Cuba's case against Alan Gross

[flamingdem]

http://cubantriangle.blogspot.com/2012/01/cubas-case-against-alan-gross.html

excerpt:

Cuba's case against Alan Gross (Updated)

Café Fuerte went to the trouble to obtain the Cuban court decision in the case of USAID contractor Alan Gross, who is now serving his third year of a 15-year sentence.

It’s an 18-page document that begins with his business address in Maryland and ends with a list of every single item that was in his possession, right down to his Scotiabank credit card. In between it describes his activities, and it makes reference to several volumes containing hundreds of numbered pages of evidence gathered against him, much of it obtained from the computers and flash drives that Gross carried.

It amounts to Cuba’s case against Gross, as accepted and summarized by the court in its decision to convict.

The document claims that Gross started his activities in Cuba in 2004 and was involved with organizations such as the Pan American Development Foundation, which were penetrated by Cuban intelligence and whose activities became the subjects of Cuban television shows.

Apparently, the evidence in the trial included Gross’ trip reports to his employer (the USAID contractor DAI) and much more. The court describes the defense attorney’s objection to the way in which information was downloaded from Gross’ flash drives when she was not present, and notes that Gross himself authenticated “the majority” of the downloaded documents and provided information about them. Gross apparently said that one document, entitled “How to communicate securely in repressive environments” was not his.

[Bacchus4.0]

1. some more details

it appears it boils down to him distributing internet equipment that we take for granted here in the US.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/26/2609266/details-of-cubas-case-against.html

The 18-page document, summing up the evidence against Gross, 62, a humanitarian aid specialist from Potomac, Md., revealed some of the details of his case for the first time but left many questions unanswered.

Gross made five trips to Cuba in 2009 as part of his $258,274 contract with the Maryland-based Development Alternatives Inc., which had a contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to carry out pro-democracy work in Cuba, according to the filing.

Cuba has outlawed cooperation with the USAID programs, saying they are designed to subvert its government. U.S. officials say they only help pro-democracy activists but are “discreet” to avert Cuban retaliation.

The filing repeatedly noted that satellite phones bypass government controls and are difficult to detect because they link directly to satellites overhead. The Internet in Cuba is censored, slow and expensive.

Gross delivered the book-sized satellite phones, laptops, Wi-Fi routers and other communications gear to the three synagogues to give them independent access to the Web, the document added.

But he declared the satellite phones as “modems” when he landed in Havana, told some recipients that the equipment had been donated by the U.S. Jewish community and did not caution the two Jews that the gear they slipped into Cuba might land them in trouble, according to the filing.

[flamingdem]

2. He broke Cuban law

Try reading what you posted, they don't allow USAID "pro-democracy" work.

He did it repeatedly and didn't think of the recipients by informing them.

Lastly, you will never understand Cuba or make relevant comments if you make comparisons with the United States.