COMUNIDAD JUDÍA MOLESTA POR EL CASO DEL SUBCONTRATISTA DE EUA PRESO EN CUBA
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COMUNIDAD JUDÍA MOLESTA POR EL CASO DEL SUBCONTRATISTA DE EUA PRESO EN CUBA
Jueves, 14 de Enero de 2010 10:00
El subcontratista encarcelado en Cuba y acusado de ser espía estaba ayudando a grupos judíos a tener acceso "sin filtros'' a páginas de internet como Wikipedia, dijeron el miércoles fuentes informadas.
La identificación de Alan P. Gross, de 60 años, residente en Potomac, Maryland, y su misión en la isla arroja nueva luz sobre un caso que ha agudizado la discordia entre Washington y La Habana.
Por JUAN O. TAMAYO
jtamayo@elnuevoherald.com
"Si esto es cierto, sacaría el caso de la esfera de la política y la comunidad judía mundial podría armar mucho alboroto'', dijo Max Lesnick, judío cubano y comentarista de radio miamense que visita la isla a menudo.
"Pero tenemos que preguntarnos si también ha estado en contacto con otros grupos que Cuba considera más desestabilizadores'', agregó Lesnick, refiriéndose a los disidentes políticos.
Las fuentes, quienes pidieron no ser identificadas debido a lo delicado del caso, dijeron que hasta donde saben Gross sólo estaba ayudando a dos o tres grupos de judíos cubanos a obtener "acceso sin filtros a internet''.
El gobierno de Cuba trata de controlar todo el acceso a la red pero hay muchas maneras de eludir los controles y los filtros que bloquean acceso a páginas que las autoridades consideran hostiles.
"Su papel fue inofensivo, ayudarlos a tener acceso a sitios de internet como Wikipedia, permitirles bajar música y establecer contacto con grupos judíos en el extranjero'', dijo una de las fuentes.
Cuba tiene al menos dos grupos judíos reconocidos por el gobierno, uno de ashkenazi (descendientes de judíos europeos) y otro de sefarditas, (descendientes de los que poblaban la Península Ibérica). Los esfuerzos de El Nuevo Herald por ponerse en contacto con representantes de esos grupos en La Habana resultaron infructuosos.
Gross fue arrestado el 4 de diciembre en el aeropuerto de La Habana. No ha sido acusado oficialmente pero las autoridades cubanas alegan estaba "contratado para trabajar para
los servicios de inteligencia estadounidenses''. Washington ha negado rotundamente todo vínculo con actividades de espionaje.
( Sinagoga del Patronato de La Habana; foto añadida por el bloguista )
Las leyes cubanas prohíben toda cooperación con programas estadounidenses a favor de la democracia, a los cuales consideran como parte de los esfuerzos de Washington por derrocar al gobierno.
Se dice que Gross dirige el Joint Business Development Center (JBDC) en Maryland, cuya página de internet expresa que ayuda "a establecer conexión con internet en lugares donde el acceso es poco o nulo. Durante los últimos dos años, JBDC ha instalado más de 60 terminales de satélite. . . en lugares remotos de Irak, Afganistán, Armenia y Kuwait''.
La empresa fue contratada por Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI), una compañía radicada en la zona suburbana de Washington, para ofrecer asistencia a grupos civiles cubanos a tenor con un contrato con la Agencia de Desarrollo Internacional (AID) de Estados Unidos para promover una sociedad civil en la isla.
Gross es trabajador social por formación y ha laborado durante 25 años como experto de desarrollo internacional en unos 50 países, según una declaración emitida el miércoles por el presidente y director ejecutivo de DAI, el Dr. James Boomgard.
"Su labor en Cuba se centró en facilitar las comunicaciones entre las personas en una organización religiosa no violenta y no disidente. Este papel es completamente coherente con su compromiso de toda la vida de ayudar a las personas de todo el mundo, y ayudar a las personas es todo lo que Alan ha hecho tanto en Cuba como en otras partes'', añadió Boomgard.
La esposa de Gross, Judy, hizo pública una declaración que dice: "No queremos hacer comentario alguno, excepto que es un momento muy difícil para nuestra familia. Estamos agradecidos por el apoyo y las oraciones que hemos recibido por el regreso seguro y rápido de nuestro esposo y padre''.
The New York Times y The Washington Post fueron los primeros en revelar en reportajes publicados el miércoles la identidad y la misión de Gross.
The Times reportó que Gross había visitado Cuba varias veces, llevando "equipos de computadora y satélites'' a tres grupos comunitarios judíos, y que una de sus redes sociales en internet indicó que había trabajado de organizador voluntario en la campaña presidencial de Barack Obama.
Jueves, 14 de Enero de 2010 10:00
El subcontratista encarcelado en Cuba y acusado de ser espía estaba ayudando a grupos judíos a tener acceso "sin filtros'' a páginas de internet como Wikipedia, dijeron el miércoles fuentes informadas.
La identificación de Alan P. Gross, de 60 años, residente en Potomac, Maryland, y su misión en la isla arroja nueva luz sobre un caso que ha agudizado la discordia entre Washington y La Habana.
Por JUAN O. TAMAYO
jtamayo@elnuevoherald.com
"Si esto es cierto, sacaría el caso de la esfera de la política y la comunidad judía mundial podría armar mucho alboroto'', dijo Max Lesnick, judío cubano y comentarista de radio miamense que visita la isla a menudo."Pero tenemos que preguntarnos si también ha estado en contacto con otros grupos que Cuba considera más desestabilizadores'', agregó Lesnick, refiriéndose a los disidentes políticos.
Las fuentes, quienes pidieron no ser identificadas debido a lo delicado del caso, dijeron que hasta donde saben Gross sólo estaba ayudando a dos o tres grupos de judíos cubanos a obtener "acceso sin filtros a internet''.
El gobierno de Cuba trata de controlar todo el acceso a la red pero hay muchas maneras de eludir los controles y los filtros que bloquean acceso a páginas que las autoridades consideran hostiles.
"Su papel fue inofensivo, ayudarlos a tener acceso a sitios de internet como Wikipedia, permitirles bajar música y establecer contacto con grupos judíos en el extranjero'', dijo una de las fuentes.
Cuba tiene al menos dos grupos judíos reconocidos por el gobierno, uno de ashkenazi (descendientes de judíos europeos) y otro de sefarditas, (descendientes de los que poblaban la Península Ibérica). Los esfuerzos de El Nuevo Herald por ponerse en contacto con representantes de esos grupos en La Habana resultaron infructuosos.
Gross fue arrestado el 4 de diciembre en el aeropuerto de La Habana. No ha sido acusado oficialmente pero las autoridades cubanas alegan estaba "contratado para trabajar para
los servicios de inteligencia estadounidenses''. Washington ha negado rotundamente todo vínculo con actividades de espionaje.( Sinagoga del Patronato de La Habana; foto añadida por el bloguista )
Las leyes cubanas prohíben toda cooperación con programas estadounidenses a favor de la democracia, a los cuales consideran como parte de los esfuerzos de Washington por derrocar al gobierno.
Se dice que Gross dirige el Joint Business Development Center (JBDC) en Maryland, cuya página de internet expresa que ayuda "a establecer conexión con internet en lugares donde el acceso es poco o nulo. Durante los últimos dos años, JBDC ha instalado más de 60 terminales de satélite. . . en lugares remotos de Irak, Afganistán, Armenia y Kuwait''.
La empresa fue contratada por Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI), una compañía radicada en la zona suburbana de Washington, para ofrecer asistencia a grupos civiles cubanos a tenor con un contrato con la Agencia de Desarrollo Internacional (AID) de Estados Unidos para promover una sociedad civil en la isla.
Gross es trabajador social por formación y ha laborado durante 25 años como experto de desarrollo internacional en unos 50 países, según una declaración emitida el miércoles por el presidente y director ejecutivo de DAI, el Dr. James Boomgard.
"Su labor en Cuba se centró en facilitar las comunicaciones entre las personas en una organización religiosa no violenta y no disidente. Este papel es completamente coherente con su compromiso de toda la vida de ayudar a las personas de todo el mundo, y ayudar a las personas es todo lo que Alan ha hecho tanto en Cuba como en otras partes'', añadió Boomgard.
La esposa de Gross, Judy, hizo pública una declaración que dice: "No queremos hacer comentario alguno, excepto que es un momento muy difícil para nuestra familia. Estamos agradecidos por el apoyo y las oraciones que hemos recibido por el regreso seguro y rápido de nuestro esposo y padre''.
The New York Times y The Washington Post fueron los primeros en revelar en reportajes publicados el miércoles la identidad y la misión de Gross.
The Times reportó que Gross había visitado Cuba varias veces, llevando "equipos de computadora y satélites'' a tres grupos comunitarios judíos, y que una de sus redes sociales en internet indicó que había trabajado de organizador voluntario en la campaña presidencial de Barack Obama.
***************
Tomado de http://www.nytimes.com
Contractor Jailed in Cuba Was Aiding Religious Groups, U.S. Says
By GINGER THOMPSON and MARC LACEY
Published: January 12, 2010
WASHINGTON — The United States contractor detained in Cuba last month and accused of being a spy is a 60-year-old social worker from the Washington suburbs who had gone to Cuba to provide communications equipment to Jewish nonprofit organizations, according to American officials.
In postings on the Internet, the contractor, Alan P. Gross — whose identify had not previously
been made public — said he had more than 20 years’ experience in development work around the world. One of his Internet networking sites said he had been a volunteer field organizer for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
American officials say that Mr. Gross had gone to Cuba as part of a United States government program and was providing encouragement and financial assistance to religious nonprofit groups. The officials acknowledge that Mr. Gross entered Cuba without the proper visa, though they contend that he was not involved in any activities that posed a violent threat to the Cuban government. And they flatly dispute any allegations that he is a spy.
The Cuban government, however, has characterized his work as a threat to national security.
In the United States, where Cuba continues to fire political passions, Mr. Gross’s detention has become the source of new tensions between Washington and Havana, and it threatens to ignite more debate on Capitol Hill about how the Obama administration ought to proceed in its Cuba policy.
Specifically, the case has raised questions about whether the administration should continue a Bush administration practice of sending development workers to conduct the kind of semicovert operations that landed Mr. Gross in jail.
Mr. Gross has visited Cuba several times, delivering computer and satellite equipment to three Jewish community groups, according to people with knowledge of his work.
In December, they said, he was on a follow-up trip for Development Alternatives Inc., a contractor working with the United States Agency for International Development. The people who know about his work, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the matter, said Mr. Gross was sent to research how the groups were making use of the equipment he had previously distributed to them.
“His work in Cuba was focused on facilitating communications among people in a nonviolent, nondissident religious organization,” DAI said in a statement.
Details about Mr. Gross and his work in Cuba slowly began to emerge this week. Mr. Gross studied social work at the University of Maryland and the Virginia Commonwealth University, and he had a long career as an international development worker that took him to at least 50 countries.
In 2001, he started a company called Joint Business Development Center, whose Web site says it has “supported Internet connectivity in locations where there was little or no access,” including Iraq, Afghanistan, Armenia and Kuwait. Records show his company earned less than $70,000 last year.
One friend, Howard Feinberg, said, “The Alan I know is someone who is concerned only about helping improve the human condition, not meddling in people’s politics.”
President Obama came to office promising a new era of engagement with Cuba. But after lifting some restrictions on travel and remittances, he has been reluctant to take further steps, citing continuing reports of human rights abuses in Cuba. Some Cuba experts have said that Mr. Gross’s arrest may harden Mr. Obama’s stance.
Cuba, meanwhile, said the episode signaled that Mr. Obama was just as committed to overthrowing the government as his predecessor was.
Havana has used Mr. Gross’s arrest as an opportunity to raise an old grievance: America’s long prison terms for five Cuban agents convicted of spying on Cuban exile organizations. Havana maintains that the agents were in the United States to prevent terrorist acts against Cuba and has called on the Obama administration to release them.
As for Mr. Gross, Cuba has said little. The government has not formally charged him with a crime. Cuban authorities have provided the United States almost no information, nor have they made any demands.
As a result, Washington and many American experts on Cuba have been left speculating about Havana’s intentions.
“The Cuban regime is obviously looking for some kind of U.S. concession, callously using the contractor as a bargaining chip,” said Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican of Florida, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Some American officials said they suspected that Cuba aimed to shine light on A.I.D.’s undercover Cuba programs, whose financing has grown in the past decade from about $5 million to over $45 million a year and have a history of mismanagement.
Senator John Kerry, chairman of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee, has called for a comprehensive review of the A.I.D. programs.
Representative Bill Delahunt, Democrat of Massachusetts, meanwhile, asked whether there might be other ways to provide information to nongovernmental groups. “If we want to have influence on the island, what makes sense?” he said.
Others say that sometimes covert actions are necessary.
“This is the kind of thing we do all over the world when we are trying to reach people their governments don’t want us to reach,” said an aide to a Democratic senator. “It’s naïve to think that if we asked Cuba for permission, we’d get it.”
Ginger Thompson reported from Washington, and Marc Lacey from Mexico City.
Tomado de http://www.nytimes.com
Contractor Jailed in Cuba Was Aiding Religious Groups, U.S. Says
By GINGER THOMPSON and MARC LACEY
Published: January 12, 2010
WASHINGTON — The United States contractor detained in Cuba last month and accused of being a spy is a 60-year-old social worker from the Washington suburbs who had gone to Cuba to provide communications equipment to Jewish nonprofit organizations, according to American officials.
In postings on the Internet, the contractor, Alan P. Gross — whose identify had not previously
been made public — said he had more than 20 years’ experience in development work around the world. One of his Internet networking sites said he had been a volunteer field organizer for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.American officials say that Mr. Gross had gone to Cuba as part of a United States government program and was providing encouragement and financial assistance to religious nonprofit groups. The officials acknowledge that Mr. Gross entered Cuba without the proper visa, though they contend that he was not involved in any activities that posed a violent threat to the Cuban government. And they flatly dispute any allegations that he is a spy.
The Cuban government, however, has characterized his work as a threat to national security.
In the United States, where Cuba continues to fire political passions, Mr. Gross’s detention has become the source of new tensions between Washington and Havana, and it threatens to ignite more debate on Capitol Hill about how the Obama administration ought to proceed in its Cuba policy.
Specifically, the case has raised questions about whether the administration should continue a Bush administration practice of sending development workers to conduct the kind of semicovert operations that landed Mr. Gross in jail.
Mr. Gross has visited Cuba several times, delivering computer and satellite equipment to three Jewish community groups, according to people with knowledge of his work.
In December, they said, he was on a follow-up trip for Development Alternatives Inc., a contractor working with the United States Agency for International Development. The people who know about his work, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the matter, said Mr. Gross was sent to research how the groups were making use of the equipment he had previously distributed to them.
“His work in Cuba was focused on facilitating communications among people in a nonviolent, nondissident religious organization,” DAI said in a statement.
Details about Mr. Gross and his work in Cuba slowly began to emerge this week. Mr. Gross studied social work at the University of Maryland and the Virginia Commonwealth University, and he had a long career as an international development worker that took him to at least 50 countries.
In 2001, he started a company called Joint Business Development Center, whose Web site says it has “supported Internet connectivity in locations where there was little or no access,” including Iraq, Afghanistan, Armenia and Kuwait. Records show his company earned less than $70,000 last year.
One friend, Howard Feinberg, said, “The Alan I know is someone who is concerned only about helping improve the human condition, not meddling in people’s politics.”
President Obama came to office promising a new era of engagement with Cuba. But after lifting some restrictions on travel and remittances, he has been reluctant to take further steps, citing continuing reports of human rights abuses in Cuba. Some Cuba experts have said that Mr. Gross’s arrest may harden Mr. Obama’s stance.
Cuba, meanwhile, said the episode signaled that Mr. Obama was just as committed to overthrowing the government as his predecessor was.
Havana has used Mr. Gross’s arrest as an opportunity to raise an old grievance: America’s long prison terms for five Cuban agents convicted of spying on Cuban exile organizations. Havana maintains that the agents were in the United States to prevent terrorist acts against Cuba and has called on the Obama administration to release them.
As for Mr. Gross, Cuba has said little. The government has not formally charged him with a crime. Cuban authorities have provided the United States almost no information, nor have they made any demands.
As a result, Washington and many American experts on Cuba have been left speculating about Havana’s intentions.
“The Cuban regime is obviously looking for some kind of U.S. concession, callously using the contractor as a bargaining chip,” said Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican of Florida, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Some American officials said they suspected that Cuba aimed to shine light on A.I.D.’s undercover Cuba programs, whose financing has grown in the past decade from about $5 million to over $45 million a year and have a history of mismanagement.
Senator John Kerry, chairman of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee, has called for a comprehensive review of the A.I.D. programs.
Representative Bill Delahunt, Democrat of Massachusetts, meanwhile, asked whether there might be other ways to provide information to nongovernmental groups. “If we want to have influence on the island, what makes sense?” he said.
Others say that sometimes covert actions are necessary.
“This is the kind of thing we do all over the world when we are trying to reach people their governments don’t want us to reach,” said an aide to a Democratic senator. “It’s naïve to think that if we asked Cuba for permission, we’d get it.”
Ginger Thompson reported from Washington, and Marc Lacey from Mexico City.
posted by PPAC @ 1/14/2010 08:25:00 p. m.
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