[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 183 (Thursday, December 1, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2155]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               ALAN GROSS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JAMES A. HIMES

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 1, 2011

  Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, for the last two years, Alan Gross, a 62-year 
old international development specialist and social worker, has been 
incarcerated in a Cuban prison. Today marks the two-year anniversary of 
his imprisonment. Alan traveled to Cuba on behalf of USAID to help the 
country's Jewish community expand its access to the Internet and 
establish an Intranet. This was a humanitarian mission, a mission to 
help a small and peaceful community improve its access to and use of 
the Internet. Alan's presence and actions posed no threat to the Cuban 
government.
  And yet, Alan has been held in a maximum-security military hospital 
facility in Cuba since December 2009. He has been sentenced to 15 years 
in prison, charged with ``acts to undermine the integrity and 
independence'' of Cuba. Alan's appeal to the Cuban Supreme Court was 
denied on August 5, 2011, formally ending his legal options for 
release.
  Mr. Speaker, today I rise and join my colleagues in calling for the 
immediate and unconditional release of Alan Gross. Alan Gross is not a 
criminal, he is a humanitarian aid worker. Alan Gross is a man whose 
life work has positively impacted people across the world, including in 
the West Bank, Gaza, Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa and Haiti. Alan Gross is 
a husband, a father and a son who should be released and reunited with 
his family immediately.

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