Natalie Gonnella
After a two day trial in Havana, American contractor Alan Gross (61) has been sentenced to 15 years in a jail for "crimes against" the Cuban nation.
The US has stated that Gross was in Cuba to assist with an internet project aiding the Cuban Jewish community, however the Cuban regime believed he was there for different reasons, arresting him for "subversive" action which they say was intended to destabilize the Castro government.
Although Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has expressed the Administration's condemnation of Gross's arrest and subsequent detention and sentencing, this week President Obama continued to push forward with changes to current policy restrictions on Cuba, authorizing eight US airports with the ability to offer direct flights to the communist nation.
Throughout Obama's term as President, the GOP has been highly critical of his feeble policy towards the Castro regime, and in light of Gross's unjust sentence, many have again spoken out against the abhorrent repression of freedom and human rights in Cuba, and the Obama Administration's continued naiveté to the injustices being carried out by the Castro government. Here's a look at what several Republicans have had to say this week in response to the current situation:
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:
[The] sentencing of Alan Gross is a shameless act by a desperate regime. This is a regime which will use anything and anyone, including a United States citizen, to wage its propaganda war against all those in Cuba demanding freedom, and all those responsible nations around the world who stand up for the oppressed Cuban people. The Cuban regime is incapable of turning over a new leaf. Regardless of how the regime attempts to depict itself, we all know that behind any facade it is rotten to the core. The U.S. and all responsible nations must demand not only the release of Mr. Gross, but of all those wrongly imprisoned in Castro’s dungeons. We must increase pressure on the regime until the basic rights, freedoms, and dignities of the Cuban people are respected.
The Cuban regime's 15-year prison sentence for Alan Gross is a deplorable attack on freedom. Earlier this week, the Obama Administration approved new expanded travel to Cuba, a state sponsor of terrorism. With Mr. Gross' sentencing, the Castro regime has effectively demonstrated the hopeless and dangerous naiveté of this Administration's policy toward the regime. Mr. Gross is simply a humanitarian who was seeking to help the Jewish community in Cuba access the internet, and he deserves to be freed and reunited with his family at once. I strongly urge President Obama and Secretary Clinton to immediately halt the issuance of new Cuba travel licenses approved this week."
Failing to react strongly and credible to what is in essence the taking of an American hostage by the Cuban dictatorship is unacceptable. Even Assistant Secretary of State Arturo Valenzuela recently agreed that Mr. Gross is a hostage. The reaction of the U.S. government will be critical to ensuring that the Cuban dictatorship, as well as all foreign governments, understands that there are consequences to the mistreatment of American citizens abroad. The entire world, and particularly rogue terrorist regimes like the Castro regime, will be watching for the consequences from this Administration as a result of this mistreatement of an American citizen. Our policy of "hoping the dictatorship does the right thing" is failure. For 52 years, the Castro dictatorship has not done "the right things". In recent testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee neither [Secretary Clinton] nor Assistant Secretary Valenzuela could cite a singly example of the Castro dictatorship responding positively toward unilateral concessions from our government. Assistant Secretary Valenzuela went event further and said "we need to be patient"...being patient with a dictator is not a policy.
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