Two Florida lawmakers protested USAID’s plans to cut its budget for democracy programs in Cuba from $20 million to $15 million. Sen. Marco Rubio on Wednesday called it “a terrible precedent, a terrible idea” and urged the agency to reconsider. The planned reduction is “way out of proportion…for a program of this small scale,” Rubio told [...]
March roundup
New details emerged in the case of Alan Gross in March. A statement filed in federal court showed that Gross: Reported his weight was 144, down 110 pounds from the 254 he says he weighed when he was jailed in December 2009. Continues to dispute the allegations against him and “the validity of my conviction.” [...]
February roundup
Incoming Secretary of State John Kerry vowed earlier this month to boost U.S. engagement abroad as a way to “prevent conflict and prevent failed states.” In a Feb. 15 speech to employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development, he said: This challenge deserves more focus and more attention, not less. This is not a [...]
January roundup
Development Alternatives Inc. warned this month that a Maryland worker’s lawsuit against the private contractor and the U.S. government “could create significant risks to the U.S. government’s national security, foreign policy, and human rights interests.” Alan Gross and his family sued DAI and the federal government for $60 million in November 2012, alleging that they [...]
December roundup
Jailed contractor Alan Gross asked the U.S. government to sign a “non-belligerency pact” with Cuba as a first step toward negotiating his release, according to a Cuba specialist who met with the American development worker. Peter Kornbluh, a Cuba expert at the National Security Archives, a nonprofit research center in Washington, D.C., met with Gross [...]
November roundup
Jailed American development worker Alan Gross sued the federal government and the private company that sent him to Cuba for $60 million, saying they should have done more to train and prepare him for a high-risk mission to Havana. Their suit, filed on Nov. 16 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., said Maryland contractor [...]