Jose Diza Balart of Telemundo presses the secretary of state on what exactly — besides condemning — the Obama administration is doing about the 15 year sentence a Cuban court handed Alan Gross, the aid worker that the State Department says is guilty only of connecting Cuban Jews to the Internet.
She avoids the question at first, but he presses harder:
QUESTION: On the issue of Alan Gross, 15 years, other than talk and condemn, what can or should the United States be doing? (Speaking in Spanish.)
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, first, I think that the 15-year sentence is deplorable. Alan Gross was in Cuba to help people literally connect with the rest of the world, and as we’re seeing around the world, that’s a tide that is coming. You’re not going to be able to push it back out to sea, even in Cuba. He has served a very long time for doing what was not in any way criminal, in our view. And he should be released, and at the very least, on humanitarian terms. He should be sent home to his family, and I’m hoping that the Cuban Government will do that.
QUESTION: (Speaking in Spanish.) Separate from condemning, is there anything you can or should be doing?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we are working closely with Alan Gross’s attorneys, who want to be very supportive of what they’re trying to do on his behalf. We don’t want to take any actions or say anything that will undermine the chances for this man to come home to his family.
"Undermine the chances" sounds like the chances are still very much alive.
