Gross Attorney: No proof of subversive actsThe gear included three satellite Internet terminals, or BGANs, along with Blackberry phones, iPods and an assortment of other electronics.The court said he could have been paid up to $258,274 for his work, which showed "the lucrative, conspiratorial and concealed character of his actions."The court said Gross got involved in Cuba as early as 2004 when he accepted $400 from another US-backed program to take a video camera to Jose Manuel Collera Vento, a member of the Masons in Cuba.Collera was an agent for the Cuban government, the court said, implying that Gross was on the radar of Cuban intelligence services well before his current problems.Gross' lawyer, Peter Kahn, said the court document proved nothing about the allegedly subversive acts for which his client was convicted in March 2011."It is further confirmation of what we have said all along. The Cuban authorities cannot point to any action that Alan P. Gross intended to subvert their government," he said in a statement. "The Cuban government knows that Alan never intended to, or in fact ever was, a threat to them.""The trial evidence cited in the document confirms that Alan's actions were intended to improve the Internet and Intranet connectivity of Cuba's small, peaceful, non-dissident, Jewish community," Kahn said. "All this document evidences is that it was the USAID program that was on trial in Cuba."Not mentioned, he said, was testimony from Cuban Jews "who unequivocally testified that Alan never uttered a single word nor took any action which could be considered subversive."When Gross himself brought in one of the BGANs, he declared it at the Havana airport and was not told by Cuban customs officers it was illegal. The court said he told them that it was a modem.During his trial, Gross said, "I did nothing in Cuba that is not done on a daily basis in millions of home and offices around the world ... I am deeply sorry for being a trusting fool. I was duped, I was used."The new document, if authentic, fuels some critics' long-held view that the clandestine nature of the program and US-government funding was destined to backfire."The programs did not involve our intelligence community, but the secrecy surrounding them, the clandestine tradecraft (including the use of advanced encryption technologies) and the deliberate concealment of the US hand, had all the markings of an intelligence covert operation," said Fulton Armstrong, who until recently was a lead investigator with the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff."We confirmed that State and USAID had no policy in place to brief individuals conducting these secret operations or that they are not legal in Cuba," said Armstrong, writing in a recent opinion column in The Miami Herald."Nor did State and USAID brief them that US law similarly does not allow unregistered foreign agents to travel around the United States providing satellite gear, wide-area WiFi hotspots, encryption and telephony equipment and other cash-value assistance.
Cuban document details charges against Alan Gross
Document says Jewish American tried to avoid detection by using US tourists to transport sophisticated satellite Internet gear to Cuba.
Gross Attorney: No proof of subversive actsThe gear included three satellite Internet terminals, or BGANs, along with Blackberry phones, iPods and an assortment of other electronics.The court said he could have been paid up to $258,274 for his work, which showed "the lucrative, conspiratorial and concealed character of his actions."The court said Gross got involved in Cuba as early as 2004 when he accepted $400 from another US-backed program to take a video camera to Jose Manuel Collera Vento, a member of the Masons in Cuba.Collera was an agent for the Cuban government, the court said, implying that Gross was on the radar of Cuban intelligence services well before his current problems.Gross' lawyer, Peter Kahn, said the court document proved nothing about the allegedly subversive acts for which his client was convicted in March 2011."It is further confirmation of what we have said all along. The Cuban authorities cannot point to any action that Alan P. Gross intended to subvert their government," he said in a statement. "The Cuban government knows that Alan never intended to, or in fact ever was, a threat to them.""The trial evidence cited in the document confirms that Alan's actions were intended to improve the Internet and Intranet connectivity of Cuba's small, peaceful, non-dissident, Jewish community," Kahn said. "All this document evidences is that it was the USAID program that was on trial in Cuba."Not mentioned, he said, was testimony from Cuban Jews "who unequivocally testified that Alan never uttered a single word nor took any action which could be considered subversive."When Gross himself brought in one of the BGANs, he declared it at the Havana airport and was not told by Cuban customs officers it was illegal. The court said he told them that it was a modem.During his trial, Gross said, "I did nothing in Cuba that is not done on a daily basis in millions of home and offices around the world ... I am deeply sorry for being a trusting fool. I was duped, I was used."The new document, if authentic, fuels some critics' long-held view that the clandestine nature of the program and US-government funding was destined to backfire."The programs did not involve our intelligence community, but the secrecy surrounding them, the clandestine tradecraft (including the use of advanced encryption technologies) and the deliberate concealment of the US hand, had all the markings of an intelligence covert operation," said Fulton Armstrong, who until recently was a lead investigator with the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff."We confirmed that State and USAID had no policy in place to brief individuals conducting these secret operations or that they are not legal in Cuba," said Armstrong, writing in a recent opinion column in The Miami Herald."Nor did State and USAID brief them that US law similarly does not allow unregistered foreign agents to travel around the United States providing satellite gear, wide-area WiFi hotspots, encryption and telephony equipment and other cash-value assistance.