his family's misfortunes, his daughter back in the United States was stricken with cancer
The Obama Administration, which had previously softened its stance toward Cuba, issued a protest, coming directly from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. And the Cubans threw it back, claiming Gross was an American spy. So much for Barack Obama's get-nice policy toward Cuba.
It would be easy to point the anti-Semitic finger at the Castro brothers. But the fact is that the Castros went after Gross primarily because he was attempting to introduce a segment of the Cuban population to the Internet and cell phones. To a totalitarian regime devoted to its own survival, controlling the flow of information is of paramount importance. The Internet and cell phones have been potent tools in uprisings around the world. Once they're introduced, they're almost impossible to shove back in the box.
The second reason the Cuban communists targeted Gross is because they view him as an extension of a hostile US government that has for decades been trying to subvert the Castro regime. To them USAID is barely distinguishable from the CIA--and the Internet a tool for capitalist propaganda.
The third reason for Gross' plight is simply that he was a convenient target. He had been back and forth to Cuba several times, his activities carefully monitored by the regime.
Gross' show trial and sentence served as a warning to the Cuban people of what they risked for even appearing to contradict or challenge the regime. The message is clear: Stay away from Americans, especially those bearing high-tech gifts. It seems to be working, as the Cuban Jewish community has already disavowed any ties to Gross.
Which leads us to the question of what do the Castro brothers want from the US government in return for Alan Gross?
It's first necessary to understand what they don't want--a matter about which both Obama and Clinton seem to be clueless. The Castros don't want open trade with the US, travel restrictions lifted between the US and Cuba or diplomatic relations. American tourists and business people, Cuban-American exiles traveling back home, an extensive US diplomatic presence--all of this is a threat to the regime. For more than six decades, the Cuban communists have rallied their subjects by pointing north to the Yankee bogeyman.
Simply put, the Castros want the Americans to stay out of Cuba. They want the Obama administration to curtail the USAID's Cuban Democracy Program. Additionally, they may want the return of The Cuban Five--five agents who, unlike Gross, were real spies, caught, tried and convicted in the US about 15 years ago and now serving long prison sentences. In Cuba, they're revered as martyrs.
Since the Castros view Obama as a political lightweight, they may well also try to bully him for other concessions, such as clamping down on right-wing Cuban exiles in Florida and pulling the plug on Radio Free Cuba.
Jimmy Carter has been dispatched (or has dispatched himself) to Cuba this week. If he returns with Alan Gross, he'll be lauded as a hero, and the Castro brothers will score points on the world stage by releasing a frail American Jew for humanitarian reasons. It will be left to the pundits to figure out what the communists got in return.
If the former president returns without Gross, it would signal that negotiations for his release could drag on indefinitely. It would then be up to the international Jewish community to mobilize and play the Jewish political prisoner card. Jewish leaders and their networks could stage very public protests at the UN and Cuban diplomatic posts, accusing the Castro regime of anti-Semitism.
The sight of Jews parading before the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City or the Cuban consulate in Montreal might be too much for the Castros to bear, especially since Fidel has apparently been extra-sensitive toward the Jews, as evidenced by his rare public berating of his friend Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the Iranian leader's anti-Semitism.
Watch for Jimmy Carter in Cuba. If he returns home alone, then it's time for American Jews to organize with our brethren in Canada and Latin America, and get Alan Gross out of Cuba. Whatever it takes.
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