Alan Gross – Prisoner of Castro Dictatorship
The same White House feebleness which allows the Iranian dictatorship to kill American soldiers with impunity and threaten Israel, keeps Marylander Alan Gross in a Cuban jail. The failure of Maryland’s U.S. Senators to aggressively object and force the White House to act is an outrage.
Talk is cheap. Having worked on Capitol Hill for a principled U.S. Senator and in the State Department, I know that a muscular effort to free Mr. Gross from Castro’s gulag should look like: it does not look like what is happening now.
In a genuine effort to free Mr. Gross, a resolute member of Congress long ago would have used every trick in the congressional rulebook to demand – and, if necessary, force – the Obama Administration to take concrete steps like these:
• Suspension of all civilian flights between the U.S. and Havana;
• Issuance of notices to mariners and aviators suspending all non-emergency passage to or from Cuba through U.S. air space and waters (including the exclusive economic zone);
• Suspension of all financial transactions to Cuba from the U.S.;
• Cancellation of U.S. visas held by any Cuban official, including Cuba’s UN mission in New York;
• Federal indictment of Cuban officials responsible for Mr. Gross’s illegal imprisonment;
• Filing of INTERPOL Red Notices for the indicted officials to prevent their international travel;
• Forcing U.S. resolutions through the Organization of American States and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights demanding Mr. Gross’s immediate release;
• Instructing American ambassadors around the world to urge their countries of assignment to demand liberation of Mr. Gross from the Castro gulag.
Moreover, a resolute Senator long ago would have blocked Senate processing of White House nominations for ambassadorships or treaties until the indicated steps were taken by the Administration.
For over fifty years, the same Castro dictatorship which pointed nuclear missiles at our cities – and begged Khruschev to launch them – has blazed a trail of destruction through the Western Hemisphere and Africa. Today that same dictatorship holds a Marylander hostage. But Castro also holds something else: a White House free pass.
A resolute Senator would shake the U.S. Senate from its torpor and use every tool at his disposal to force the White House to exact a price from Castro for the Gross kidnapping.
The Gross Family, the people of Maryland, and the people of the United States deserve better.
