Who "duped and used" Alan Gross - a self-described "trusting fool"?

That's the question many are posing.  On September 2 Gross' attorneys and supporters formally asked the Cuban government to release him on humanitarian grounds. http://mexicogulfreporter-supplement.blogspot.com/2011/11/release-from-havana-jail-sought-on.html.

Attached to the petition, which was delivered to Cuban officials in Washington, was a statement read by Gross at his criminal trial in Havana in March 2011, in which he claims he was "played" by others.  Beyond that we know little.  He may be referring to the private pro-democracy organization which awarded him a multimillion dollar contract to distribute communications devices and computer technology to the island's 1,000 member Jewish community.  Then again, he may be referring to the U.S. government, which has remained tight-lipped about the matter.  Gross, who is said to be in poor health, asked to be released by the beginning of Rosh Hashanah later this month.