Washington, DC -- Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-17) today demanded the Cuban government release Alan Gross from his wrongful imprisonment on what is the second anniversary of his incarceration.  Rep. Engel is the Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.

“The Cuban government needs to release Alan Gross.  This is beyond politics, beyond diplomacy.  This is a matter of human rights.  In addition to my role in Congress, I call on the leadership in Cuba as a father and husband to do the right thing at long last.  Alan Gross’s health continues to deteriorate.  His daughter’s battle with cancer is ongoing and he is missing these crucial moments with his loved one.  I have a daughter around the same age, and it is heartbreaking to think of the loss this family is feeling.  Alan Gross has nothing to do with the decades of frosty relations between our nations – his only crime was passion for the Cuban Jewish community, and being an American.

“This has gone on long enough.  It is time to return Alan Gross to his loving wife, Judy.  Bring him back to tend to his daughter and his 89-year-old mother.”

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