For many Cuban Jews – the majority of whom now live in the United States – it has been a bittersweet week.
Alan Gross was imprisoned while trying to connect Cuba’s isolated Jewish community to the wider world. The deal that got him released five years later may do just that and much more.
Remarks by Obama at afternoon Chanukah reception.
Newly released from prison in Cuba, Alan Gross thanked his wife, his lawyer, the Jewish community, President Obama and numerous others in helping secure his freedom.
Alan Gross was imprisoned while trying to connect Cuba’s isolated Jewish community to the wider world. The deal that got him released five years later may do just that and much more.
Alan Gross was freed from a Cuban prison on Wednesday following five years of brutal captivity — a prisoner exchange deal between Cuba and the United States resulted in his release — and on Wednesday, among his first order of business was wishing America \”Chag Sameach.”\nThe appearance, the freed Cuban prisoner’s first press conference since his arrival back home on Wednesday, included numerous Jewish references as Gross stood before reporters, and his wife, Judy, stood at his side. He was missing several teeth.\n\n
Alan Gross, a 65-year-old U.S. foreign aid worker freed from a Cuban prison on Wednesday, was arrested in Cuba in 2009 and sentenced to 15 years for importing banned technology and trying to establish clandestine Internet service for Cuban Jews.
\”There is no greater mitzvah(good deed) than Pidyon Shivuyim, freeing a captive. On this first day of Chanukah, the Simon Wiesenthal Center expresses its gratitude to President Obama and his administration for securing the release of Alan Gross\”
Cuba has released American aid worker Alan Gross after five years in prison in a reported prisoner exchange with Havana that the United States said on Wednesday heralds an overhaul of U.S. policy toward Cuba.
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