World Press Archive

2010-10-19 / AFP - Agence France-Presse

US says it urged Cuba to release American contractor

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A senior US diplomat met Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez in New York last month to urge Cuba to release an American contractor held on suspicion of espionage, a US official said Monday.

It was the highest level meeting between the United States and Cuba -- nations that have no diplomatic ties -- under the government of President Barack Obama.

Arturo Valenzuela, the US assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, appealed for the release of Alan Gross when he talked with Rodriguez on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.

"The meeting was to encourage the release of Alan Gross. Unfortunately that has not yet happened," Crowley told reporters.

Gross was detained on the communist-run island reportedly while distributing cell phones, laptops and other communications equipment in Cuba.

Cuba believes Gross is a spy. Rodriguez said in June he was being held for "committing grave offenses in our country at the service of the subversive policy of the government of the United States against Cuba."         ...more


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Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/19/3354333/us-short-term-detentions-in-cuba.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/19/3354333/us-short-term-detentions-in-cuba.html#storylink=cpy

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