Dick Durbin: “a little over 5 years ago a USAID worker named Alan Gross--a contractor with USAID--went to Havana, Cuba. He took with…”

“a little over 5 years ago a USAID worker named Alan Gross--a contractor with USAID--went to Havana, Cuba. He took with him some Internet equipment he was going to leave at a small synagogue that has survived for decades in Havana, Cuba. He checked in at the airport when he arrived, took all of the equipment he had brought and put it right through Customs for inspection by the Cuban Government. Shortly thereafter he was arrested and charged with spy activities and the like and imprisoned for 5 years--Alan Gross of Maryland. I am happy to report that just before we adjourned for the holiday recess we were greeted with the great news that Alan Gross, who had been jailed in Cuba for 5 years, was finally on his way home. I met with Alan in Havana at his holding area in a prison hospital several years ago. I couldn't understand how this man could survive day after weary day of being imprisoned for trumped-up charges that truly bore no relationship to reality. He was given a 15-year sentence for simply bringing Internet equipment to the Cuban people. When I saw Alan, he had lost more than 100 pounds and had been unable to visit back home with his mother, who later passed away. Amid their own enormous pain, the Gross family remained tirelessly committed to ensuring his well-being and return to the United States. Many Members of the Senate and House of Representatives visited him in Havana, when they had the chance, to keep his spirits up.…”