Cuban Jewish leaders celebrate Hanukkah with incarcerated American

Alan Gross, a US government contractor jailed in Cuba, is reportedly in good spirits and fine health, but anxious to get home to his family and disappointed that he was not included in a massive prisoner amnesty announced by President Raul Castro last week, Cuban Jewish community leader Adela Dworin has said. Dworin declared that she and David Prinstein had spent nearly two hours last week with Gross at the military hospital in Cuba where he is being held. They celebrated Hanukkah by lighting candles, eating potato pancakes and passing around chocolate coins. Gross was working on a USAID-funded democracy-building program when he was arrested. His supporters say he was only trying to help the island’s small Jewish community improve its Internet connection. Cuba claims that the USAID programs are aimed at bringing about regime change on the island.

Gross was sentenced to 15 years in jail earlier this year. His family and other prominent Americans have pleaded with Castro to release the 62-year-old on humanitarian grounds, noting that both his mother and daughter had been diagnosed with cancer since his incarceration, and that Gross himself has diabetes and other ailments.

Gross’ wife, Judy, said her family was deeply distressed to hear that Gross had not been included in the pardon of nearly 3,000 prisoners, and that her husband was “increasingly mentally weak and depressed” by his continued incarceration. “To receive news in the middle of Hanukkah that the Cuban authorities have once again overlooked an opportunity to release Alan on humanitarian grounds is devastating. Our family is simply heartbroken,” she said in a statement, adding that Gross “is losing all hope that he will ever see his mother again.”

The US State Department also condemned Gross' exclusion from the list. "If this is correct, we are deeply disappointed and deplore the fact that the Cuban government has decided not to take this opportunity to extend this humanitarian release to Mr. Gross this holiday season, especially in light of his deteriorating health, and to put an end to the Gross family's long plight," spokesman Mark Toner said.

Dworin said that during her visit Gross had expressed his continued love for the Cuban people, saying that he hoped once he is free to be allowed to come back to Cuba to visit. She said he was extremely anxious to get back home to his wife and family, but said he put on a brave face during the visit. She added that they did not discuss Castro’s prisoner amnesty at length during the Hanukkah celebration, but that Gross knew about it and was clearly disappointed not to be part of it. “He wants to have hope,” Dworin said. “We Jews always live with hope, or we would have disappeared from the earth long ago. A miracle could occur. After all it is Hanukkah, which is all about a miracle.”