Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., has asked Pope Benedict XVI to intercede in
the case of Alan Gross, the U.S. contracter who's been imprisoned in
Cuba for more than two years.
Nelson wrote the pope Wednesday in advance of the papal visit to Cuba
later this month. The pope is scheduled to meet with Cuban President
Raul Castro, and Nelson asked the pope to intercede with the Cuban
government.
"These are especially challenging political and economic times; and, it
is my hope that you might be able to bring about a compassionate
resolution in this case," Nelson wrote.
Last month, one of the Cuba's best-known political dissidents told
Congress that the pope should use his power and visibility as a world
leader to shine a light on human rights abuses and political oppression
under the Castro regime during his upcoming visit to the communist
island nation.
Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet told the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee in
testimony delivered over the telephone from Cuba that if he has an
opportunity to meet with the pope, he will ask him to be an advocate for
the oppressed,
Gross has served two years of a 15-year sentence on a charge of
endangering the island's national security by delivering sophisticated
telecommunications equipment to Cuban Jews so they could access the
Internet more easily. The Obama administration has repeatedly urged Cuba
to free Gross as a humanitarian gesture. Cuba has said it wants a
similar U.S. gesture toward five Cuban spies convicted in Miami as part
of the "Wasp Network."
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