Alan Gross interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on CNN

[jmcauliff]

1. Alan Gross and Wolf Blitzer

Alan Gross’s conversation with Wolf Blitzer is full of contradictions and worth listening to. One is struck by the relaxed tone of his remarks and that in principle he supports a prisoner exchange.

The video is at

http://situationroom.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/04/alan-gross-i-am-a-hostage/

or

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2012/05/04/tsr-alan-gross-full-intv.cnn

I would find Mr. Gross more persuasive if he also criticized the US government for its refusal to negotiate on his behalf and was more honest about what he did and its illegality, as in his own accounts reported by Associated Press.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/ap-impact-usaid-contractor-work-in-cuba-detailed-1.3523709

It is unlikely that a similar conversation could happen between a Havana TV station and any of the four Cubans still in prison in the US but it should be tried.

John McAuliff
Fund for Reconciliation and Development