Cuba gives a resounding NO to unilateral release of Alan Gross

I've written about the Alan Gross case and the Miami Five a dozen times or so in the past five weeks. I also posted several times about former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson's disastrous misadventure to Cuba in September. And just last week I wrote about the René González case, which according to my Google stats was heavily read.

So this morning I have mixed feelings. I feel badly for Alan Gross, but at the same time confirmed that my predictions were accurate. On a visit to Mexico yesterday (October 9), Ricardo Alarcón (below), the president of Cuba's parliament, ruled out any possibility of Gross' unilateral release. "It would be unreasonable for the United States to expect that," said Alarcón. "The U.S. government should just sit back in a nice easy chair, and make itself comfortable."

Alarcón also had harsh words for Richardson: "He showed up conducting himself like he was some kind of amateur diplomat, but it was all just Bill's own imagination." (http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/09/bill-richardson-infuriated-cubans-in.html).

Alarcón acknowledged that Richardson had suggested a trade of Alan Gross for René González, a solution which the parliamentary leader dismissed. "How could anybody think that the two cases are comparable? One deals with a man who is just finishing up a 13 year sentence (González), the other with a man who is just beginning a 15 year sentence (Gross). It's like comparing apples to pears."

This last statement is indeed ominous for Alan Gross. In my opinion, it demonstrates beyond any doubt that Cuba will release Gross only in exchange for all of the Miami Five -- not just for González. The Obama administration said just last week that it would never do so. But it should: http://mexicogulfreporter-supplement.blogspot.com/2011/11/alan-gross-y-los-cinco-de-miami.html.