23 Facts About Alan Gross

Alan Phillip Gross was born on May 2,1949 and is a former United States government contractor employed by the United States Agency for International Development.

Alan Gross was prosecuted in 2011 after being accused of crimes against the Cuban state for furtively bringing military-grade communication equipment designed to evade detection to members of Cuba's Jewish community.

US sources widely rejected the idea that Gross was a spy, though some noted the "covert" nature of Gross's work.

Alan Gross noted in his field reports his awareness of the risks he was taking in his mission.

Alan Gross was released from Cuban prison on December 17,2014, and returned to the US in exchange for the release and return of three Cubans convicted of espionage.

Alan Gross was raised at his hometown and in Baltimore.

Alan Gross studied sociology at the University of Maryland and social work at Virginia Commonwealth University, before moving to Potomac, Maryland.

Alan Gross had a long career as an international development worker who had been active in some 50 countries and territories across the Middle East, Africa and Europe, including Iraq and Afghanistan, where he was setting up satellite communications systems to NGOs.

Gross was working as a subcontractor to Development Alternatives Inc, the prime contractor working with USAID, which had won a $6 million US government contract for the program in which Gross was involved, a controversial "democracy-promotion program" that ballooned under the George W Bush administration, to provide communications equipment to break the Cuban government's 'information blockade.

Alan Gross spoke little Spanish and had not worked in Cuba before.

In January 2012, it was reported that Cuban authorities claimed that Alan Gross has visited Cuba as early as 2004, delivering a video camera to a leading Freemason who later declared that he had been a Cuban intelligence agent since 2000.

Alan Gross filed reports for DAI of his four visits to Cuba in 2009.

AP reports that Alan Gross did not identify himself as a representative of the US government, but claimed to be a member of a Jewish humanitarian group.

Alan Gross declared that he was thoroughly inspected by the customs officials at Jose Marti International Airport when entering the country and that he declared all of the items in his possession.

Alan Gross was arrested on December 3,2009, at the El Presidente Hotel, where he was staying.

Alan Gross was jailed first at Carlos J Finlay Military Hospital, then Villa Marista prison, a detention center.

Alan Gross represented the families of five Cubans held in US prisons after being convicted in 2001 on charges of conspiracy to commit espionage against US military installations, leading to the immediate speculation after Gross's arrest that Cuba wanted to swap him for the five.

US Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said Alan Gross's treatment was an attempt by Cuba to get a "concession".

In January 2010, Ricardo Alarcon, the president of the Cuban National Assembly, claimed that Alan Gross was "contracted to work for American intelligence services," which was denied by both the US government and Alan Gross's attorneys.

On March 12,2011, Alan Gross was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Alan Gross's case was appealed to the Supreme Court of Cuba, which affirmed the sentence in August 2011.

Alan Gross needs to be able to leave Cuba and return home," adding "this is a matter of great personal pain to his family and concern to the US government.

The Cuban Government maintained that Alan Gross's health was normal for a man his age and that he was being properly treated after having stated a few months earlier that Alan Gross, who was held at a military hospital, "could be held at any prison facility," meaning that he was in good and stable health.