Cuba has released American aid worker Alan Gross after five years in prison as part of a deal that included the exchange of Cuban prisoners jailed in the United States, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. President Obama is expected to speak about the release at noon on Wednesday.
The 65-year-old contractor is now headed back to the U.S. after the Communist nation agreed to a humanitarian prisoner swap, a senior Obama administration official told Fox News, adding that Gross had left Cuba on a U.S. government plane on Wednesday morning.
"Mr. Gross was released on humanitarian grounds by the Cuban government at the request of the United States," the official said.
The Maryland native's release resulted from an exchange of three Cuban prisoners held in the U.S., identified as Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero and Ramon Labanino, members all of the so-called "Wasp Network," a group sent by former President Fidel Castro to spy in South Florida, where a large Cuban population lives, officials told The Associated Press.
Imprisoned since 2009, Gross had been accused of spying from inside the island country just 90 miles off Florida's coast while working for the U.S. government's U.S. Agency for International Development, which does work promoting democracy in the communist country.
Later, Cuba sentenced him to 15 years in prison for illegally setting up Internet access in Jewish communities that bypassed local censorship, according to New York Daily News.
The release, which was initially set for September 2017, follows years of desperate appeals by Gross and his family. Earlier this year, his wife expressed fear over his life, saying he might do "something drastic."
"We're like screaming and jumping up and down," Gross' sister, Bonnie Rubinstein, told the AP from her home in Texas.
"Obama administration officials have considered Gross' imprisonment an impediment to improving relations with Cuba, but the surprise deal could help clear the way for broader discussions on ties and perhaps ending the decades-long U.S. economic embargo against its long-time communist foe," Fox News reported.
Earlier this month, Obama hinted that the 65-year-old's release could lead to a possible resolution in relations with Cuba.
"The Cuban Government's release of Alan on humanitarian grounds would remove an impediment to more constructive relations between the United States and Cuba," Obama said in a statement marking the fifth anniversary of Gross' detention.
