A former Cuban spy urged President Obama on Monday to trade three Cuban prisoners for American Alan Gross, citing the administration’s prisoner exchange over the weekend.
Gross, a former USAID contractor, was accused in 2011 of being an American spy and was sentenced to 15 years in a Cuban prison.
Havana has suggested that it would release Gross in exchange for three of the remaining “Cuban Five” intelligence agents, who were convicted in a 1998 U.S. spy case, Agence France-Presse reported. The swap was reportedly first proposed by a Cuban diplomat in May 2012, which Washington swiftly rejected.
Fernando Gonzalez, one of two of the “Cuban Five” prisoners freed after serving his jail term, said the Obama administration’s release of five Taliban prisoners over the weekend for hostage Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl shows that nothing should be in his way for making the deal again.
“It’s obvious that the only thing needed is the political will on the part of the U.S. government to bring to fruition that exchange,” Mr. Gonzalez said Monday at a press conference.
The swap of five Taliban leaders for Bergdahl “is evidence that the only thing lacking is the political will of Obama to resolve this situation,” he said, Fox News reported.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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