All major news outlets are reporting that Alan Gross has been released from prison with few details, except for that bastion of communist propaganda that is CNN:
Washington (CNN) — U.S. contractor Alan Gross, held by the Cuban government since 2009, was freed Wednesday as part of a landmark deal with Cuba that paves the way for a major overhaul in U.S. policy toward the island, senior administration officials tell CNN.
President Obama is expected to announce Gross’ release at noon.
Gross’ “humanitarian” release by Cuba was accompanied by a separate spy swap, the officials said. Cuba also freed a U.S. intelligence source who has been jailed in Cuba for more than 20 years, although authorities did not identify that person for security reasons. The U.S. released three Cuban intelligence agents convicted of espionage in 2001.
So the Obama administration traded 3 spies implicated in the murder of US citizens for a humanitarian worker and an “unknown” intelligence source. Because bowing to communists and terrorists is what Obama and his cohorts do best.
This is a major setback for the opposition and dissident movements in Cuba. The Obama administration, by making this “deal”, has confirmed that they are OK with the repression, brutality, incarceration, and murder the castro regime foists upon the opposition. And I will once again say what I have been saying since day one of this farce of a presidential administration, for the record: faced with the fact that he is, by far, the worst President this nation has ever seen, and with no true positive legacy, Obama is relying on the low hanging fruit of the Cuban embargo to placate the left. Look for President Executive Action to undermine codified US Cuba policy.
Obama is set to speak on this at noon today. Listen as the president tramples upon the rule of law, justice, the Cuban-American community and freedom loving Cubans on the island.
Update: Statement from Capital Hill Cubans:
For over five years, the Castro dictatorship has held American development worker, Alan Gross, as its hostage for helping the Cuban people connect to the Internet.
This shows the cruel extent to which the Castro dictatorship is willing to go in order to try to silence its own people.
With Gross’ hostage-taking, the Castro dictatorship has sought to coerce the Obama Administration into releasing Cuban spies imprisoned in the United States and to unilaterally ease sanctions.
Today, this innocent American, who should have never been imprisoned in the first place, is returning home to his wife and daughters.
But sadly, rather than being released unconditionally, the Obama Administration has acquiesced to the Castro regime’s coercion.
While we are relieved at the release of this American hostage today, there are 11 million Cubans that remain hostages of Castro’s brutal regime. Moreover, repression in Cuba today is at a historic high.
In exchange for Gross’ release, the Obama Administration will announce the release of three Cuban spies imprisoned in the United States for crimes, including a conspiracy to kill Americans.
Today, our hearts go out to the families of those young Americans, the pilots of the Brothers to the Rescue planes disintegrated in international waters by Cuban MIGs, who were murdered by the Castro regime with the help of these Cuban spies.
The Obama Administration will additionally announce that it will use its executive authority to ease a set of U.S. sanctions — also in exchange for Gross’ release.
As a result of these actions, the world today will be less safe.
Rogue regimes throughout the world will take note that you can take American hostages and will be rewarded with policy concessions.
Moreover, that rogue regimes can murder Americans, have U.S. courts and juries duly convict those involved — and see justice aborted by a stroke of the President’s pen.
UPDATE: Just as a stark reminder, here is the audio of the downing of the Brothers to the Rescue pilots, which the 3 Cuban spies being released are complicit in.
Update: DatechGuy is succinct:
Obama is trying to cement his legacy. Human rights be damned.
UPDATE:During Obama’s remarks – which I confess I could barely stomach – he had the audacity of quoting Jose Marti. Yet with one glaring omission:
Obama stated “Liberty if the right of every man to be honest”
He left out the most important part:
“Liberty is the right of every man to be honest, TO THINK AND SPEAK WITHOUT HYPOCRISY.”
Sometimes, what’s not said is what rings loudest.
UPDATE:
JOIN US TONIGHT!
What: Come out tonight to show solidarity with members of the Cuban opposition visiting Miami!
When: 6:00pm
Where: FIU Law School, 11200 S.W. 8th Street, Miami, FL 33199
Remember Bergdahl? Besides, what does Obama have to lose now? And you’d better believe the usual suspects will be praising this “diplomatic coup” big time. The New York Times, for one, will be ecstatic–not because of Gross, but because this may “pave the way for a major overhaul in US policy toward the island.” Such a nice Christmas gesture, too..but wait, Gross is Jewish. Well, never mind; it’s the thought that counts. Obama, of course, does not see this as the immoral and supine capitulation that it is, but then again, only “those people” are likely to be upset, and they’ve been upset for over half a century, so who cares?
Just about when Cuba’s OIL COW lifeline is about to hemorrhage from a collapsing market, here comes OBAMA to the rescue!
LE RONCA!!!!!!
This lame duck time of Obama we are going to see more of this hideousness. Hold on to your hats. Obama is going to make his remaining time in the presidency full of beautiful surprises like this for us.
I hope Cruz and Rubio at least make some noise against this. but don’t hold your breath for that.
What a world.
We are all disgusted and pissed off, but we cannot be surprised.
The administration will do whatever it can to undermine the United States. This is just the latest knife slash to America’s throat. The absolute worst part of this is the message it sends to countries who spy on us: if one of ours gets caught, we’ll just incarcerate of one yours, and then we’ll swap ’em. Easy-peazy!
I hope the Cuban-Americans who supported (and continue to support) this Administration and its commie lackeys choke on their hope and change.
TWFKAP: I hope the Cuban-Americans who supported and still support this administration and somehow still manage to have some sense of decency, choke on their own vomit.
Okay, so the 7 pro-castro New York Times editorials and opinion pieces in the last two months are now starting to make sense. It wasn’t casual coincidence. It was Obama’s PR offensive, before letting the cat out of the bag.
I regret to inform you that most Cubans, or Cubanoids, who have supported Obama will simply rationalize this away and/or spin it to their convenience. It’s not even a question of supporting Obama–just supporting the Democratic Party is already dishonorable and disgraceful for a Cuban, and has been since at least 1961. In other words, don’t hold your breath. Honor is like virginity: once you throw it away, it’s gone, and the vast majority of those who have discarded theirs won’t even try to recover it.
Yep, I’m particularly upset and disgusted at Cubans/Cubanoids who voted for Obama. We had it in our hand to upset the presidential elections, because of Florida’s pivotal role/importance in the US electoral process, but no, a large number of Cuban/Cubanoids had to vote for Obama.
Remember me? I’m the guy way back in the day who used to say that Republicans had to negotiate for some kind of opening? Not because I was a commie sympathizer, not because I loved Castro but because I said repeatedly that the Dems would give away the whole store for nothing. It was best to negotiate and get something in return as opposed to letting someone say “never mind” and give Castro Inc. what they wanted. Well, this is the day that I say, I told you so. This is what you get for thinking that the embargo would last forever. That by some miracle a leftist democrat would let it stand. Congratulations on sticking to your guns, it got us absolutely nothing. Obama may be a jerk but it is the lack of foresight on the part of many on the right that led us to this.
Yet again, a Dem POTUS drops his pants and bends over for the dictator of a third-world shithole to have his way with the USA. How many times has this happened now? It’s hard to keep count. Forget Cubans, forget justice, forget everything except the honor and international stature of the US: what does this say about this country?
And you want a good laugh? Ask Obama if he or his people even considered, let alone made, the demand for the extradition of convicted cop killer Joanne Chesimard, aka Assata Shakur, as part of this deal. If the US was going to release people clearly implicated in murdering US citizens, it should at least get another murderer in return. And if you want a potentially bigger laugh, ask Eric Holder the same question.
Yes, this move is predictable and perfectly in character for Obama and his crew. No, we should not be surprised; he was never going to play hardball to get Gross out, and he wants both a “success” as well as legacy material–desperately. To him, this is totally worth doing because, as usual, he’s only thinking of himself, and he WILL get plenty of praise from all the usual quarters for any kind of “normalization” of US-Cuba relations. He knows that and counts on it, but make no mistake: he is only a manifestation of a much bigger problem.
So what do we do now? The only thing within our means: keep doing everything WE can to free Cuba, because there ain’t no Fairy Godmother, and counting on the kindness of strangers has failed for over 50 years and will never pan out. It is clearer every day (though it’s been plenty clear for ages) that only Cubans themselves will ever get Cuba out of the hole, so it behooves all Cubans to get their shit together, and even those who do not help should at the very least NOT be part of the problem or sustain it. Each case should be judged individually, but in far too many cases, the judgment would be negative. It’s very simple: either we ourselves do this or it’s not getting done, and those who don’t care don’t deserve to call themselves Cubans or to be seen as such.
If the embargo ends as part of this “deal,” don’t think it was to free Gross, which would be a mere pretext. If it is ended, it’s because Obama wanted to end it for reasons entirely separate from Gross, and the Gross matter simply gave him the requisite breach. That may have been the idea all along, that he’d deliberately take no effective action on Gross until the time was suitable to play “humanitarian” and end the embargo at minimal political cost, and that time is now. Maybe Obama wasn’t simply ineffectual, and this has all been a set-up. Definitely don’t put it past him–remember the “deal” to end the Missile Crisis?
The DEMOCRAT party SELLOUT is now COMPLETE!!!! JFK/CARTER/CLINTON/OBAMA
Next will come the end of the embargo, followed by warming of relations with iran and north korea.
followed perhaps by sanctions against Israel.
Of course, to ‘regularize’ things and uphold the ‘dignity’ of the castro regime, our Bill of Rights will have to be fundamentally transformed so as to make the gathered dear leaders the grantors of our liberty, rather than God.
“He is gathering them all to a place called Armageddon.”
OBAMA is on an Anti-America Jihad mission. With no Democrat majority leverage in Congress to restrain him, and no re-election to worry about, he’s now free to do as he pleases.
Yes. Agree. Completely. The next two years or more if he sticks around? Expect anything.
Plan accordingly.
Seek God while he may yet be found.
The reality is one, the far-left trash of Obama may legitimize and consolidate Cuba’s communists rule in the most unbashful way seen thus far (we Cubans knew this self-absorbed piece of communist shit was going to do so one way or another) but the American betrayal and complicity behind Cuba’s tragic misfortune is very old, more than half a century old. In fact, US complicity was present since day one.
The improvised cult-leader of Castro and his group of stinking misfits would have never scared away Cuban generals had it not been for escalating American pressure and pro-Castro CIA intervention in Cuban affairs. It was CIA agent Frank Sturgis who armed and trained Castro (don’t expect either side to remind you of such). Communism would have also ended in Cuba during the 1990s, the “special period”, had it not been for Clinton’s overtures. Not to mention Kennedy and everything in between. Ronald Regan was just an intermission.
The international left, including USA’s, has never wanted communism to end in Cuba. Whenever that vile, moribund, economically inept, and aberrant regime has been on the verge of collapsing they have made their moves to save it. That said, USA is full of shit. Between its stupidity and its dishonesty, since WWII USA’s foreign policy has, for the most part, been a total embarrassment.
It clearly appears that the job of the New York Times was to prepare the way (the timing was certainly perfect) and provide advance “independent” cover for Obama’s move. After all, if the “newspaper of record” and icon of the “thinking class” went all out for the same thing, then Obama is “validated” or at least in no way out of line or beyond the pale. Because who would know better about Cuba and Cuba policy than the people behind that paragon of journalism, Herbert Matthews, whose Cuba coverage was the climax of his career? A pox be on their house, for surely such iniquity cannot stand indefinitely.
Question:
What did Cuban-American congresspersons, particularly Senator Menéndez, know about this and when did they know it? The matter has apparently been brewing for a good year and a half, and these people should have been privy to all manner of scuttlebutt, leaks, rumors and so on that have surely circulated in Washington. Even if Obama deliberately kept the Republican ones out of the loop (after all, what would they know about Cuba?), it’s extremely difficult to believe Menéndez, given his position, was kept in the dark until today–and if he was, it shows an unforgivable lack of respect on Obama’s part, and Menéndez should act accordingly (but no, I’m not holding my breath).
Who blew whom? obama or raul?
It’s interesting how obama is so quick to switch from being a Muslim to being a Commie.
To anybody in the Tampa Bay area reading this: There will be a get together tomorrow at 5:00 P.M. at the Brothers to the Rescue monument (Columbus Drive just east of Dale Mabry Hwy). Exercise your freedom of speech and assembly.
But you know what? When it’s all said and done, a case could be made that Cubans have brought this upon themselves, both for depending too much and too long on non-Cubans and for not pulling their own weight. In other words, there’s been and there is WAY too much relajo, ligereza, guabineo, falta de seriedad and falta de vergüenza. It couldn’t be any clearer that we can ONLY depend on ourselves, but where’s the focus, the rigor, the single-mindedness and determination? Yes, those things exist, but how prevalent are they? Lord have mercy.
If B. Hussien came out of his closet and told us he actually hated the USA, what would he have done different?
When Americans are treated like the other tourists from Canada & Europe, thrown in jail for offences like… driving a car involved in a car accident, who will he trade?
When Americans are owed more money in easy credit offered to state owned cuban companies, will they do as the Japanese did a couple of years ago, simply write it off as being bad debt?
How many more years will this additional tourism aid to hold the cubans afloat in their island prison?
How many more Cubans will spend a tenner or a quarter (10 or 25 years) for things that are considered a human right in most countries?
Which will be the first American company to join with Cubans in a joint venture to mine nickel and let the poisonous effluent flow directly into the rivers and surrounding sea?