Alan Gross, a USAID contractor imprisoned in Cuba since 2009, suspended on Friday the hunger strike that began on April 3, his lawyer Gilbert Scott said in Washington.
Gross, 64, said his “hunger strike is suspended from today” after a telephone conversation with his mother, who asked him to end the protest. Still, Gross notified his attorney that “other protests will occur,” but did not specify the dates or the ways in which they will, AFP reported.
Sentenced to 15 years in prison for illegally distributing telecommunications equipment in Cuba as part of a mission of the U.S. Agency for Development Assistance (USAID), Gross and his wife have repeatedly noted the passivity with which the U.S. government has taken efforts for his release, although recently the Secretary of State, John Kerry said he had ” some ideas ” to get it.
In recent days, the scandal unleashed by the AP on the case of ZunZuneo-a “Cuban Twitter” based on sms created and funded by the USAID-has brought to the fore the work of the agency of subversion against Cuba, which Gross was employed at the time of his arrest. According to Gilbert, this was “the straw that broke the camel’s back” and caused Gross’ hunger strike.
For months now with these revelations and Gross’s protest, the government of Cuba has reiterated its willingness to discuss a humanitarian solution to the case of the contractor, and that includes the issue of the three Cuban Five, of the group of five , who are still imprisoned in the United States.
