THEHAVANANOTE: “The High Holidays and Alan Gross: Is there a Jewish Road Out?”, por Arturo López-Levy.

The High Holidays are the expression of the supreme Jewish belief in reconciliation and every individual’s capacity to recognize his or her mistakes and change for the better. The Cuban government should view Alan Gross’ recent statement as expressing repentance for his unconscious participation in American government sponsored regime change policies that violated Cuban sovereignty. Mr. Gross, an American Jew from Maryland, interested in civil society development was arrested in Dec. 3, 2009 by the Cuban authorities. He had gone to Cuba five times as a subcontractor of Development Alternatives Inc (DAI), a private company serving contracts awarded by the Bush Administration under the Cuba program of USAID.
The Cuba program of USAID is not a typical one. It is based on section 109 of the Helms Burton Act, legislation passed by US Congress in 1996 with the declared purpose of overthrowing the current government in Havana. The law codified all the sanctions approved against Cuba from 1959 to 1996 and it is considered by the overwhelming majority of the international community and most Cuban civil society as a violation of international law and an affront to Cuban sovereignty. The USAID programs designed under the Bush Administration are part of a regime change strategy that blocks Americans from travelling freely to Cuba while paying for a selected group of contractors to semi-covertly go to the island and support activities that seek to advance the agenda of Cuban right wing émigrés' property claims and political revenge contained in section 205 and 206 of the Helms-Burton Act.

Last July, the Cuban Supreme Court ratified Mr. Gross’ sentence to fifteen years in jail by a lower court.