Havana – Jailed Jewish American Awaits Cuba’s Supreme Court Decision

Cuba – Jailed U.S. aid contractor Alan Gross is awaiting a decision on his case by Cuba’s highest court and trying to stay strong while his family’s situation worsens back home, wife Judy Gross said Thursday.

Gross appealed the March conviction and, according to recent statements by the head of Cuba’s Supreme Court, the case is being deliberated. It is not clear when a decision will be reached.

Gross and the U.S. government, which says he was only helping Jewish groups and broke no law, are hoping the court will rule in his favor and let him go home.

There have been odd hints that something is in the works, but nothing confirmed or official.

The official Chinese news agency Xinhua quoted Supreme Court head Ruben Remigio Ferro in May as saying, “There is a pending appeal and it is being considered to grant a pardon or release on humanitarian grounds, considering that his daughter and his mother are very sick.”

The case, he was quoted as saying, “will be resolved in the shortest time possible.”

With a difficult reelection campaign already under way, the likelihood of Obama taking actions that could alienate the important Cuban American vote in Florida appears to be small.